Matthew 21:1-11, Psalm 118:1,2,19-29, Isaiah 50:4-9a

 

Who is this?
Is this not the question of the day – this day we somewhat confusedly call both Palm Sunday and the Sunday of the Passion? Who is this one hailed by peasants and lepers and cripples and prostitutes and day laborers as messiah? Who is this who, though he hails from hicksville Galillee, yet rides into the city like a king? Who is this whose devoted followers soon turn on him, as the disciples disperse, his friend denies, and the crowds accuse? Who is this who is tried by both religious and political elite and found, not just wanting, but also threatening, an enemy to the establishment? Who is this who is dragged through the streets of Jerusalem and hauled to the execution grounds? Who is this who is hung on a cross abandoned and forsaken? Who is this?

 

Is it little wonder that the people of Jerusalem are confused? There is nothing about Jesus – his entry into the city, his confrontation with authority, his brutal and lonely death – that would inspire anyone to devotion. He comes not in power but in weakness, not in might but vulnerability, not in judgment but in mercy, not in vengeance but in love. Nothing about him conforms to the expectations of a world that has come to believe above all things that might makes right or, at the very least, that might wins.

 

And yet Christians have claimed for millennia that in Jesus’ crucifixion we see this assumption called utterly into question. The fatal flaw in the logic of the world is that the cycle of power and influence and might lead only to violence and death. There is no hope in the way of might, no possibility of redemption or victory or defeat of evil through violence. As Martin Luther King Jr., once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

 

Why?
Why did they crucify Jesus? Why was he seen as such a threat they had to get rid of him? Because he challenged them at the the most fundamental level of their being. Not only challenged them but opposed them. Everything about him was opposite to them. They killed him because he insisted that he was right and they were wrong and that they needed to change if they were to get anywhere worthwhile. They thought that what they had was the unltimate – until he came along and showed them God’s better purpose.

 

Why do people still persecute Christians? Why are Christians so often characterised as ‘enemies of the state’? Because Christians follow Jesus’ way, are like Jesus in their living and their teaching. Because everything we stand for is opposite and opposed to what others consider fundamental. People in government are in it for the power they wield – Jesus claims that power. Rulers insist that people obey them – Jesus insists all people obey him. Wealthy people want their wealth for themselves – Jesus insists they have it to share it. We all want to be in control of our lives, make our own decisions and do what we want to do – Jesus wants to direct our lives, guide our decisions and lead us to do what is best. People want to get the most they can out of life – Jesus reminds us that we get out what we put into it. People can only see this world and all it has to offer – Jesus shows us so much more, life in him that is both literally and figuratively out of this world, beyond the expectations of limited human thinking and even the best of wordly imagination.

 

Who is this?
This is Jesus, the One we confess died not in order to make it possible for God to love us but rather to demonstrate that God already does love us and that God’s love is our only hope. This is Jesus, the one we proclaim each week as Messiah and Lord, source of hope and healing. This is Jesus, the paradigm of God’s action in the world, whose story comes to a climax this week in order that our story might begin anew and afresh with the hope and promise of a good ending.

 

Who is this? It’s not just the question of the day, it’s the question of the week this week we call Holy and, truth be told, of the ages. Who is this? Week after week we answer that question in trust and confidence, raising our voice above the din of the culture to speak his name and point to God’s redemption. With the flawed and fickle crowds then and now, we give the answer that this is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, who is also Christ the Lord.

 

He alone
Of all the people there that day, Jesus alone knew where this was all going. Jesus alone knew what was in store for him. Despite his efforts to bring his disciples up to speed they were still blind to what God was doing and what it would cost to accomplish it. Even after Jesus rose and after 40 days of intense teaching they still hadn’t pieced it together. That would come but, for now, nil comprehendo.

 

Hey, we only know how this works because the disciples grew to understand and explained it to us. We’re no smarter than they were, we’ve just got a host of Christian experience and learning to help us.

 

So what’s God doing here and now? Same as he’s done all the 2000+ years in between – drawing people to himself, to know him, to transform their lives to make them like him, to live in them so that they become people of love and grace. God is doing this today – reaching out to people in our families, people in our neighbourhoods, people we know, people we’ve yet to know and people we’ll never know personally. And he involves us in that by our loving others, and our sharing what we know of God and our experience with him.

 

Does it seem that the people around us take little or no notice of our words and deeds, that they mistake our intentions, question our motives and confuse our words? Don’t be surprised – they did the same to Jesus. Why would his followers expect any different treatment to what he got? But let’s not get negative here. There were many who held on to his words, who stuck by him – or at least came back to him – who, with the help of the Holy Spirit, came to comprehend his words and live his life. We often hear only a little of the effect we have on others and what God is doing in their lives. But we rejoice for the little we hear and in faith we thank God for the much we don’t hear about. And we keep it going in our own lives – trusting, believing, loving, hoping sharing praying – in the power of the Holy Spirit and the loving grace of Father God.

 

 

‘Who is this’ sections borrowed from David Lose, workingpreacher.org