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| If these were silent, the stones would shout out. Luke 19:40 (Kirsten Malcom Berry) |
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death —
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of
Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, 'The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee." (Matthew 21:1-11)
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When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking “Who is this?’
I wonder if this was like the time on choir tour when we sang and stayed in Philadelphia the same night that the NBA All-Star game was happening there. I walked with friends around the city post-concert, finding food and exploring, and we suddenly came upon a swirling mass of people. We pushed our way to the edge of the crowd, discovering that everyone was gathered around the entrance to a restaurant that was having a swanky post-game party, with a red carpet and velvet ropes leading to the door. With each limo that pulled up, the crowd buzzed and shifted to see which sports or entertainment celebrity would be revealed when the car door opened. Those of us in the back who couldn’t see would rely on the murmur of the crowd to hear what was going on. There were crowds like this all over the city - anxious and excited people gathering together, hoping to catch a glimpse of somebody famous.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking “Who is this?”
Our culture simply buzzes over celebrities and interesting people. We know a host of intimate details about celebrities we follow - their favorite foods, the outfits they wear when they go shopping, where they go shopping, their children’s names, their workout routines, their hometowns... We follow celebrities on TV, in magazines, and online to feel like we really know who they are.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking “Who is this?”
Take ten seconds, right now, to think about your answer to this question, “Who is Jesus?” If you’re brave, write a thought or sentence on your bulletin. If you’re super-brave, show your neighbor what you’ve written.
Throughout Lent, we have been trying to answer this question. The characters in the gospel readings gave us a lot of good answers. Everything from Nicodemus calling him a teacher from God to the woman at the well calling him a prophet to the people in the Samaritan village calling him the savior of the world. The devil in the wilderness hit the nail on the head, calling him Son of God, and the man born blind believes when Jesus calls himself the Son of Man. And then there’s Martha - Martha, in last week’s reading, professing: “Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” All of these Lenten questions and encounters have been pushing us, step by step, toward a deeper understanding of who Jesus is.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking “Who is this?”
We, with the crowds, want to know who Jesus is. We, as those drawn through the waters of baptism, as those gathered here in this space to hear good news, as those shouting “Hosanna!” at the arrival of the king, as those who are faithful or seeking or curious, are the ones who want to know, for certain, who Jesus is. We are people who desperately want to know Jesus. It’s not good enough for us just to know what he ate for breakfast or what his favorite restaurant is. We, brothers and sisters, are the ones who crave a real, honest, deep, true answer to the question, “Who is this?”
In our Philippians reading today, Paul tells us exactly who Jesus is: he is the one whom God has highly exalted, giving him the name that is above all names, Jesus Christ the Lord, the savior of the world. But Paul reminds us that Jesus and his identity are not to be found by looking at the glory of God. Rather, Jesus is revealed to us, his truest, “realest” self, by the fact that he “humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross.”
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil asking, “Who is this?”
If Palm Sunday raises the question “Who is this?” then Good Friday gives us the answer: This is Jesus, the one sent to save the world, not in a blaze of glory, but in a profound sigh on the cross, upon which Jesus revealed to us the fullness of God’s love and the fullness of his mission to bring all creation into God’s merciful embrace.
This is the heart of our faith - that in the cross we see the true face of God in Christ. Martin Luther believed strongly that the cross is the only place that we know for sure who God is and how God saves. The cross is the place where we know for sure who Jesus is.
The theologian Robert Kolb, reflecting upon Luther’s theology of the cross, says
God at his most glorious, in his display of the extent of his mercy and love for his human creatures, appears, Luther believed, in the depth of the shame of the cross. There [God] is to be seen as he really is, in his true righteousness, which is mercy and love. There human beings are to be seen as those who deserve to die eternally but who now through baptismal death have the life Christ gives through his resurrection, forever. (Luther on the Theology of the Cross)
At the center of our faith is this absolute paradox - that we see the glory of God in Christ only through the tragedy of the cross. It is both mind-bending and game-changing.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil asking, “Who is this?”
We see Christ most truly not in his moments of glory, but in his moments of shame. Likewise, as we look around our world, we see Christ most clearly and intimately in the poor, broken, tired, shameful, and needy parts of our world and our lives.
For the triumph of the cross is the fact that God’s grace and salvation come to all of the broken corners of our world. The promise of the cross is the fact that death and all our little deaths have been defeated. The glory of the cross is the fact that resurrection will come to the dying, and light will vanquish the darkness. The victory of the cross is the fact that God promises us a tree of life, bearing fruit for all the hungry, with leaves that extend into a healing embrace for all the nations.
This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians that
the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God....God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are....[this] is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking “Who is this?”
One answer comes to us in the words of the poet Sylvia Dunston:
You, Lord, are both Lamb and Shepherd.
You, Lord, are both prince and slave.
You, peacemaker and swordbringer
Of the way you took and gave.
You the everlasting instant;
You, whom we both scorn and crave.
Clothed in light upon the mountain,
Stripped of might upon the cross,
Shining in eternal glory,
Beggar’d by a soldier’s toss,
You, the everlasting instant;
You, who are both gift and cost.
You, who walk each day beside us,
Sit in power at God’s side.
You, who preach a way that’s narrow,
Have a love that reaches wide.
You, the everlasting instant;
You, who are our pilgrim guide.
Worthy is our earthly Jesus!
Worthy is our cosmic Christ!
Worthy your defeat and vict’ry.
Worthy still your peace and strife.
You, the everlasting instant;
You, who are our death and life.
("Christus Paradox")
As we move through this Holy Week, I pray that Jesus might be revealed to you ever more clearly as we enter again into Jesus’ last days and into the intimate details of his last meal, his betrayal, and his death. I pray that Jesus will be known to you ever more deeply as we hold vigil at the tomb, waiting for the stone to again be rolled away so that we can once again see resurrection.
For this Jesus is the one whom God has highly exalted, giving him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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