The Sunday of the Passion also called Palm Sunday

Preached by The Very Reverend Robert Neske, Dean, at Saint Mark’s Pro-Cathedral, Hastings, March 28, 2010

There is a very schizophrenic character to Palm Sunday that is a result of the two Gospel readings appointed for this day. The first is Luke’s account of the Jesus’ triumphal entry into the Holy City of Jerusalem and the second is Luke’s account of Jesus’ passion and death upon the cross. Every year we read of these two very different moments in our Lord’s life and we are left with the same question; what happened? When did is all go so terribly wrong?

What happen between Palm Sunday and Good Friday that could turn and entire city against one man so drastically and so dramatically? At what point in the week, at what moment did the chants of “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the LORD” turn into ‘crucify, him crucify him, let him be crucified!’ At what point did the crowd become a mob?

We don’t really know, to say that people are fickle is to state the obvious, it wasn’t as if Jesus was coming into the city with the approval of everyone, the religious authorities had already heard about him and were afraid he would challenge their precious status quo; the Romans were ready to over react at the slightest sign of an insurrection and a man who could inspire a crowd was a man to wary of. Perhaps it was simply that Jesus failed to meet the expectations of the crowd.

After all, what were the people of Jerusalem to make of Jesus entry into the city? The ass (colt) was a messianic sign prophesied by Zechariah. The ancient kings of Israel rode mules, not horses, and pilgrims did not ride at all. By ancient tradition the only people who came into the city mounted were kings or conquerors. But Jesus rode into the city and the only other person who was to ride into Jerusalem was the Messiah.

Here we have Jesus riding into the city and the crowd response is appropriate to the moment, the shout: Blessed in the King who comes in the name of the LORD. Peace in the heavens and Glory to the highest!

The irony of course, and no one appreciated irony more than the Luke the Evangelist, is that everything was exactly as it should be. The Messiah, the King was entering the city, and as the Messiah Jesus will bring about the salvation that their cry, Peace in the Heavens and Glory to the Highest implies is present. The problem is that this was not what the people were looking for; the crowd had no interest in a Prince of Peace, they wanted a warrior-king messiah with armies of angels at his back driving the Romans out and re-establishing the old kingdom of David, when the myth said they had power in the world.

Instead, there was Jesus. One man, one lone man sent by God to save the people of God and all of humankind. They did not want that; this was not their idea of salvation, they wanted the angel armies and warriors and a new David, but instead God sent a servant to suffer on their behalf. But it wasn’t what they wanted.

There is nothing more frustrating than unrealized expectations. We see it every day, marriages, partnerships, alliances, friendships crumbling under the weight of unrealized expectations. When it is a mob that is experiencing frustration, things get very ugly very fast; as we are reminded in the Book of Ecclesiasticus in the Apocrypha where it is written: Of three things my heart is afraid… the slander of the city, false accusations, the gathering of a mob…” all of which our Lord would be compelled to endure.

The events which brought about the passion reflect the first sin of humanity, the sin of pride. We want God on our own terms. We want salvation on our own terms, we want immortality on our own terms we don’t want t hear about sin, we don’t want to hear about conversion of heart of life or conduct, we want what we want when we want it and we want it now. It was true than as it is true today.

The people cried out as Jesus came into the city: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"  And God heard their cry for salvation and God saved them, as God saves us, on God’s terms, not ours, through the death of his Son. It is God who delivers us, God who saves us – our life, our hope for immortality are all from God alone through the One who suffered for our sake upon the cross, and died that we might live.