This morning is a morning of tension… if we pay close enough attention, we can feel the tension inside us. The journey has begun; first with palms and parades and cries of “Hosannah!” “Save us”. Jesus enters into Jerusalem on a donkey, the people happy and believing he is their messiah, the one who will bring them out of bondage to the empire…
And then we move, a bit too quickly it seems to Jesus being anointed for his burial, and the last supper, that most holy meal that we will share in today, then betrayal with a kiss. Testimonies filled with lies… then a cock crows, and Jesus knows he has been betrayed again by one of his own… questions, and yelling, and a flogging, and now he will be murdered as a threat to the empire, a rebel to be made an example of so that his “movement” would die and his disciples would disperse…
Can you feel the tension? Cries of “Hosannah” are replaced by cries of “crucify him”. It is a crowd easily swayed by their desire for someone to save them from their plight. Jesus has been caught. He is of no use to them now…
We have an advantage; we know how the story ends. I would ask you not to jump quite so quickly to that place; we are walking a slow journey, and while we have been given a bit of spiritual whiplash by our readings today, it is good for us to be here. We need to feel the tension; we need to embody it deep within us. The deepest spiritual work is done in darkness, and we are entering that darkness now. It is time for us to lay not just our palm branches on the road for him, but to lay our very lives on the road for him. The tension and discomfort that we feel ought to force us to ask the hard questions of “whom do we follow” and “how do we betray him”… there are days when if I listen carefully, I can hear the cock crow… maybe you can too. Before we can celebrate the joy of his resurrection, we must stop on this road and follow Jesus on this journey; there is something here for each of us to learn about ourselves, about each other, and about him. He is asking us to give him our struggles, our sins, our despair, so that he can carry them to Golgatha and the cross in order that all that burdens our hearts might be transformed; but there is no immediate transformation without the painful walk with him. As Bishop Fisher said to us last Sunday, we must know Jesus on the cross, with all of the darkness and pain of the world embraced by him, before we can know the joy of his resurrection.
Let us pray:
Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.