Sermon 207 April 13, 2025: Mt 21:28-32 “Palm Sunday Vespers"

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As we leave behind the cheering crowd at Jerusalem and enter the week of Christ's sacred [saving] Passion, our gospel reading tonight might be seen as representing the change of mind of the Jerusalem crowd. Two sons are asked to do a task. One says yes but doesn't do it and the other says no but changes his mind and does his father's will. This little drama is also played out inside each one of us when we waver between the positive and negative impulses that can be at war in our hearts. And 
wasn't it also played out inside Jesus himself in Gethsemane when he asked: If possible take this cup from me. But your will be done. The Jerusalem crowd begins as enthusiastic supporters of Jesus and then changes and calls for his death!

The first part of Holy Week brings us readings with lessons preparing us for the passion. Tonight begins Holy Monday with its theme of the treachery of Joseph's brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt. Their first thought was to kill him. This prefigures the crowd shouting at Pilate: Crucify him! Crucify him!  Joseph's brothers, however, changed their minds when they realized they could get money for him. So they sold him for 20 Shekels, prefiguring Judas' bargain to sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Judas is like the Jerusalem crowd, but even more, not just a quixotic enthusiast but a disciple, a member of the inner circle, "my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me," as the Psalmist says [Ps 41:9 NIV].

This story gives us the chance to ponder the nature of our relations with our dearest friends or even family. How easy it is for that relationship to turn ugly. And when it does, are we also hurting Jesus?  "What you do to the least of these you do to me."  And if so, might this help us learn from Christ on the cross to forgive even in the most painful of circumstances. For Joseph, when his family came to Egypt and met him, forgave them, embraced them and thereby brought healing to their family.  Didn't Jesus say to his opponents and executioners, "forgive them for they know not what they do?"

On Holy Tuesday we meet again the ten bridesmaids awaiting the wedding feast. Jesus opens this story saying the Kingdom of Heaven will be like this. We often think this story is about being prepared to enter the kingdom of heaven. The foolish bridesmaids lost their opportunity to enter the kingdom of heaven because they were not prepared. The tricky part is understanding what that means. What was the error of the foolish bridesmaids?  After running off to get a supply of oil, they returned only to hear the Lord say to them: "I don't know you." The oil they needed was not available for purchase. For the message of the parable isn't about oil or banquets. It's about being known by Jesus in a way that he can recognize. This is a lifetime occupation but Holy Week is a time to ponder this more deeply as we witness Jesus's passion. Can Jesus recognize himself in us?

And then on Wednesday we encounter the woman who crashes Simon's party and takes her sorrow and regret over her wasted life and spills that on Jesus as she anoints him with expensive perfume. The guests show righteous indignation at her behavior, while Jesus praises her act of contrition and then shows her compassion and forgiveness. He knows her, he knows what's in her heart. He also knows the hearts of the others in the room.  When judgment comes, to which of them will he say at the door of the kingdom: "I don't know you."

This is our path during Holy Week as we accompany Jesus on his journey to Golgotha. Whatever we may or may not have accomplished during Great Lent, or even throughout our life, this week gives us a chance once again to learn from Jesus about forgiveness, compassion and resurrection.

Like the one brother in our gospel reading, who is able to admit, at least to himself, his misguided response to his father, and with a change of heart, change his behavior as well.  Likewise, the woman's change of heart and life yields blessings from Jesus. May our participation in this Holy Week open us to similar blessings.

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Sermon 206 April 13, 2025: Ze 9:9-12; Ph 3:10, 4:1; Jn

As preached by Brother Luke

Holy Wisdom Church

12:12-19 “Palm Sunday"

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Back when I was a youngster growing up in LA, heading off  to the beach to ride the waves was a common summertime activity. I was never one to ride surf boards, unlike my two brothers who were quite accomplished surfers. I stuck to the slightly less hazardous body surfing. But no wave was too high!  The higher the better and what a view heading into the shore.  Riding high on the crest of the wave and the water churning below and the beach ahead seemingly tiny and distant. But the end of the ride was the reminder of reality below as you crashed into the sandy shore.

And isn't that a bit like the Palm Sunday celebration? The great high of the crowd gathering around Jesus and accompanying him on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Here is the promised king who will liberate Israel from the Roman occupiers and establish the Kingdom of God that will last forever.  The crowd is jubilant at the prospect. But Jesus's Kingdom, while already present, is not the kingdom the crowd expected. His entire ministry was misunderstood and ultimately a disappointment.

Our 40 day Lenten journey arrives at this weekend respite before we plunge into the transformative experience of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Maybe this Lent you felt a sense of accomplishment, you made at least some progress in your personal spiritual growth. Palm Sunday becomes that welcome bridge that takes you from the arena of personal struggle to a welcome oasis of celebration, first with Martha and Mary at the raising of their brother Lazarus from the dead, and then with the joy of Jesus's welcome by the crowds from Bethany and beyond as he enters Jerusalem with the acclaim: Hosannah in the Highest! Blest is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

But at this moment of celebration we take our joy in what we may have accomplished and connect it to the salvific journey that Christ will now make for us. So the bridge, Palm Sunday, is where the focus changes. The raising of Lazarus is the spark that brought out the crowds. The celebration at Jerusalem was about the anticipation surrounding the prospect of achieving the crowds' goals.  

But Holy Week is different. It is no longer about the crowds' political goals or my efforts to re-orient my life, or at least make some modest improvement in my attitudes and actions towards others or even myself. Now the spotlight is on Jesus and his sacrifice for our salvation, the ultimate source of our transformation. We engage in his paschal journey by accompanying him through the pain and anguish of his arrest, trial, sentencing and execution on the cross. We also notice that, throughout it all, Jesus is the one dispensing grace to those around him: washing the feet of his disciples to teach them, and us, a lesson in humble service, inaugurating the Lord's supper to give us access to him even after he ascends to heaven, offering forgiveness to his executioners and blessing to the repentant thief also dying on a cross next to him, to show us how God's love embraces all people and all circumstances.

This journey of Jesus is also our journey, if we choose to truly immerse ourselves in its unfolding and take to heart the message it is conveying to us. No matter what life presents to us, we have the freedom to choose to engage with it and transform it into blessings. And when we do that, our paschal celebration at the end of Holy Week will be just the first wave of many new resurrection celebrations to flow our way in our life's journey.

Christ is in our midst.