This Is Jesus

pneumatizing

Apr 4

Salem United Church of Christ

Higginsville, Missouri

2 April 2023

Palm/Passion Sunday

I. The Passion of Jesus

That we would talk about the Passion of Jesus on Palm Sunday may seem odd, but the fact is that not many of us will come to the Maundy Thursday service or the community Good Friday service, so we will move from the exuberance of Palm Sunday to the joy of Easter without the recognition of what happens between the two celebrations – so we need to talk about the Passion
Our portion of the story is simply the ending part, the climax of the story, if you will – the story begins with the meal in the upper room in chapter 26, but that it too much to try to deal with it all in a single sermon
We pick up the story with Jesus' appearance before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, which includes Jerusalem – we begin our part of the story after both Judas and Peter betray Jesus, each in their own way – we do not know Judas's motivation in his betrayal – maybe it was simple greed, but given what happened that seems unlikely – Judas hands Jesus over to the religious authorities who have been trying to find a way to capture Jesus without drawing too much attention from the people – they settle on taking him while he is in the Garden of Gethsemane with his friends – when Jesus is in the custody of the religious authorities, Judas has a change of heart – he regrets having given Jesus to the authorities and he returns the money, the thirty pieces of silver, that he had gotten for his treachery – he throws the money onto the floor of the temple and then goes out and completes a suicide
Peter's betrayal of Jesus is perhaps less momentous – he simply denies even knowing Jesus – and when he realizes what he has done, which Jesus has told him he would do, he weeps bitterly – we do not usually think of Peter's action as a betrayal, but that is what it is at its heart – he betrays the trust, confidence, and love that Jesus has given him
The religious leaders take Jesus to see Pilate so that he can complete the task of ridding the religious leaders of the thorn in their side that Jesus has been – to his credit, Pilate finds no cause in Jesus' words or actions that would warrant the ultimate sentence – he tries, somewhat halfheartedly, to convince the leaders not to try to kill Jesus, but they will not be dissuaded – they have prepared the crowd for such a moment
Pilate offers the people a choice – he says that he will release one prisoner, either Jesus or another – I can only imagine that Pilate offers a person he thinks that the crowd will consider to be an unacceptable candidate for freedom, a person who is a notorious criminal – he must have been surprised that the crowd chooses the criminal
This is not a choice that Pilate wants to make on his own – he does not want to upset either the religious leaders or the crowd, but neither does he see any reason to kill Jesus – his wife has even told him to have nothing to do with Jesus because she has had a dream that has brought her no little anguish – of course, Pilate is not eager to give the people and leaders what they want
And yet he does – he washes his hands, symbolically trying to free himself of the matter, but he is still culpable – he is still the chief civil authority and ultimately the one who condemns Jesus to die
The Roman guards ridicule Jesus and torture him before leading him out to the place of execution – the two bandits who are crucified along with Jesus also mock him and taunt him – in Matthew, there is no repentant thief of the cross, only two unrepentant bandits
Beginning at around noon, the sky above Jerusalem turns dark and remains dark for about three hours as Jesus hangs on the cross – in the darkness he cries out to God, asking why God has abandoned him – the tragedy of that is, in my mind, that God has not abandoned him – God is still right there with him, feeling what he feels, sharing his agony – but Jesus, being human, does not sense God's presence with him
Finally, Jesus cries out again and dies
The only witnesses that the story mentions are a Roman centurion and the soldiers accompanying him, who recognize Jesus as God's Son and some of Jesus' women supporters, who watch from a distance – the Evangelist names none of the disciples or any other of Jesus' friends as being present at the execution

II. This Is Jesus

This is Jesus – tried, mocked, tortured, bleeding, sore, and crucified – this is Jesus, both human and divine, dying on a cross – this is Jesus, giving his life as a demonstration of God's unending and unconditional love for all God' children – this is Jesus, wondering how God could leave him in such a difficult and soul-crushing time – this is Jesus at his most human and most vulnerable – this is Jesus
What are we to make of this picture of Jesus? – how are we to come to grips with what he has done for us and for all of humankind? – never before and never since have we seen such complete and unshakable love
This is Jesus, giving us a picture of true love, love that gives of itself even when someone betrays it – love that gives of itself even when others mock it and taunt it – love that gives of itself even when some friends abandon it and others can only watch from a distance – love that even strangers can recognize for the gift that it is
This is Jesus, who still loves us unconditionally and completely – who calls us, as his friends and followers and disciples, to love one another and others in the same way – this is Jesus

III. Conclusion

See him there in the halls of power, speaking God's truth to the authorities – see him there, stripped and beaten not because God demands it but because flawed and fearful humans demand it – see him there, on the road to the place of execution – see him there, alone on the cross
This is Jesus – the sign of God's love for you and for us all – this is Jesus

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