Palm/Passion Sunday

April 14, 2019

The Great Reversal

The Passion according to St. Luke

It was street theater and drama at its best.  On one side of Jerusalem Pontius Pilate and Roman legions entered the city gates on white horses in pomp and great ceremony.  The power of Rome needed to be displayed at the beginning of the Passover lest the locals rise up in arms and rebellion. Security forces came out even more visibly to intimidate and put fear in the people.

It was street theater and drama at its best.  On the other side of Jerusalem Jesus entered the city – on a donkey – humbly with the pomp of palms and the cries of children:  “Hosanna to God in the highest.”  When confronted by the religious leaders for his action – Jesus says that the ‘very stones will shout his praise.’

Two parades: one of pomp and power – the other of compassion and humility.

Luke sets the stage with Mary’s Song which is Prelude to the birth of Jesus and his ministry.  She sings of reversals in what is known as the Magnificat – “My Soul Magnifies the Lord.”

51 He [God] has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.  (Luke 1:51-53)

Jesus’ backstory is one of mocking reversals of the Empire.  Luke’s Gospel begins with the narrative of the birth of Jesus so familiar to many of us:

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 

The Empire is moving people around and counting them in order to tax them.  So Mary and Joseph go to their town of origin to be counted.  And Jesus in contrast to the birth of divine Caesars is born in a manger.  This Son of God Caesar – (in the First Century Rome’s Caesars were considered Divine) This Caesar – Jesus, Son of God is not heralded by powerful kings and princes, but by angels.

This Son of God in contrast to Caesar Sons of God is visited not by heads of State but by Shepherds – the lowly of the first century.

Luke places Jesus in the middle of the Empire as an opposite Caesar - setting up God’s great reversal.

“Luke’s entire story of Jesus culminates in a passion of reversals:

Reversals: 

·         Followers betray, deny, and flee leaving only the women to tend to Jesus. 

·         Herod and Pilate, once enemies, become friends because of Jesus. 

·         Barabbas, the violent rebel is released while – Jesus the teacher of ‘love your enemies’ is flogged and sentenced to death. 

·         The daughters of Jerusalem who may have been part of the Palm Sunday parade now weep over Jesus as he marches toward Golgotha hill.

When nailed to the cross Jesus pronounces a reversal:

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

A thief – outcast on a cross next to Jesus is welcomed into Paradise by the Rabbi.  Pilate could not pronounce Jesus innocent, yet a Roman Centurion praises God and cries out:  “Certainly this man was innocent!”

Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Council that condemned Jesus, is the one who cares for his body and places it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever laid.

Luke’s account of the passion is about the Kingdom of God and God’s great reversal.  It is about how God has acted and continues to act in Jesus Christ to bring about the new way of the Kingdom where the first are last and the last are first.

Jesus and his way of life stand in bold contrast to the Empire.  The Empire is full of pomp and power and oppression.  Jesus is full of compassion, sides with the outsider, liberates those who are oppressed.

Here we see what happens when extravagant love is given.  Here we see what happens when God enters into the Empire – the Empire – the powers that be – the system of dominance chews up and spits out Jesus.

Those caught up in the culture of power, wealth, violence, and dominance will end up crucifying Jesus every time. 

The vulnerable, those in need of healing, the lowly, the outsider, and those unacceptable to the powerful will find in Jesus the love and acceptance that will free them to be a people of God.

What about Palm Sunday & Holy Week?  Is this simply a story we rehearse to recall the plight of a suffering Savior? 

No! It is about Jesus bringing in the rule of God here and now.  The Kingdom of God enters our culture and history in Christ.  What happens when God’s loving rule comes in contact with our culture today?

God’s loving rule challenges the powers of violence that want to keep assault weapons on our streets. 

God’s loving rule calls us to serve others as Christ served.

God’s loving rule calls the people of God to stand in solidarity with the marginalized, the working poor, the immigrant, and those who need a social safety net. 

A faith community caught up in God’s reversal will find itself in trouble with the powers that want to divide people and treat others as less than ourselves. 

By standing with and for the likes that Jesus hung out with – a thief on the cross, women, children, and the disabled we will oft be vilified by the wealthy and powerful.

Palm/Passion Sunday is not simply a time to feel bad for all our sins and thank God for sending Jesus to die on the cross. 

No!  Palm Sunday is a time for us to join Christ’s parade and get passionate about the same things our Lord is passionate about.  Step into God’s parade and participate in God’s loving rule of compassion, healing, forgiveness, and new life.

Amen

kennstorck@gmail.com