Processional Reading: John 12:12-19
12The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” 16His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
First Reading: Deuteronomy 32:36-39
36“For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. 37Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, 38who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you; let them be your protection! 39See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.’”
Psalm 118:19-29
19Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them; I will offer thanks to the Lord. 20“This is the gate of the Lord; he who is righteous may enter.” 21I will give thanks to you, for you answered me and have become my salvation. 22The same stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 23This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 25Hosannah, Lord, hosannah! Lord, send us now success. 26Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; we bless you from the house of the Lord. 27God is the Lord; he has shined upon us; form a procession with branches up to the horns of the altar. 28“You are my God, and I will thank you; you are my God, and I will exalt you.” 29Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy endures forever.
Second Reading: Philippians 2:5-11
5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel: Luke 22:1 – 23:56
1Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. 2And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put {Jesus} to death, for they feared the people. 3Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. 5And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. 7Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” 9They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” 10He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters 11and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” 13And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 14And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 21But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” 23And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. 24A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. 28You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, 29and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, 30that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 31Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” 33Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.” 35And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” 36He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. 37For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” 38And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.” 39And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 47While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, 48but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” 50And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. 52Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” 54Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” 59And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” 60But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62And he went out and wept bitterly. 63Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. 64They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” 65And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. 66When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, 67“If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, 68and if I ask you, you will not answer. 69But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 70So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” 71Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”
1Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. 2And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” 3And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” 4Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” 5But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.” 6When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 7And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. 8When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. 9So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. 10The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. 11And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. 12And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other. 13Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 14and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. 16I will therefore punish and release him.” 18But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas” — 19a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. 20Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, 21but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” 22A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” 23But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. 24So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. 25He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. 26And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. 27And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” 32Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 44It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. 47Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 48And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 49And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. 50Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, 51who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. 52This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. 54It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. 55The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
Behold Your King
Today is Palm/Passion Sunday, a Holy Day that is filled with tension. On the one hand, Jesus humbly rides in on a donkey to the cheers of the crowd. On the other hand, He knows He’s riding to His death. The crowd on this day is cheering “hosanna,” yet in six days, this same crowd will be shouting “crucify Him.” Today we hear the shouts of God “Save us”, in six day we’ll hear the taunts of, “He saved others, let Him save Himself.” So, as we begin this Holy Week, a week of events that will crescendo into Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, abuse, and crucifixion, one of the things that I think would be helpful, as we consider our readings, is to set the stage for all these events to occur.
To expand our perspective, we need to back up and consider what was going on in the days that preceded Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. First, it was the season of the Passover, one of the three feasts of obligation for the faithful Jew. Jerusalem was overflowing with religious pilgrims – people who by their very definition took the things of faith seriously. Some authorities estimate that there could have been as many as 2.7 mil in one such Passover season, and it was reported that 256,500 lambs were sacrificed, about one for each 10 pilgrims. The mood was one of religious fervor and of celebration.
Second, if we back up a few verses we have two other things to consider that add to the tension of what was to come over the next 8 days. Starting at verse 3 we read, “Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Then comes the why in verse 8; here we read Jesus’ explanation, “Leave her alone, it was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.” To add further tension to this extravagant gesture, you have Judas bemoaning the “waste” as he put it. Again, we get Judas’ real motive: St. John wrote, “He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.”
Today we hear, hosanna, or “God save us” and on Friday night we’ll hear, save yourself. Today we hear about an extravagant gesture and greed on the other hand. Then comes the ultimate tension, life and death. On this particular day, the air around Jerusalem bristled with a new excitement. Never before had anyone who had been dead for four days been called from the grave. In an instant, Lazarus had become a celebrity among the pilgrims. Jesus’ name was on everyone’s lips.
Just 2 miles outside of Jerusalem, the crowds gathered at Bethany, not just to see Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, to confirm for themselves that it was true, the dead can live again! In verses 9-11 of this same chapter we read, “Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.” The tension of life and death, of the resurrection of Lazarus and of Jesus’ death on the cross, it truly was a week of extremes and tension. As Jesus prepares for His final few days before His betrayal, Jesus heads to the final destination of His 3-year mission on this earth, Jerusalem.
St. John writes, the next day, the crowd heard that Jesus was coming, and the crowd was filled with enthusiasm. In their excitement, People brought palms, a familiar tradition for a day of celebration. They had carried palms on the day that Judas Maccabaeus rededicated the temple following the rule of the Syrians. They carried them on the Feast of the Tabernacles. And in the excitement, the crowd began to spontaneously chant, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” To shout “Hosanna” was on the one hand is to say, “God save the King!” On the other hand, it was a plea for help and deliverance: “God Save us!”
As the crowd increased and the chants became more rhythmical, those gathered must have cheered all the more at this intentional fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah: “Behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt” (9:9). Jesus has affirmed the title of king, and by His conscious act, He affirms this moment as the time of the king’s arrival. For those gathered, they must have been thinking, this was surely their day.
The long-promised messiah had come, and with him, the kingdom. The crowd was looking for deliverance from the hand of the Romans, they were looking for the restoration of Israel as an independent and mighty nation. The Hebrew people expected the Messiah to return them to the glory days of when kings David and Solomon ruled. But as you and I know, from this side of history, the crowds woefully misunderstood what Jesus came to do. Jesus indeed came to save, not from Roman oppression, but from the bondage of sin.
Since about the eighth century B.C., the prophets had foretold and the people had been looked for the coming of an “ideal ruler.” The name “messiah” at this stage was a generic word that meant “anointed.” Every king of Israel was anointed by God and was given authority to rule over God’s people. The hunger was for a righteous king of the Davidic line who would lead Israel to worldwide dominion. As Israel’s political fortunes worsened, first with the fall of the Northern Kingdom in the eighth century B.C., and later with the fall of Judah and Jerusalem in the sixth century B.C., and the exile that followed, the hope of the messiah turned toward political independence and vindication.
By the time of Jesus, this expectation had become very popular, as the Dead Sea Scrolls have indicated. No longer was “messiah” or “anointed” applied to all Jewish kings, instead, God’s anointed would now be God’s special one who would deliver the pious. Having heard of the miracles of Jesus, the raising of Lazarus, and even of Jesus’ skill in silencing the theological debates of the Sadducees, the pilgrims of that Passover believed that it was just a matter of time until the trumpets would blare, and the call to arms would come, and the Jewish people would be swept to a much-hungered-for victory over Rome. So, they shouted “Hosanna! God save us! Hosanna, God send prosperity now!” Again, we see the tension here, the shouts of hosanna were a misunderstood cry for salvation: physical salvation from the oppression of the Romans versus the real reason Jesus came, to spiritually save us from our sin.
But again, this constant tension surrounding Jesus and His mission had been going on from the beginning of His ministry. Just as the large crowd in Galilee misunderstood the meaning of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and had sought to make Jesus a king by force, so the crowd in Jerusalem and Bethany had misunderstood the raising of Lazarus. They sought to put Jesus to their own limited uses of the “king,” the who could quiet the seas, offer the bread of life, raise up the dead, and bring freedom from their earthly oppressors.
Noting the strong nationalistic emphasis of the cheering crowd, Jesus seeks to “correct” their misunderstanding of His kingship. He accepts the title, but not the program. Ancient eastern kings rode horses when riding to war, and donkeys when they came in peace. It wasn’t war with the Romans that Jesus came to bring, it was peace that Jesus sought, even as He accepted the acclaim and the title of “king” by fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy. Jesus came to be the Prince of Peace and to bring the kingdom of God.
The tension of these two kingdoms is the crisis of Holy Week and the challenge of every devout Christian to this day. The charges brought to Pilate are of alleged treasonous acts and teachings, of misleading the people, and of claiming to be a king. Patronizing the Romans to manipulate their desired judgment against Jesus, they affirm their “loyalty” to Caesar: “We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priest shouted. Pilate, who cared little about the religious squabbles of the Jews, understood full well the political implications of the charges. His question to Jesus pressed the point: “Are you the King of the Jews?”
As Jesus had done in the tumultuous procession a few days earlier, Jesus accepted the title of king, though not the terms usually associated with the title. “My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight….” “So you are a king?” Pilate responds. Again, Jesus affirms the title: “You say that I am a king; for this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”
Cynical about “truth” apart from power and authority, Pilate quickly assessed that Jesus was not a serious threat to Rome and sought to release Him. A king without either an army or an earthly kingdom was not to be feared, or so he reasoned. Apparently, the crowd had similar thoughts. A king who refuses a kingdom is not to be respected. Disillusioned and disappointed, the shouts of “Hosanna” turned to “Crucify.” While Pilate worried only about “real” kings, the crowd had neither respect nor use for anything less.
While Jesus will later say to Pilate, “My kingship is not of this world,” the truth is that when Jesus returns, the kingdom of God will impact our world like a meteor falling from the sky. Systems and ideas, peoples and politics, lifestyles and goals will all come under the judgment of the new King. New standards will come into place immediately! The powers and works of darkness will no longer be the norm of behavior. Cynical truth, measured by politics, armies, compromise, and convenience will be replaced with God’s righteous and unchanging truth. The credentials of citizenship in the kingdom of God are no less than to hear and follow the voice of truth, which is Jesus Christ.
The implications of our future citizenship in the coming kingdom are clear. We are not to be “of this world,” but as the people of God, God’s representatives in this world. That makes living in God’s kingdom now a challenge to live as law-abiding citizens of that kingdom right now. This was the problem the Religious Leaders of Jesus’ day had with Him. They wanted to maintain their status in this world and carry it into the new kingdom. But as Jesus had pointed out so many times, the kingdom He was ushering in was one of servanthood, not power and prestige.
One has little difficulty understanding their panic as John tells us the story. The news of the powerful works of Jesus had caused large defections from the orthodox faith. As Jesus moved toward Jerusalem, the problems of containing the demonstrations and the defections worsened. They believed Jesus was wrong in His teachings, and they worried that He could lead a rebellion against Rome. They knew Rome’s hand was hard and swift in such cases. The Religious Leaders thought collaboration with Rome was the wise policy, and men of the priestly family who had wealth, comfort, and security had so much to lose. Seeing Jesus as a threat to the status quo, the Religious Leaders felt they had tough decisions to make, so they made them.
The Religious Leaders had decided, upon hearing the news of the hundreds that had witnessed Jesus’ raising of Lazarus, that the nation was “best served” by putting Jesus to death. Now, hearing the news that the crowds were flocking to see Jesus and Lazarus, they planned to put Lazarus to death as well. Where there should have been celebration, there was despair. The Pharisees said to one another: “You see that you can do nothing; look, the world has gone after him.”
The Religious Leaders were honestly concerned, but for the wrong reasons, they weren’t listening for the voice of truth, but to the calls for the status quo. Given all the signs, one would expect that they would have at least done further research. Jesus had calmed the sea, fed thousands, healed every sort of disease, driven out all the demons He encountered, opened the eyes of the blind, and raised the dead. At His word, the dead heard, the dumb spoke, and the lame walked. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, were witnesses. Frequently, they engaged in confrontational interactions with Jesus. Yet, the Religious Leaders never tried to learn from Him.
They had so convinced themselves that this son of a carpenter couldn’t possibly be the promised Messiah, they abandoned every principle to destroy this One who clearly had powers none could equal. Nothing would be enough until He was dead. Imagine those who awaited the messiah and who hungered for Israel’s vindication shouting, “We have no king but Caesar!” William Barclay notes: “A man comes to a sorry pass when he is afraid of the truth and when he sets his personal prestige and profit before the truth.
To be a citizen of the kingdom of God, one must be open to the truth of God, and that truth always impacts our world, our time, our priorities, and our lives. However, for many, believing in Christ doesn’t result in following Christ. Discipleship doesn’t result in real changes of values, priorities, and lifestyles. It doesn’t reform our dealings with one another, challenge our politics, or seriously modify our behavior. The kingdom is conveniently seen as a future event. Today is forwarded as the priority because we must function in the “real” world.
The talking heads forward that we should keep religion and politics separate, even though today’s lesson is first and foremost about the impact the truth of the gospel should have on the whole of our lives, our religion, and our politics. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was a demonstration He carefully staged, riding intentionally into the teeth of the politics of the secular and religious authorities.
The privatization of religion, the removing of its demands from the arena of our world has been an ongoing problem for the church. We need to bring our faith and our Christian witness into every aspect of our lives. We must remember that we are a follower of Jesus first and foremost and from this fact, every other aspect of our lives are to be informed. To live under the kingship of Christ requires a radical change of thinking and behavior.
Where the world thinks power, Jesus thinks of love. Where the world thinks security, Jesus thinks of risk-taking for the gospel. Where the world asks, what do I get from a relationship, Jesus asks what can you give. Jesus calls for us to ask, “What can I do in Christ’s name for you” rather than “what’s in it for me?”
We, like St. Paul, struggle with the truth about ourselves: “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:18b-19). Because of this, we, on our own, will never fully bring the kingdom; only Christ will do that when He returns. However, living under Christ the King and struggling to be faithful, we bring the kingdom of God to the people and places where we are.
- Frank Harrington provides a very real definition of what the challenge of living in the kingdom, under the kingship of Christ, calls us to be: “The kingdom is based on truth and love, where those who follow would practice love and seek the truth, where the needs of neighbor would equal concern for self. A kingdom where cheeks would be turned, where second miles would be walked, where cloaks would be given to cover the nakedness of one who had no cloak, where enemies would be prayed for, not hated, where persecutors would feel the pressure of the Golden Rule, where sharing would be more prevalent than shoving, where hate would give way to love, where caring would overcome indifference, and where truth would be stronger than falsehood.” You and I have a King, and He has a kingdom, and that kingdom is already in our midst.
Jesus is the King over all history and over all creation. He is the promised Messiah, our Lord and Savior. In our Epistle lesson, St. Paul was quite possibly quoting an early Christian incarnational hymn when he wrote, “Have this mind among yourselves which you have in Christ Jesus: Who though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 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. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11).
Before we rush from Hosanna to the empty tomb, take time this Holy Week to reflect on the tension between the illusions of this world and the demands of living in God’s kingdom in the here and now. As followers of Jesus, we live with the constant tension of being in this world but not of this world. The call of the faithful is to servanthood, the whispers of this world are to self-centeredness. The Pharisees were right when they said to one another: “You see that you can do nothing; look, the whole world has gone after him.” Our call as Christians is to point others to Jesus and our prayer is, come Lord Jesus, come and save us!
Amen