Palm Sunday 2021

Palm Sunday 2021

Isaiah 50:4-7,  Psalm 22,  Philippians 2:6-11, Mark 15:1-39

 

Have you ever been had a close friend share something with you, that left you with no real idea what to say in response? Words, any words, might seem too shallow for the moment, whether euphoric or heart-wrenching.

 

As I prayed with the Gospel, this stood out to me:

“He took Peter, James and John and began to be distressed and agitated.”

 

Jesus became distressed and agitated…and he said, “I am deeply grieved, even to death.”

 

Distressed. Agitated. Grieved.

 

Not words we typically ascribe to Jesus of Nazareth, a man of peace and healing.

 

And the Gospel continues, in description of the disciples’ response, “They did not know what to say to him.”

 

We are beginning our sacred time of Holy Week. A time the Church has set aside for us to deepen in the central events of our faith. A time when we are invited to walk intimately with Christ, of participating in the divine life amid our human reality.

 

Throughout Lent, Fr James and I have led a preaching series on “Renewing Our Covenant”, through which we looked at the differences between a Covenant and a contract, we have come to see that a contract says, “This is your and this is mine” whereas a Covenant says, “I am yours and you are mine.”

 

This week, God wants to speak into your life, “I am yours and you are mine.” This is expressed through God’s radical gift of self. God’s total self-giving, through Christ, for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins (as we will hear at the Altar).

 

For the past two weeks, as part of this series, Renewing Our Covenant, we considered the Covenant God made through David. King David. God promised to establish an “eternal kingdom” through David.

 

The Church professes this Davidic kingdom, this eternal kingdom, is fulfilled through Jesus Christ, the new Covenant of God’s very own body and blood.

 

And Jesus, who ushered in the New Covenant, “… took Peter, James and John and began to be distressed and agitated. I am deeply grieved, even to death.”

 

And, “They did not know what to say to him.”

 

What do you say to him? 

 

Jesus, the eternal king, as just expressed his total vulnerability to us by expressing how he is feeling about this calling on his life. Vulnerability…from a King…from an eternal King…from God…really? Can this vulnerability be real?

 

This Kingdom ushered in by Christ, if measured against any worldly standard, was an abject failure. A rag-tag group of men and women of low station in society, followed a penniless field preacher from Galilee to usher in the new kingdom.

 

And he was beaten up by the authorities and killed. Done. That’s pretty much the very definition of a failure.

 

Of course, God didn’t fail on the Cross, We have all failed to keep our Covenant with God, all of humanity has, time and time again. But through the  lens of that which the world sees as failure, God ushers in the victory of Divine Love. This is grace and we did nothing to merit such a great gift.

 

This Holy Week, I invite you to fully participate in the week by attending, either in person or online, the liturgies as we journey with this eternal King; this vulnerable king, this humble king, this triumphant king.

 

As was written to the Philippians in our second reading, “Though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself…”

 

What do you have to say to him?

 

I invite you into this conversation with God this week.

 

What do you have to say to him?