Palm Sunday
Phillipians 2: 1-13
This is
certainly a day of unbridled emotion.
The crowds go wild! From
the cheering and the waving of palm branches, crowds cheering and loving up
Jesus as King to the somber days of his passion, the final days for him on
earth, something had to happen to Jesus.
Something internally I mean.
He can’t just go from the ultimate high to the lowest of lows without
some sort of change within him.
You see on Palm
Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday we tend to focus on the activities of
the week, what Jesus did and what others did for him or to him. But how must he
have felt? What did he do to
prepare himself within his psyche and soul for what he was about to go through
in the coming days?
Ironically that
is the same question before us today.
How will we prepare ourselves to walk with Jesus this week? Will we desert him or stick with it and
stay by him as he endures the humiliation, scorn, and brutality? This short meditation today, based on
Philippians, will help us to make that transition from the festive branches to
the splintered cross. Because
skibbl’ing from Palm Sunday to Easter?
Well anyone can do that and, I know, most people do. But going from the parade to the
passion and understanding its implication and impact on your soul, well that’s
something else. Hear now the words
of the Apostle Paul in the second chapter of Philippians.
Let the same mind be in you that was 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 slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he
humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a
cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is
above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have
always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at
work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
This passage and
what Palm Sunday is about is a $5 seminary word, kenosis. Kenosis is Greek and it is not a word that is translatable
and yet it is at the heart of our Christian faith. At best, we understand it as ‘emptiness’ but the deeper
significance for our purposes is that it communicates self-emptying and in this
passage it is the self-emptying that Christ offers of himself this week and on
the cross. Holy Week forces us to
confront kenosis. His and ours. We can embrace it or we can shy away
from it.
Paul tells us
that Jesus was in the form of God but not equal to God. Therein of itself begins the process of
kenosis. Nowhere in the four
Gospels does Jesus point to himself as God rather he humbles himself towards
God. Palm Sunday would be so easy
to understand if Jesus came into Jerusalem on that sunny, festive day with his
chest all puffed out preparing himself to best Herod. I think that’s kind of the take we all have of this
day. But he didn’t. He came in on a dusty donkey so
unking-like.
He knew who’s he
was, in whose image he was made but he didn’t go around shouting it out. In fact he acted quite
differently. He emptied himself taking
the form of a slave or rather he became fully human. He humbled himself and therein lays fulfillment of his power
and glory. It’s counterintuitive I
know. But so is much of
Christianity remember? To be
blessed, be a blessing to others.
To receive love-give love, to lead-be a servant, to be first-be last. It’s this counter-intuitivism that undergirds
and motivates our ministry and following the ways of Jesus. It’s a huge helping of humble pie!
If you think
about it, so many before us have sought way of humility, it’s not
impossible. Nelson Mandela, Neil
Armstrong, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Captain Sullenberger to these folks came
glory not because they sought it out or even cared about it but because they
were obedient to their belief and worked hard at their calling doing what they
knew was right and God-pleasing.
Jesus too was
obedient to God and emptied himself into human form and died on the cross and in
that moment God exalted him, every knee shall bow. How may we empty ourselves
so that God might fill us? We are
asked to walk the ways of Christ in this world especially this coming sacred
and holy week.
What things
might you do to humble yourself as Christ humbled himself? If you think hard
enough you will find that there are many ways that you can empty yourself of
your pride, your ego, your need to be the best or the greatest. How about beginning with something
simple – thinking the best of others, forgiving them unconditionally? Or maybe praying for your enemies? Now that’s a humbling experience. Maybe asking God for help to become a
peacemaker? Heaven knows our world
is aching for peace right now and there are so many that are in need of the
hand of love.
Humbling
yourself is to trust with all of your heart that amidst the turmoil of this
day, God will show us the way. We
have been beleaguered with death this week. Whatever you think, whatever you believe, you cannot deny
the fact that death is death. Is
anyone less dead whether it comes from chemicals or missiles being launched,
and that people are dying? Humbling
yourself is not powerlessness, it is getting out of your own way to see clear
the ethical mandates of God and acting upon them. This is what leads to greatness and walking in peace is the
way of Christ. He humbled himself
and so must we.
There is a lot
ahead of us this week. Just as soon
as the parade ends the betrayal begins.
Public memory is short but ours needn’t be. Jesus will humble himself over and over again until he
reigns with glory on the cross.
Counterintuitive remember? Come,
let’s get now to Jerusalem.
Amen.
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