Palm Sunday/ Sunday of the Passion

Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion

March 24, 2024

Text: John 12:12-19; Mark 14 & 15

            The Passion of our Lord essentially preaches itself.  But as we meditate upon this heaping helping of Gospel, perhaps it would be edifying to ask: Where do you see yourself in each of these Passion scenes?  With which person, or persons, do you identify? 

            Beginning already with the scene on Palm Sunday.  Where are you in that pilgrim throng?  Are you strewing your palm branches and spreading your cloak, a royal carpet to welcome your victorious King?  Are you singing Hosannas (“Save us now, O Lord”) with the frolicsome children?  Or befuddled with the disciples, who do not understand?  Or, perhaps, you are filled with righteous consternation over the crowd’s raucous praise for this self-styled Rabbi from Galilee. 

            Or, maybe, you are Lazarus, just happy to be alive.

            As Chief Priests plot with stealthy scribes to arrest Him and kill Him, are you Simon the Leper, who sups with Him in your house, undoubtedly cleansed by His touch and His Word?  Or are you the woman with the alabaster flask, anointing His sacred and soon-to-be wounded head, in love, doing what you can to prepare Him for burial?  Indeed, to this very day, and in this very place, “wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done” is “told in memory of her” (Mark 14:9; ESV).

            Or, maybe, you are among those grumbling at the expense.  Why spend so lavishly, when you can worship the Lord for free?  After all, there are poor people who require our care!  Maybe, your Judas-ized heart thinks you can serve both God and Mammon.  But, look where that will lead you, unless you repent.

            Then, you find yourself in the Upper Room.  It is the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover Lamb.  Are you, perhaps, the servant carrying the water jar, humbly undertaking the tasks no one else will do?  Or the Master who subsidizes the venue for the Feast?  Do you sit with the disciples in disbelief, that by your sins you could ever betray the Lord with whom you dip your bread in sop?  “Is it I, Lord?  Could it be?” 

            Or, maybe, you protest with Peter: “Even though they all fall away, I will not” (v. 29).  We shall see.  We shall see.  In any case, the Lord feeds you, graciously, by His own hand.  “My body.  My blood.  Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.”

            What happens in the Garden when your Jesus bids you, “Watch!”?  Can you will yourself to pray with your distressed and troubled Savior?  Or are your eyelids too heavy?  Have you lulled yourself to sleep?  Ah, the spirit is so willing, but the flesh is oh, so weak.  Or perhaps you suffer with Jesus, crying out to your Father in heaven, “Remove from me this cup!  Yet Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

            Then, here comes the mob, with swords and clubs, led by the betrayer, who has given them a sign: “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard” (v. 44).  Not only is Christ’s body pierced for our salvation… His heart is broken by the betrayal of a friend.  Perhaps you’ve been there, yourself betrayed.  He takes your sorrow into Himself. 

            Or, maybe, you, yourself, have kissed the Son while plotting treachery in your own heart.  How often my own lips have pressed His sacred flesh, only to turn and give myself over to evil.  “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” 

            How often have you fled when the going gets tough?  Abandoned Jesus for fear of reprisal?  Like the young man, like old Adam himself, naked in a garden, running from God. 

            Well, we know what happens next.  Bound as the sacrificial Lamb, He is led (appropriately) before the High Priest, the one responsible for the sacrifice.  Peter follows, but at a distance, not wanting to get too close.  Timid, lest he actually have to suffer with his Lord.  And, boasting aside, Jesus’ prophecy rings true.  In the moment of decision, when everything is on the line, does Peter boldly confess His faith?  Invoking curses, he swears to God: “I do not know this man” (v. 71).  Now, is that you?  Has it ever been?  When false witnesses arise to testify against you?  When they accuse you of all manner of evil, falsely (“You hater!  You bigot!”)?  When rejection, or persecution, or pain are the wages of your devotion?  Therefore, send not to know for whom the rooster crows.  It crows for thee (with apologies to John Donne).  It’s enough to make you break down and weep.

            Listen to the Lord, though, as He speaks the truth, and seals His fate.  “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” (v. 61).  “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (v. 62).  So, the High Priest tears his robes.  And they all condemn Him as deserving of death.  Then, the spitting and the striking, the mockery and the blows. 

            From this point on, it all happens so fast… for us, though, not for Jesus, the forces of hell on His back.  There is the trial before Pilate.  The bloodthirsty crowds.  The purple cloak and thorny crown as the battalion beats and berates Him.  And then, the dragging of the beams along the Golgotha Road.  Are you with Simon, carrying His cross?  Or are you with the soldiers who pierce His flesh, who lift Him up, and gamble for His clothes?  Are you among the thieves, crucified with Him?  Or with the wagging heads, crying “Aha!  Aha!” 

            Or, maybe, you are Barabbas, surprised to be alive and free.  Barabbas means, “son of the father.”  The Father’s Son dies, that you may live as sons of God.

            What about when you confess the Creed?  Suffered under Pontius Pilate.  Crucified, dead and buried.  Are you the centurion, upon seeing these things?  “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (15:39).  Are you among the women looking on from a distance?  Those who loved Him and cared for Him in His every bodily need?

            Or, maybe, you are Joseph, looking for the Kingdom of God… (Is there ever an unfaithful Joseph in the Bible?)… who, whatever else you may, or may not, know, you know the Kingdom is found in this precious body.  Therefore, you take courage, and, in the sight of all, embrace the Crucified.  You care for His body, the Supper, the Church, the Communion in His body and blood.  Perhaps you’ve buried a loved one recently, hoping in, believing, trusting that that Communion means you will see the beloved again… that the beloved joins you here, in the Kingdom of God, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. 

            Beloved, think on these things as you hear, and read, and meditate upon our Lord’s Passion throughout this week.  Where do you see yourself in the story?  With whom do you identify?  Who are you in the Passion?  At some point, we should, each of us, undoubtedly see ourselves in every one of those who play a part.

            But do not fail to recognize this, and hold it forever in your heart and soul.  Do you know where God sees you in the Passion of our Lord?  He sees you in Jesus Christ, His Son.  Your sin atoned.  Your debt paid in full.  Forgiven.  Cleansed.  Righteous.  Free.  God’s own redeemed and beloved child.  Therefore, see yourself in Him on the cross, clothed with Christ, tucked into His wounds.  After all, you are baptized into Christ.  And “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3).  And, think what that means for us, very soon.  If we have been united with Him in a death like His, well…  The Third Day is coming.  To be in Christ, then, immersed in His death and resurrection, makes a better-than-Barabbas, better-than-Lazarus, of us all.  Not only do we not die eternally in hell.  We live eternally, risen with the risen Jesus.  So, whatever else we may do this day, let us wave our palms, sing with the children, and rejoice with the holy angels: Hosanna to the Son of David!  Hosanna to our coming King!  Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD!  Hosanna in the Highest.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.