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Palm Sunday - March 16, 2008 - St.
Christopher’s Episcopal Church Of Sin and Salvation You know the saying, “If you don’t like the weather in Texas just wait 15 minutes and it will change.” The other day I took my hawks out to fly. As I drove a dramatic line of clouds had formed over the road. It was tortured and folded, and a strong wind was blowing. When I got out of the car 40’s something winds of 15 miles an hour whipped a light rain into our faces. The birds would rake off downwind and then pump hard to regain their position. Then, almost as quickly as it started, the wind went completely calm. The temperature climbed 15 degrees, and the day ended with a spectacular sunset. Such is Palm Sunday: It sets very different things in stark contrast to one another. Yes, it is the introduction to Holy Week, but it draws its power from the way it speaks to our experience and what God does about it. That contrast of things quite different we see in today’s Gospel reading. Matthew describes the conflict between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness, and here, in the Passion Narrative, we get that final, climactic battle. The last week in Lent, known as Holy Week, plays host to several special church events that follow the path of Jesus to the Cross. They begin today with Palm Sunday, they take a bit of a lull, a time in which Jesus spends some intense teaching time with His disciples, which we celebrate with Morning Prayer for the next two mornings. The pace picks up on Thursday evening with Maundy Thursday Eucharist. This year we are going to do foot-washing as well as strip the altar and begin our vigil in the prayer chapel. Good Friday we will celebrate the Stations of the Cross in English and Spanish, and in the evening we will hold the Good Friday Liturgy. (The sermon that evening will be quite unique.) Saturday evening is the Great Vigil of Easter and Sunday Morning is a great and high feast day with services at normal times. But today we set the tone in the Liturgy of the Palms. Find it in the Prayer Book on p. 270 (Sp. 189.) The blessing of the Palms reenacts in a symbolic way the Triumphal Entry, when Jesus rides into the city on a donkey, calling up Old Testament images of the coming Messiah, and raising quite a grassroots parade. The Triumphal Entry stands in stark contrast to what it initiates—the Passion. The same crowds who cry “Hosanna” too soon yell “Crucify!” We, too, process around the church grounds to a hymn that echoes the praise of the crowds. It ushers us up to the door of the church. The music stops, a prayer is said, and we enter the church in silence. From then on “Crucify” is before us. This juxtaposition of joy and sadness gives expression to one of the very deep theological truths of our faith. And in a sense it goes two ways: Whereas we live in a world full of sadness we celebrate joy from heaven, and our celebration of joy from heaven only comes to us through and beyond our sadness. This week gives expression to both. The first one asks us to see the horrific events of this week through the eyes of heaven, and be joyful. I once heard of a six-year-old son who discussed with his mother the meaning of Jesus’ death. He asked, “What if they hadn’t done it?” Had they not they would have done what we call “good” to our eternal detriment! Truly those who crucified Jesus did evil. They accused Him falsely, yet unwittingly uncovered the truth. They tried Him wrongly, and killed Him because He was the Son of God. They didn’t want the Son of God among them. It had to be so, for in rejecting Jesus for being the Son of God they threw at God the very worst of the worst of humanity’s sinful depravity. No one can say that they sinned worse. In being the greatest sin it encompasses all sin. In taking it upon Himself He forgives all sin, and redeems and reconciles all sinners to God. The worst we could do is transformed into the best on our behalf! The fabric of existence is altered. The evil we do can now be transformed into an opportunity for grace in the world. This is GOOD news. The second one asks us to share in the sadness of this week as the path to Easter joy. St. Paul says in Romans 7: “What I want to do I do not do, those things I do not want to do I do. Who can save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ!” The truth is this: When we are humble enough to walk through the awful truth of our brokenness and sin is when we find forgiveness, reconciliation, and the wondrous, miraculous thing: Transformation! As we confess we are changed. Easter is greater than Christmas, but between Christmas and Easter lies the cross. When we walk the path of the cross we are transformed and reborn! Welcome to Holy Week! Fr. Paul Moore+
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