Meditation on Palms and Passion
Sermon by: Rev. Mary Alice Mulligan, Ph.D.
Scripture: Luke 22, 23 (selections)
We spent Lent, accompanying Jesus on his journey. Each week, we asked Jesus a different question, trying to understand his teachings. We tried to pay close attention each week to the ideas he raised with us. But we may not have noticed how week by week we were moving with him, closer and closer to Jerusalem. If you stop here and read Luke 19:28-40, you’ll hear about the adoring crowds whose cheering was so rambunctious the officials called on Jesus to quiet them, but Jesus said if the crowds kept quiet, the stones would cry out their praises. Crowds of people cheering “Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!” That is how Holy Week begins. As children, many of us called this Palm Sunday, the day we wave palms to celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.
Throughout our Lenten journey, the shadow of the cross grew larger. And now Holy Week has begun in earnest. Conspiracies against Jesus thicken; the tide is turning more fiercely against him. In a matter of a few days, public opinion turns from adulation to murderous hatred. Every time we hear the story, we are both repelled by it and strangely drawn to hear it again. We hate the story and yet we cling to it, which is the same reaction people have always had to Jesus, both in his life and in his execution.
We’ve heard the joyous entry into Jerusalem with palms and “hosannas.” Now we must quiet our souls and listen to the next steps on our Lenten journey with Jesus. Turn and read Luke 22:24-23:46.
We who are followers of Jesus look to him to learn how to live. Throughout his ministry he offered ongoing guidelines for a godly life. But more than just a list of rules, Jesus’ teachings offer principles to shape our understanding of the world. We learn to see each person as loved by God, which means caring for those who struggle and then behaving in ways which establish justice for those who are abused. Jesus shows us more than just how to act individually, because following Jesus creates a faith community. Who we are takes shape in Jesus’ loving, community of followers. Fortunately, Jesus makes us into a group together, because we know it is impossible to live out his principles alone. Alone we cannot be very loving toward enemies, or forgive those who hurt us, or remain humble no matter what, or turn the other cheek when someone strikes out at us, or pray for the well-being of those who hate us. We can hardly do those things when we have the combined power of all of us together. The truth is we can’t do them without each other.
Most importantly, in following Jesus, we become closer connected to God. As a community of faith, we look to Jesus for guidance; trust the Holy Spirit is empowering us. When we make a sacrifice, like giving over and above gifts to bring relief in an area of a natural disaster, we realize our little gifts are together acting in mighty ways through the power of God. And our gifts make a significant difference in some crisis because God is blessing the project. And one of the results is, God becomes more real to us; we get closer to God because we have stepped out in faith together. We followed Jesus’ example of fearless living together. Through the power of Almighty God, we are church, consistently following the principles Jesus lived and taught. We learn from Jesus’ life.
But we are saved in his death. People have said it for centuries. Our salvation is through the cross of Jesus Christ. But how is that supposed to make 21st century sense, especially in a progressive congregation like St. Andrew? Here’s one suggestion. Many progressive scholars understand the biblical term “salvation” as having 2 parts: God’s deliverance of those in need and restoration of well-being in relationship to God, others, and the world. In simple terms: salvation is God’s rescue and restoration.
In the First Testament, the most common word we translate as salvation is yeshuʽah (sound familiar? – The angel Gabriel announced to Mary she would have a son and name him Yeshuʽah [Jesus] – the one who saves). In the New Testament, the ideas of salvation as rescue and restoration continue. “Salvation is God’s gift of life;” one source explains, “thus Jesus…aptly summarizes the NT’s message of salvation: ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly’ (John 10:10b).” (1) Rescue and restoration. Salvation is God’s ultimate plan for our flourishing. Since we cannot achieve wholeness on our own, God rescues us from our weak and unrighteous living, then restores us back into right relationship with God.
What this means at the very least is we must not envision God as a mean-spirited bookkeeper, thumping the leger of human sinfulness, saying, “Someone has to pay.” God is loving and powerful, so God is able to forgive everything. If Jesus rejected the “eye for an eye” idea, God must, too. God can just cancel any debt our sin-sick souls might rack up. No charge.
Someone said, “Grace isn’t about Jesus’ paying for our debts. It’s about God’s removing our transgressions, as far as the east is from the west.” (2) If salvation requires a sacrifice, it is no longer a gift, but a commodity bought to even the books. Our salvation is assured at the cross, not because God demands payment, but because God’s love is so overwhelming that human sinfulness can even kill Jesus and humans still get grace. We are neither rejected for our sinfulness nor accepted for our good behavior. We are loved. Salvation is not the result of accepting the name of Jesus. Rather salvation comes in realizing God loves us unconditionally, which takes us back to rescue and restoration. There on the cross, when humanity has done our worst, God chooses to love us, to forgive us, to rescue us from whatever pulls us away from holiness, and begins to restore us together in right relationship with God.
1 Richard Middleton and Michael Gorman, “Salvation,” in The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, v. 5, p. 45.
2 Gulley and Mulholland, If Grace is True (Harper, 2003), 128.