Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion - Sermon and Video

 If you would like to view the service at St. Luke, Rensselaer, please click Here. 

Palm Sunday/ Sunday of the Passion

John 12:12-19; Zechariah 9:9-12; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 15:1-47

O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen. 

Identity continues to be an issue these days. If you key the word “identity” into your Internet search engine, the first thing that comes up is something relating to protecting your identity. A close second topic is identity politics. 

In the Bible Readings for today, Jesus is given a number of different identities. In the First Gospel, we meet Jesus the King. As he enters Jerusalem, his rightful city, as he is a Son of David, the crowds greet him with joy and great expectation. Palm branches are waving and thrown at his feet. People’s cloaks are on the ground before him.  They cry out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”  

By the time we get to the main Gospel, the Passion account, Jesus has a very different identity thrust upon him.  Now he is a condemned criminal. He is a blasphemer. He is a liar. The Roman soldiers mock Jesus as a King with a crown of thorns and a purple robe and sneering salutes. Not long after that, Jesus has the identity of a condemned and crucified criminal. 

What happened here? Is this a case of mistaken identity? Was his identity stolen? Is this some strange take on identity politics? 

The Apostle Paul offers an understanding of Jesus’ identity. Jesus, working in tandem with the Father and the Holy Spirit, turns the notion of a king on its head. Jesus is a king. He is a Savior. Jesus is God. He is the Son of God. Yet, in the incarnation, the Son of God empties himself by becoming a man. In the Incarnation, our Lord enters a state of humiliation. When Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, Jesus is born to us as a brother. A human brother who is like us in every way, except for the sin.  He shares with us all our human feelings and struggles. He knows hunger and uncertainty, exhaustion and frustration, sadness and loss. He certainly knows poverty.  Throughout his life, he struggled with Satan’s temptations to abandon his mission and his sacrifice for us. Where the first Adam failed in saying no to temptation, Jesus does not fall for the enticement. 

In his state of humiliation, Jesus empties himself of all the rights and privileges and powers that he enjoyed as Son of God in order to be our Brother. Our Brother is also a king who will reign as one who first serves us by giving up His life in our behalf. Our king gives up his life so that we may know God’s forgiveness. 

Paul says, Jesus “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  

As our brother, Jesus is our servant. The identity of servant enlightens our perception of all the other identities we encounter today. 

Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey.  He fulfills the messianic prophecy from Zechariah. “Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey.” We also observe that unlike any other time that a king enters his city, Jesus arrives alone.  Where is the procession? Where are the banners? Where are the king’s soldiers?  All absent because this king’s glory is not in his men of arms.  Jesus comes to serve through sacrifice of himself, not through military might. Jesus comes to inaugurate the kingdom of God which has as its cornerstone, the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus is a king. He comes to his people.  He does not come from a faraway country.  He comes from heaven.  He comes to serve his people by being with his people, from among the people. This king comes to serve through the giving of his life and his death on the cross.  He dies for the sake of the world so that the forgiveness that he wins through the shedding of his blood is available to all people in every time and place. 

By his choice, not by accident, not because he was caught up in a movement, but by his choice, he receives the lies, the betrayal, the cruelty, the mocking, and the nails.  

He endures all of this for love so that he can say to us, “I know your sins, I know your repentance, I know your faith, you are forgiven.” Because of this grace, our heavenly Father’s wrath passes over us. 

Because our Lord enters Jerusalem and suffers and dies, our identity changes too. We no longer belong to sin, death, or the devil.  We belong to him.  Our brother serves and saves us through his sacrifice. Through His blood, he declares us righteous, forgiven, loved. 

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The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.