Saint Charles' Episcopal Church – Saint Charles, IL

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday – Passion Sunday - Year A – RCL

Sunday March 15, 2008 

Isaiah 50:4-9a – Psalm 31:9-16 – Philippians 2:5-11 – Matthew 21:1-11 / 26:14- 27:66

The Rev. William R. Nesbit, Jr.

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

Today is Palm Sunday, the Sunday of the Passion. It is a day of mixed emotions and conflicting imagery. We open in the triumphant exuberance as Jesus enters Jerusalem and end in loss and confusion as Jesus dies on the cross abandoned by his companions.

It didn't used to be this way. Palm Sunday used to be just Palm Sunday, but now it is Palm Sunday, The Sunday of the Passion. One might ask why we do this. Well, there are two reasons really, that I can think of. The first is simply practical. Many people, for one reason or another, do not make it to any of the Holy Week services of the Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter) and so would miss out on the power and depth of the Passion of Christ by going straight from the triumph of Palm Sunday to the triumph of the resurrection. In an effort to mitigate the potential tragedy this could precipitate in the faith life of these people, Palm Sunday was expanded to include the Passion narrative, sort of a Triduum light.

This is an OK reason for the change, I guess, but there is another one and as you may have already guessed, I think it's a better reason. When we approach the Passion of Jesus Christ there are two great themes reflected in that event; the theme of sacrifice or ultimate servanthood of Christ, often called a Theology of the Cross; and the theme of the glorification of Christ, often called the Theology of Glory. Since the Passion is at the center of the Christian faith and what it means to be a Christian, you will not be surprised, I am sure, to find these themes reflected in almost all aspects of the church. One way, for example, that these themes get reflected is in the different ways in which the cross is depicted in the church. Some crosses, like the one that hangs over our altar during Lent, depict the body of Jesus at the crucifixion. These crosses emphasis the sacrificial nature of the Passion. Other crosses may have a glorified body with arms uplifted and wearing a crown, or they may be missing the body completely, and be ornately embellished. These crosses emphasis the glorifying nature of the Passion. As you might imagine, these two themes, or natures, resonate more or less with different churches and with different people at different times in their lives. Where we get into trouble, both in our individual life of faith as well as in our institutional life as a church is when we get these two natures out of balance; when one is advocated at the expense of the other.

We can see this dynamic played out all the time in our church, and indeed in all churches. One group resonates more with the sacrificial nature, proclaiming that Christ's passion, and therefore our life in Christ, is about humble servanthood. The cross of Christ is a servant's burden. We are Christ's servants as Christ is the servant of God. There are many people in the church who believe servanthood and suffering are the same thing. For these people discipleship is measured primarily in terms of blood, sweat and tears. Through this lens, they see the call to faith as a call to struggle, the call to ministry as a martyr's song. All this is true, but not the whole truth. A wholesome servanthood needs to be balanced by a healthy dose of glory, a joyous realization that Christ has won the ultimate victory over sin, death and the devil, thus freeing us for service in his name. Without it, humble servanthood can degenerate into self-flagellation and false modesty. This skewed notion of servanthood can lead us to the dangerous belief that God loves us because we suffer.

On the other side of the coin are those who resonate strongly with the glorifying nature of the passion. For them the cross of Christ is the throne of victory; therefore, life in Christ is to know that we are the heirs of salvation and heralds of that salvation to the world. In some quarters of the church, basking in the glory of God is the only thing to do. Glory and praise are in vogue, because God's victory over sin and death is positive and inspirational. They even have praise services with only praise music that is vibrant and relevant with upbeat sermons where there is no mention of sin, no call to discipleship or to the narrow road that leads to life. As I said before, this is the truth, but not the whole truth. To focus solely on the glory of Christ's passion and to revel in the victory of the cross without a healthy dose of sacrifice and humble servanthood, is to allow that glory to degenerate into self congratulation and false pride, to turn the cross into a badge of entitlement.

As you can see clearly in this example both the sacrificial and the glorifying nature of the Passion are intimately bound up with each other. Like the two natures of Christ, full humanity and full divinity, they are inseparable. When we try to separate them and speak of a "theology of the cross" versus a "theology of glory," as if one must be forced to proclaim either Christ's cross or God's glory, we put ourselves in danger. Grave danger. Either side of the mystery of the Passion, if separated from the other, will be prone to misinterpretation and abuse. The two sides of the passion and therefore the two sides of our life in Christ need to be held in balance. When we balance our understanding of the passion, there will be no need to choose between servanthood or glory, between social justice or evangelism, between action or adoration. Both realities will feed each other.

This is the dynamic that Paul proclaims so boldly and so eloquently in his letter to the Philippians. It is the dynamic that lived in Christ and lives still in Christians to this day. It is the mystery of our faith. It is the dynamic of true humanity and yet graceful divinity, of humble servanthood and yet luminous glory, of a simple loaf of bread which becomes a body broken and is yet the fruitful bread of heaven, of a lowly cup of wine that becomes blood spilled and is yet the lavish cup of salvation.

This, I believe, is the real reason why we changed Palm Sunday, and why we hear from Paul's Letter to the Philippians today, to help us remember this important, indeed critical reality, to help us keep the same mind that was in Christ Jesus.

To remind us that though we are made in the image of God, we should not count equality with God as something to be exploited.

To remind us instead that we should empty ourselves, taking the form of a slave, being servants to both God and our neighbors.

To remind us to humble ourselves and be obedient bearers of the cross, both the cross of Christ, and the crosses we must each bear from time to time.

To remind us that God has highly exalted us in our baptism and has given us the name that is above every name, the name of Christian.

To remind us that we are part of a community in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, past, present, and future that confesses without ceasing that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God our Father.

I pray that we never forget. Amen.