Passion Sunday 2010                                                               Christ Church , York

Palms and Passion! Passion and Palms! It starts on a high note, with the singing of the Hosannas, with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the acclamation of this same Jesus as king and conquering hero. At that very moment is seemed that Jesus had arrived at the pinnacle of His power, at the height of His prestige, at the fulfillment of His earthly mission. The whole city lay before Him. Victory was His. But this was not the end, not the culmination, not the fulfillment. Instead this was only the beginning. For now we begin a week of violent contradictions, a week which will start with Palms and shouts of joy and end with Passion and grief. For these Palms will soon be turned into crosses and the cheers from the crowd today will turn into jeers, as this same crowd which greets Him today gathers again to call for His death.

But the greatest contradiction is to be seen in the very person of Jesus Himself. Yes there will be triumphant resurrection. But before we get there, Jesus has to undergo a disgraceful death. Jesus knows that the Father has sent him so that He might die for the sin of the world. But in the Garden of Gethsemane , we will see Him deeply troubled, as He prays to His Father to remove the chalice of suffering and death from Him. He is a King. Yet we will see Him betrayed and taken prisoner, led away to be mocked, blindfolded, beaten, spat upon. And while the King is condemned, a convicted murderer is set free. And while He is yet God, He is also a human, who will feel the pain of being cut to the quick, as Peter denies Him and all the disciples forsake Him. And while He has come from the glorious company of heaven, He will feel abandoned by God and by the desertion of His friends. The sign above the cross will proclaim Him “King of the Jews,” but we will see Him crucified between two thieves and die branded as a common criminal. This is indeed a week of contradictions.

But now we too are invited to take this road of contradictions. Now we are invited to leave the comfort of our lives and follow Mary and those few faithful disciples to stand beneath the cross. We are invited to give up that which is easy in our lives and instead to embrace the cross. We are invited to move from life into death. It is an invitation of contradictions, a contradiction seen best in the cross itself, the ultimate symbol of degradation and death which will become for us the means of life and salvation. But Holy Week gives us the chance, once again, to ponder the mystery of this contradiction, the mystery of this cross, and see what it means for each and every one of us to take it up in our lives.

So will you join us this week as we celebrate the great Paschal mystery, centered upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Our Lord? Will you walk with us as we go from the Upper Room on Thursday to the hill of Calvary on Friday? Will you join us as we come to celebrate new life at the great Vigil of Easter on Saturday? There will be great contradictions presented to us – images, rituals, words, signs – but these will all be resolved in the end. For even in the midst of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem Jesus knew that He could not live forever in the glory and praise of the Palms. Instead He had been called to walk the lonely road that stretched out before Him, for only in that way would He make sense out of the greatest contradiction of all – how to bring life out of death. Jesus has walked that road of contradictions so that all contradictions would be resolved in Him and He now beckons us to follow Him, to join Him in that journey through the pain, through the agony, through the death unto life anew. Amen