Palm/Passion Sunday

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Palm/Passion Sunday
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 5, 1998

TEXT: Luke 22:39 - 23:56 - The Passion Narrative

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

ISSUE: Jesus accepts the suffering and the pain of life. He is truly the suffering servant. His faithfulness to the Father reveals his genuine sonship. In the midst of rejection, hostility, denial, cruel accusations and mockery he calmly and non-anxiously faces the inevitable crucifixion. Yet even here in his suffering he tells the bandit on the cross that to be close to God is Paradise. Life may well have its terrible moments, but we are still God's and we belong to God's redeeming forgiveness and love. The faithful step into Paradise.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Passion Narrative of Jesus' crucifixion is indeed a very powerful and wonderful story. The story reveals a great deal about human nature in contrast to the nature of God as it is revealed in the suffering servanthood of Jesus. The ministry of Jesus is one of healing, a restoration of folk, and teaching a deeper and profound understanding of the compassion and mercy of God. Jesus attempted to restore to the poor, the sick, and the outcasts a renewed sense of their self-worth as the children of God. He rejected the concept that they were the outcasts of the God's world. Jesus associated apparently on a regular basis with the poor, the taxcollectors, and prostitutes. He had a real affection for children and women. In the face of the culture he embraced people of all kinds and saw them as the children of God. Jesus had a very broad concept of family and neighbor. Your family wasn't just your own kin, but all people who were the beloved of God. The neighbor was not merely you own race, but all races belonged to God. Jesus had contacts with Gentiles, Jews, and Samaritans.
At the same time Jesus seemed to sort out the laws and the regulations that hindered or stifled people's abilities to be close to God. He seemed to reject some of the dietary laws, and the sabbath regulations forbidding healing on the sabbath day. So many of his parables and stories were party parables in which people were called in faith to rejoice in the available forgivenss, grace, and love of God. He preached a way of being sincere and genuine in one's devoted love for God and respect of one another. But Jesus' way and teaching was difficult for many people to accept.
From the picture we have of Jesus in the gospel accounts, he was often quite radical for his time. As a result the authorities saw Jesus as a threat to the established way of life. Their method of handling him was to seek his death. In the story we see the human condition and human nature nakedly revealed. Jesus own disciples try to prevent his arrest by the use of force. His closest disciple, Peter, in the story does the unconscionable thing by denying Jesus. To deny a friend or family in these times was considered unforgiveable and was quite dishonorable. People caught up in mob violence tortured him with insults. Even a bandit being crucified with him challenges him. Pilate places a mocking and an insulting inscription over the cross: "This is the King of the Jews." Even Luke writes the story years after the event as if Jesus' crucifixion was the fault of the Jews, making the Romans and Pilate appear blameless. They were not. Make no mistake about it. Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate and the Romans who rarely thought twice about crucifying people. At the same time the innocent suffer, the guilty Barabbas is set free. We hate that to happen, except for when it satisfies our own need. What is just and fair gets all mixed up in the world to our way of thinking. We hate what seems like terrible injustices, when the innocent suffer. We hate God for letting that happen. Human nature has its way of challenging the ways of God that are at odds with our own limited ways of thinking.
We know only too well from our own experiences what our own human nature is like. Change and renewal is often quite difficult, if not downright painful. Racism dies hard. Looking down on people who are different from us, or who are a part of another class is hard to put away and change. Being people who trust in God is also hard for us, especially Americans. We cherish our individuality and the concept of being self-made people. Our busyness and our business, if not our hobbies and sports as well often take precedence over our relationship with God. Human beings like being in charge and have an affection for power and control. Letting go of power for the good of others and for the sake of a community does not come easy. It is often very hard to forgive and be welcoming to the sinner, the outsider, the outcast.
Human violence is now an epedemic in our society. Violence and hatred is no stranger to us. We remember the horrors of the Nazi holocaust and the nuclear bombing of Japan. Terrorism remains alive and well. Violence is a plague in our streets and in our schools among even our youngest children. The recent shooting violence in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is but another example of the terrible plague on our land and in our world. Inspite of and in the face of all that is holy, people cling to and embrace for dear life their ancient feuds, prejudices, and their violent ways of coping with them. A sorry human nature often abounds seemingly nailing hope and goodness to a cross to be eventually gobbled up by dogs, which was what happened to crucified corpses.
What is remarkable about the Passion Narrative is that inspite of human nature, Jesus remains the suffering servant of God, sweating blood in his prayers to remain so. He meets the early stage of violence by his disciples with healing. He does not respond with violence, accusations, or blame. He condemns no one. He accepts the inevitable. He dies. He really does. He dies on a cross like a criminal in the midst of this terrible scene of denial, violence, racism, and dishonor. Humbly he breaks the cycle of violence and cruelty accepting his servanthood and fulfilling his mission of humility and peace. He does not snatch at being God, but remains humbly obedient to his death on the cross.
Out of Jesus' suffering servanthood comes some new awarenesses. One in particular strikes me. To see in Jesus the redeeming hope for humanity is to step this very day into paradise. It is to step now, today, into God's Domain, into the Garden of God. One of the bandits who is also suffering, but who recognizes it as a result of his own cause, sees in Jesus the new way of entering the Kingdom of God.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, Book of Genesis, there is that old story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are tempted and eat of the fruit that leads them out of the Garden. They step out of Paradise into a harsh and violent world. Today we learn of a new tree upon which Jesus is crucified. Turning to this tree and to this Jesus in faithfulness and trust, we find the way to step back into the Garden of God, into Paradise, into God's Domain.
The world we live in and the lives we create for ourselves can be violent, harsh, foolish. There are many things we cannot comprehend nor understand. Our hope, our healing, our salavation is the faithful acceptance of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is in turning to him and abandoning our own ways, and joining him in his suffering servanthood that we live with him in Paradise. Remember Jesus's parable about the Kingdom of God. (Matt.13:25f) A man planted good seed, but weeds somehow got mixed in. The servants wanted to pull up the weeds, but the landowner would not permit it For a while they'll grow together, and when the harvest time comes they will be separated. I suppose the world is like that. It has its violence, its cruelty, its sinfulness. But those of faith who reside with Christ also live in the Paradise of God's Domain. They know and feel the presence of his love and forgiveness, and his continuing hope that all shall be made new.
Remember that there are those who step into the Paradise of God through Christ. One bandit, the woman who stand off at a distance, a Roman Centurion, Joseph of Arimathea. All around are men and womn of faith who stand in God's Domain through their faith in Jesus Christ.