Palm and Passion Sunday: Part 2

Passion Readings:Isaiah 50:4-9a • Luke 22:14-23:56

We now consider some of the readings for the Passion.

Prayer: Life-giver, Pain-bearer, Love-maker,day by day you sustain the weary with your word and gently encourage us to place our trust in you.

Awaken us to the suffering of those around us;save us from hiding in denials or taunts that deepen the hurt;give us grace to share one an other's burdens in humble service. Amen.

Isaiah 50:4-9

• "The tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word." Sustaining the weary with a word. That's a gift; that's power. Who can accomplish this feat? Isaiah, apparently! Isn't this part of what we do in the Christian community, speaking the Word on Sunday, in readings, in sermon. With God's Word, we can sustain the weary. Have you ever been sustained by a word, a kind word , a hopeful word...?
  
• "I gave my back . . . and my cheeks . . . I did not hide the face." Let us not think that there is nothing of Jesus' 'turn the other cheek' teaching in the Old Testament, that the OT only speaks of 'an eye for an eye' - this passage show us its just not so.
  
• "I have set my face like flint." Jesus is said to have set his face like flint as he walks towards Jerusalem. Can you think of a time when you have done this, been determined, steadfast, resolute as you take on a challenge

Luke 22:14-23:56

I guess you have to ask: why is this huge, all encompassing text read on Palm Sunday when much of this material will be included later in Holy Week? The answer, on the practical side, is that is many in our congregations won't be back again until Easter Sunday - won't be at Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. They need to know how we get from Palm Sunday to Easter Morning. Imagine a Christianity that went from Palm celebrations to easter celebrations. What would be lost if we just skipped the betrayal and passion and cross?

And also, there is something profound in the contrast of starting a service with the joy of the Palms and then ending with the reality of the cross.

This text as a whole is almost too huge to comment on. It is to be read. reflected on. heard. Felt. Experienced. Try watching a movie version of this Biblical scene. I am partial to the the film: The Gospel of John - an excellent word for word film rendition of the gospel story.

"But all his acquaintances . . . stood at a distance, watching these things." I wonder what was going on in their minds as they watched. Horror? Shock? Helplessness? Overwhelmed? Giving up? Where would you be in that crowd? What would you be feeling?

From "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord" to "Crucify, crucify him." ...this speaks to the reality of who Jesus was and is, and particularly the reality of our struggle as humans to respond to him and his call to us.