Second Presbyterian Church

"From Palm to Passion"
April 13, 2003

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2003 » Sermons for April 2003

Palm/Passion Sunday, Year B
by The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Mark 1: 1-11
• Mark 15

What a difference a week can make! Things can change so fast, in a moment - in a flash! You have experienced it as well as I have, when in a moment everything is different. Perhaps you have lost a job when you weren't really expecting to. Or, everything began in a routine manner and on the way to work you had an accident. It can be anything.

One event that comes to my mind was the presidency of President Bush (1988 - 1992), the other President Bush. At the end of the Gulf War President Bush's popularity rating was extremely high, the highest of any president up to that time. I also recall the Democrats talking about the economy and I remember how defensive they sounded. Yet within two years President Bush's popularity rating plummeted. The economy at that time was sluggish and the memory of the Gulf War's perceived glory had faded. President George Bush lost his bid for a second term as President of the United States.

Popularity by the people is facetious. It can rise to tremendous heights only to plummet, sometimes in a matter of hours. It can plummet with false information. Truth doesn't necessarily have to play a part. Many Hollywood stars and politicians have ridden the roller coaster ride called popularity; they have experienced the heady heights of popularity and have felt the lows of loss when it is as if everyone turned their back upon them. Another example was Maine's Democrat Senator, Edmund Muskie, who was the top candidate for the Democratic Party nomination who would have to take on Richard Nixon. Rumors of a scandal came out; Muskie lost support; his chances were ruined. Only later was it discovered that the Republicans had started the rumor.

And so it was with Jesus. When he finally entered Jerusalem riding a donkey, the crowds welcomed him as if he was the successor to David's throne. They shouted to him titles such as in Psalm 118: 26, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!" And they perceived Jesus' entry by donkey as a fulfillment of the prophecy by Zechariah:

"Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Zech.: 9:9b

Jesus had the crowds excited; they were pumped. They were expecting something big, something really major to happen!

And it is not that Jesus offered any disclaimers. He rode on the donkey on purpose, by his own decision. He expressed authority that only God can claim: such as forgive sins, cast out demons, heal the sick.

And the crowds were right! Jesus was the Messiah. He is the successor to the throne of David. He is Hosanna! He is the one who comes in the name of the LORD!

But they did not understand how his being the Messiah was supposed to unfold. Jesus came to Jerusalem to be crucified on the cross - to be killed. He came to suffer.

Jesus did not come to Jerusalem to declare war on Rome and establish the nation Israel that people expected. Jesus knew what was coming. He had been tempted by Satan to become a more popular type of what a Messiah should be and do. Jesus had struggled with the temptation to be an economic, or political, or a super-duper-major-wonder-worker Messiah, the popular understandings of Messiah.

Jesus accepted their praise and adulation, because it was true. He is the Messiah, son of David whose throne shall be established forever. But fortunately for us, Jesus also knew what was going to happen. He was going to suffer. He knew the crowds would either turn on him and scream, "Crucify him!" or they would just leave him. Fortunately Jesus not only knew what would happen, he also knew what to do - go to the cross and die!

At least three times, Jesus tried to directly tell his disciples what was going to happen when they got to Jerusalem. At least three times, the attempt by Jesus went completely over their heads. The disciples did not, could not understand what Jesus was doing until after he as raised from the dead. Again, fortunately for us, and all humanity, Jesus stayed the course all the way through the cross!

And the inevitable happened. The temple leaders wanted to destroy Jesus even before he arrived in Jerusalem. The crowds didn't take too long a time, about three or four days, to realize that Jesus was not trying to raise an army that would kick out the Pagan Romans. They became increasingly disappointed.

And Judas was among those who fervently followed Jesus. The trouble was he became very disappointed when he heard Jesus talk about all this dying and suffering stuff. So Judas went to the temple leaders and made arrangements to hand Jesus over to the temple authorities. The momentum changed. Jesus had his last Passover meal with his disciples. The temple guards, led by Judas, went and seized Jesus in the garden of Gethsemene. And Jesus' passion began in earnest.

Why do we call this passage in Mark (Chapters 14 & 15) the Passion Narrative? It is curious that we call this aspect of the work of Christ his Passion. At the root of the meanings of the word, passion, is the word, passive. It reflects the external forces that take over the life of Jesus - as if he is the passive recipient of the external forces. So during these final hours of Jesus' life he became very passive. In both the Greek and English texts the passive voice is used over and over.

He was betrayed
He was arrested
He was subjected to a mockery of justice
He was beaten
He was mocked and ridiculed
He was hung on a cross
He was killed

And, yes,

He was raised from the dead!

All these things happened to Jesus. And during this part of the Gospel, Jesus is strangely quiet; he doesn't say much. It is like the African American Spiritual says, "and he never said a mumblin' word."

In just a period of a few days Jesus goes from a triumphant entry to hanging on a cross, dying. Right at the time, the priests begin to slaughter the paschal lambs in preparation for the Feast of the Passover Jesus sacrifices his life so that sin and death will pass over us - forever.

What a price God paid for us! What a terrible price God paid so that humanity could be redeemed! What a price God paid so that you and I could be here to worship and praise God. What wondrous and merciful love God demonstrated for our sakes! Amen.