Year A
Matthew 27: 11-54
The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn
The Ultimate Blessing
Today on Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, we have come to the ultimate blessing in disguise: the cross. We just heard the Passion story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his death. This is a story about our God allowing God’s self through Jesus, an innocent man, to endure on a cross excruciating torture and death which seems more like a curse than it does a blessing. Yet, Christ’s life, death, and resurrection had a message that God loves all people and he acted that out, so that people could see what a life controlled by love would look like. God’s power and love transforms the cross into a sign of new life and triumph over death.
The observance of Palm Sunday in Jerusalem began as early as the year 381, when people processed down the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, waving branches of palm or olive trees. They sang psalms, including Psalm 118 and shouted the antiphon, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” We, much like those first pilgrims began the service this morning with shouts of joy waving our branches of palm as we celebrated the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem praising him as our King. We joined with their voices and all voices through the centuries their enthusiastic cries: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”! But we did not get to sit with that Glory for very long because in the passion narrative we moved out of celebration to betrayal. Out of life; into death.
In the Passion story, we encountered the worst that human beings are capable of: the cruel torture and murder of an innocent person. The suffering that Jesus endured is difficult to grasp but when you read about how he would have actually suffered and died it breaks my heart. Not only did he suffer great physical agony, he endured taunts and derisive comments. And perhaps the most difficult suffering he endured was the conduct of his closest followers who betrayed, denied, and deserted him. In the Crucifixion, we, humanity reached its lowest point. Yet, the Passion story also shows the best we are capable of: self-giving love. On the cross we see a love for humanity that knows no limits. The cross is the ultimate act of self-giving, self-sacrificing love. On the cross it is as if Jesus’ arms embrace the whole world.
However, the cross was not exclusive to Jesus. As Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” We are also called to cross-bearing, to the same self-sacrificing love that Jesus showed for us. It is difficult for us to believe that the way to genuine joy and authentic life in this world is to empty ourselves and bear the cross of sacrifice, of self-giving, the total giving of ourselves in love for others, because it runs right against the grain. Yet, when we do, we discover the deep satisfaction that the giving of ourselves for others brings us. When we take up our cross and bear it faithfully, when we willingly give of ourselves in love for others, we encounter the great paradox of our Christian faith: we receive the joy and blessing of real life; a life that is more than adequate, an overflowing life: one that becomes a blessing to us.
On that day so long ago when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, he took on the burden and torture of the cross in order to bring about our salvation and he calls us to do the same for others. Let us embrace the paradox of our faith on this Palm Sunday, as we go into Holy Week and let us claim that our cries of “Hosanna” are cries of love to a God who gave of God’s self totally in love for you and for me. Let us not be like those who were so preoccupied with power and fearful of change that they missed the possibility of a world in which love and compassion could become a reality. Let us be those who are rejoicing with Jesus, as he enters Jerusalem, because we know that, through the miracle of his resurrection, he has entered into our lives to give us life with him forever. This is why the cross is the ultimate blessing.