Sunday 5th April, 2009 Passion Sunday – Palm Sunday
Sentence
At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2:10-11
Collect
Everlasting God, in Your tender love for the human race, You sent Your Son to take our nature upon Him and to suffer death upon the Cross; give us the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, that, sharing His humility we may come to be with Him in His glory, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever Amen
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Isaiah 50: 4 – 9a
The Lord God has given me the tongue of one who has been instructed to console the weary with a timely word; he made my hearing sharp every morning, that I might listen like one under instruction. The Lord God opened my ears and I did not disobey or turn back in defiance. I offered my back to the lash, and let my beard be plucked from my chin, I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. But the Lord God is my helper; therefore no insult can wound me; I know that I shall not be put to shame, therefore I have set my face like flint. One who will clear my name is at my side. Who dare argue against me? Let us confront one another. Who will dispute my cause? Let him come forward. The Lord God is my helper; who then can declare me guilty? They will all wear out like a garment; the moth will devour them.
PSALM 31: 9 – 18
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: my eye washes away for grief, my throat also and my inward parts
For my life wears out in sorrow, and my years with sighing: my strength fails me in my affliction, and my bones are consumed
I am become the scorn of all my enemies: and my neighbours wag their heads in derision
I am a thing of horror to my friends: and that that see me in the street shrink from me
I am forgotten like one dead and out of mind: I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whisperings of many: and fear is on every side
While they plot together against me: and scheme to take away my life
But in You, Lord, have I put my trust: I have said, “You are my God.”
All my days are in Your hands: O deliver me from the power of my enemies and from my persecutors
Make Your face to shine upon Your servant: and save me for Your mercy’s sake
EPISTLE Philippians 2:5 – 11
Take to heart among yourselves what you find in Christ Jesus: "He was in the form of God; yet he laid no claim to equality with God, but made himself nothing, assuming the form of a slave. Bearing the human likeness, sharing the human lot, he humbled himself, and was obedient, even to the point of death, death on a cross! Therefore God raised him to the heights and bestowed on him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow--in heaven, on earth, and in the depths--and every tongue acclaim, "Jesus Christ is Lord," to the glory of God the Father.'
GOSPEL Mark 15: 1 – 39
As soon as morning came, the whole Council, chief priests, elders, and scribes, made their plans. They bound Jesus and led him away to hand him over to Pilate. "Are you the king of the Jews?' Pilate asked him. "The words are yours,' he replied. And the chief priests brought many charges against him. Pilate questioned him again: "Have you nothing to say in your defence? You see how many charges they are bringing against you.' But, to Pilate's astonishment, Jesus made no further reply.
At the festival season he governor used to release one prisoner requested by the people. As it happened, a man known as Barabbas was then in custody with the rebels who had committed murder in the rising. When the crowd appeared and began asking for the usual favour, Pilate replied, "Would you like me to release the king of the Jews?' He knew it was out of malice that Jesus had been handed over to him. But the chief priests incited the crowd to ask instead for the release of Barabbas. Pilate spoke to them again: "Then what shall I do with the man you call king of the Jews?' They shouted back, "Crucify him!' "Why, what wrong has he done?' Pilate asked; but they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!' So Pilate, in his desire to satisfy the mob, released Barabbas to them; and he had Jesus flogged, and then handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers took him inside the governor's residence, the Praetorium, and called the whole company together. They dressed him in purple and, plaiting a crown of thorns, placed it on his head. Then they began to salute him: "Hail, king of the Jews!' They beat him about the head with a stick and spat at him, and then knelt and paid homage to him. When they had finished their mockery, they stripped off the purple robe and dressed him in his own clothes. Then they led him out to crucify him.
A man called Simon, from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they pressed him into service to carry his cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means "Place of a Skull', and they offered him drugged wine, but he did not take it. Then they fastened him to the cross. They shared out his clothes, casting lots to decide what each should have. It was nine in the morning when they crucified him; and the inscription giving the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews'. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left. The passers-by wagged their heads and jeered at him: "Bravo!' they cried, "So you are the man who was to pull down the temple, and rebuild it in three days! Save yourself and come down from the cross.'
The chief priests and scribes joined in, jesting with one another: "He saved others,' they said, "but he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross. If we see that, we shall believe.' Even those who were crucified with him taunted him. At midday a darkness fell over the whole land, which lasted till three in the afternoon; and at three Jesus cried aloud, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Hearing this, some of the bystanders said, "Listen! He is calling Elijah.' Someone ran and soaked a sponge in sour wine and held it to his lips on the end of a stick. "Let us see', he said, "if Elijah will come to take him down.' Then Jesus gave a loud cry and died; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who was standing opposite him saw how he died, he said, "This man must have been a son of God.'
NOTES ON THE READINGS ………….
Please just stop for a moment and ponder the enigmatic position you are being asked to take about this Jesus. On the one hand, you are presented with a Person Whose whole life was given to others. That, in a world which, like ours, pandered to success and power. On the other hand, that same Person was denigrated, debased and executed like a common criminal. That death was a statement of the assessment placed on Jesus by His political and religious leaders of the time. This is rather more than the ‘tall poppy syndrome’ in which that Australians seem to enjoy indulging; this is a deliberate statement by the power-brokers of Jesus’ day that He was far too dangerous to allow to live any longer.
That is the sort of world in which we live, and never forget it.
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON
I do not know how long it will take for some Christians to see the death of Jesus as more than the ransom for their sins. While on that subject, I find it important to underline the fact that, if you sit up and take notice of the Biblical approach to the issue, what Jesus did on the Cross was to ‘wear’ whatever human evil could throw at Him, and destroy it by His refusal to retaliate. In Biblical terms, evil is overcome when it is shown up for what it is! The real struggle at the Cross was the harsh business of human evil being confronted by Divine good, the latter revealing that evil by allowing it to do its worst. To do otherwise would have been to add to or multiply that evil, do you see!
This, one of the final in the series of Isaiah’s Servant Songs, points up the profoundly difficult role that the Servant has – to remain true to God while coping with human bitter antagonism. The only encouragement here that the Servant can see is that – sooner of later – that evil human response will become clear to other people. Truth will survive whatever humans can throw at it.
PSALM
This is a far from pretty Psalm as it expresses the extreme anguish of someone who was ‘put through the mill’ by his contemporaries. It may have been jealousy of some sort that evoked such a harsh and judgemental response to the author of the Psalm. The only recourse that victim had was his appeal to God, Who perhaps alone knew and understood the truth of the situation. It has to be said that such situations are far from unknown and maybe a reader of these notes has been pressed out of shape by an erstwhile ‘friend.’
EPISTLE
The translation offered by the Revised English Bible has some unexpected twists to it. ‘Let this mind be in you’ is replaced by a rather greater challenge really. Certainly it is clearer. If we are to be disciples of Christ, then we need to pattern our actions and attitudes on Him. This will take us in a direction diametrically opposite to what we may describe as ‘normal human.’
As I have pointed out elsewhere, this ancient Christian song asks us to compare and contrast Jesus with Adam. In the Genesis story, Adam DID grasp at equality (or even superiority!) with God, and that is the clearest Biblical statement of what constitutes sin. It is my determination to get on top of you, to control you, and to control all the circumstances surrounding me. It is hugely destructive, and painfully human.
Jesus operated totally differently, and that is the direction He puts in front of us to pursue. The reason for that is simple: there is no other path to reconciliation, human to God or human to human.
GOSPEL
There is almost too much of the Gospel today to comment at any great length. In fact, by the time this Gospel is read there will not be a lot of time for a sermon – which may be a relief for some. However, as an exercise for yourselves, could I ask you to read through this painfully familiar story and notice the extent to which all but One of the major players found methods to protect themselves or following where the truth of the situation was obviously bidding them to head. Power, abuse, mockery and other means were employed to avoid following the obvious. How many systems and methods can people use to avoid the real issues? The story of Jesus’ trials portray a long list of miscarriages of justice; but then such trials are never otherwise.
NOTES FOR A SERMON ………..
I must be too much of a traditionalist, for I bemoan the way in which Passion Sunday has overtaken Palm Sunday. The huge contrast between the raving welcome given to Jesus on Palm Sunday shows up terribly with the baying crowd on the Friday morning. And that has always provided me with the challenge never to be only a fair weather friend ….. or a fair-weather disciple.
On the other hand, the readings for Passion Sunday provide so much to ponder and make one’s own that the extent of the learning curve seems quite endless. First there is the exploration of Isaiah as he pondered the role of the Suffering Servant, and it is a measure of Isaiah’s insight as the Jesus story unfolded. The old prophet underlines the terrible and lonely road of the person who dares to be different and offer a superior way of living. Of course it all makes sense, that way of Jesus, but who is prepared to walk in that way? The Psalmist was passionately aware of the loneliness of being different.
The passage that sticks out head and shoulders even in this remarkable series of readings is that most marvellous of Epistles. As I have often said, if this is all there ever was of the New Testament, then the Gospel of Christ would be remarkably vivid and clear in this ancient Christian hymn. For the Gospel is far more than wacko I can be forgiven. It is clearly visible here that the Gospel is the offer from God Himself to chose to follow Christ in the pattern of living. In complete contrast to Adam, Jesus lived lowly and as a servant. If and when we follow the pattern ourselves, then people will perhaps begin to see the real and profound value of the Gospel, not in the world to come but right in the here and now.
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