Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday
 
When Pilate was set down upon the judgment-seat, his wife sent
Unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man:
For I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of
Him.
(St. Matthew 27. 19)
 
Holy Week has been set aside from the time of the early Church to ponder our Lord’s suffering. Holy Week takes us to the one moment in history that judges all others. Holy Week takes us to the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Following Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, he said: All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. (St. Matthew 26.31) Jesus prophesies His silent and lonely death on the Cross. His own Jewish people will demand His death on the Cross. The Romans will facilitate it for the sake of Roman Peace, the Pax Romana. His Apostles, playing the cowards, will abandon Him. Peter will deny Him and repent. Judas Iscariot will betray Him and hang himself.

Today, we remember that Jesus Christ predicted what the Jews, the Romans, and even His friends would do to Him. Today, we remember that Jesus Christ was willing to suffer and die because this alone could save us. Jewish malice and envy, Roman compromise and cowardice would not stop Him. The fear, cowardice, and fickle love of His Apostles will not shake Him. Rather, He will submit to the energy, wisdom, and will of God the Father to effect our salvation. The supreme significance of His suffering, sacrifice, and death will be worth the torturous labor.

Leading up to the Cross and its death, we find the Master’s remarkable silence. Pilate marveled greatly. (St. Matthew xxvii. 14) The Roman Governor’s wife pleads with her husband to have nothing do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.(ibid, 19) Pilate knows that Roman Law finds no just cause for Jesus’ death. Why, what evil hath he done? (Ibid, 23) Pilate’s wife senses that her husband is playing with a strangely divine kind of fire. The Jews, possessed with irrational spite and resentment, have not time for reason or justice. Let Him be crucified. Pilate, who was want to release a prisoner unto the people at the feast, acquiesced. He will wash his hands saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see you to it. (Ibid, 24) The Jews foolishly assume responsibility. His blood be on us, and on our children. (Ibid, 25)

Jesus Christ accepts man’s judgment of Him. He is rejected by virtuous pagans, righteous Jews, and His own Disciples. Jesus Christ will surrender to the unjust, unearned, and undeserved verdict of fallen man. Let them do their worst. Jesus Christ is not only Master of Himself, He is also their Master as well. (The Christian Year in the Times) The Divine Providence will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, God’s own Word made flesh. Christ has a work to do, despite the obstacles. By the Divine Permission, He will overcome them and throw them back in our laps for consideration. His love for our salvation and hope for our acceptance of it will persist. With courage and humility, Christ will suffer and die. His painful sacrifice and suffering will be judged good and useful tools to conquer sin, death, and Satan.
This morning, with St. Paul, we remember that

though Christ was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2. 6-8)
 
Today, Christ sets aside His Divinity in order to take on the predicament of our fallen conditon. As Man, he allows fallen human nature to judge and execute Him. Rather than grasping onto or clutching His Divine Power to rescue Him in the hour of His calamity, He chooses to cleave to it inwardly and spiritually. Christ will be the servant of God until the end, showing us how even in suffering and death He will cleave to God. He will continue to be the servant of God’s will and Word, which alone suffice to save us from the effects of sin. Sin tortures and kills Christ, but Christ still loves us and longs for our turning.

This week, I pray that each of us shall discover that the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone can give us new life. In Jesus Christ, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously (1 Peter 2. 22, 23), let us begin to see the Word of God’s Wisdom and Love in the power of His suffering and sacrifice. Christ is a servant of God alone. But as God’s servant, still even the sin that kills Him, the sin that rejects Him, can be met with the forgiveness of sins that Christ offers to all who will repent and believe.

We approach Christ and His Cross. He dies for us on a Friday that is forever called Good. On Good Friday, what threatens to be judged by Fallen Man as tragic, is made Good by the only one for whom it threatens to be otherwise. And while we can never say that He did not suffer pain and utter humiliation as man at the hands of sinful men, we must also say that He obeyed the Father until the end and never surrendered His goodness to evil. His obedience enabled Him to reveal the truth and righteousness even in suffering and death.

On this Palm Sunday, we sing Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. We sing, Hosanna to the One who comes in the name of the Lord to suffer and die for us. Sin cannot stop Him. Death will not keep Him down. Satan is powerless over His mercy and love. God’s goodness will prevail as the mode and instrument of salvation. But to receive this goodness, we must hasten to His Cross, to discover the love that is its source.
Amen.
©wjsmartin