The Roman road leading from Jericho into Jerusalem is steep and narrow it is hot and dry and dusty Along the way it climbs almost 3,000 feet in altitude Threading it’s way through countless small towns and villages Until it finally passes through Bethany and Bethpage On the outskirts of the holy city Upon reaching here the traveller knows that journey’s end is near It is only a short distance further to the top of the mount of olives The crest of that hill – once it is reached provides a breathtaking spectacular view across the Kidron valley And over the great city of Jerusalem Dominated by the magnificent temple That rises in the midst of it It is perhaps here, on the crest of the mountain overlooking the city On that very first Palm Sunday That Jesus began to weep over Jerusalem As he looked down over it Seeing into the future and knowing the many trials and hardships and sufferings That lay ahead for the inhabitants of that city And their descendents knowing also what was about to befall him inside its walls Before that final and fateful week was over That day That first Palm Sunday The people’s excitement and expectations ran high It was Passover time in Jerusalem The city was full of pilgrims there for the great festival of the Jews News that Jesus of Nazareth was poised to arrive in the city spread like wildfire His reputation had gone before him They gathered to usher him into the city gates Asking one another Could this be the promised Messiah Could this man be the long awaited king like David Who would restore the once great city of Jerusalem and the once great nation of Israel to the glorious prosperity it knew under the reign of King David when for the only time in its long history Israel was strong and free and prosperous Is this the one who would drive out the Roman occupiers? The crowds that day were willing to believe Jesus was that King Hosanna they cried Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord. They waved their palm branches And they laid their garments before him Rolling out the red carpet for him as it were As Jesus made his way down the mount of olives’ And into the holy city... In the midst of all the shouting and excitement and joy when the gates of the city closed behind him Jesus must have known that he had completed his last journey apart from the agonising walk to Golgotha carrying his own cross. He must have known their shouts of joy Would became shouts of hate. That instead of Hosanna They would soon be crying out Away with him. Crucify him. They had been right to acclaim him as king But wrong about the type of kingdom he brings He is no rival to Caesar As Pontius Pilate would soon learn. He has no interest in driving out the Romans Or setting up an alternative government to that of Rome As the crowds will soon learn, to their anger and disappointment. But as he had already told his own disciples many times before Jesus makes this final journey Into Jerusalem And into Holy Week For one purpose and one reason only To suffer and to die. The crowds gathered to greet Jesus As he journeyed into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday were shouting for a King who would come to them in great power and glory Who would overthrow their enemies Who would grant them lives of prosperity, victory, and unbroken joy They were shouting – in desperation For the same false God that so many are seduced by today The God who heals every affliction Who can pay off a mortgage Who fixes any broken relationship Cures any bad habit or addiction The God who is like a magic genie Just rub the lantern of faith and out pops your miracle… Just repeat this prayer and everything will be okay Jesus offers his disciples only the suffering God And asks them to take up their own cross and to follow where he himself has gone For Jesus there is no resurrection There is no new life Without the journey into Holy Week – There is no resurrection Without the anguish in the garden Without the betrayal at the last supper The denial of Peter The abuse of the hate filled crowd The lonely walk to Golgotha There is no resurrection No miracle Without the agony of the crucifixion Yes… As I have said several times There IS resurrection There is the bursting from the tomb And the joy of the risen Saviour And finally, at the end of all things There will be the final and decisive defeat of sin and of death itself… But to leap straight to the victory of God is to miss the reality that God’s greatest victory Is in fact his suffering and death And to leap from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday and from the first coming of the Saviour to the next. It is to refuse to make the journey from the crest of the Mount of Olives – into Jerusalem through the events of Holy Week and – most importantly of all it is to miss something extremely important about life about the human condition and about the way that God enters and transforms both in the person of Jesus Christ The German Pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer Who was martyred by the Nazi’s towards the end of the second world war Wrote these words from prison during the days leading up to his death That sum all of this up perfectly And which I leave you with today As we begin ourselves the journey from Palm Sunday The Sunday of the Passion And into Holy Week; Pastor Bonhoeffer writes; “The God who is with us is the God who forsakes us as Jesus himself cries from the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” God allows himself to be edged out of the world and onto the cross God is weak and powerless in the world And that is exactly the way, the only way, in which he can be with us and helps us It is not by his omnipotence – that is, his all powerfulness That Christ helps us But it is by his weakness and suffering Human beings, by virtue of their religious nature Look in distress to the power of God in the world The bible however directs us to the powerlessness of God Only the suffering God can help.” In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |