Palm Sunday (Sunday, March 24, 2024)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

When you go to the theater to see a musical, it’s important to get there early because before the show begins, the orchestra plays the prelude, or overture. And it’s important to listen to the overture of a musical because it introduces the various musical themes of the show that will reappear throughout at key points. The music itself adds a kind of texture and emotion to the show which provides deeper insights into the plot and characters that would otherwise not be communicated. Our Palm Sunday liturgy plays a very similar role as the overture for Holy Week on two levels. First, the Palm Sunday liturgy kicks off Holy Week as we observe Jesus’ Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem. But also, the Communion liturgy’s Epistle and Gospel readings introduce the story and themes of the story that we will be reflecting on this week, especially on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. In our Gospel, we have the whole Passion story, recounting the events that we will relive during the Triduum. In our Epistle, we get what scholar Michael Gorman calls St. Paul’s “Master Story” that poetically describes what’s happening in the Gospel. St. Paul’s dramatic narration has three acts and in those acts, we see who God is, who we are, and what is required of us.

Act 1: Descent (the Incarnation)

“Being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

In the Nicene Creed, we profess that Jesus is the Word, the Second Person of the Trinity, who is pre-existent and consubstantial with the Father. We heard Jesus testify to this in the Gospel last week when he said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” In the great Athanasian Creed, we profess that in the “Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another;But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.” All this theological language is there to remind us that Jesus was not sent because he’s inferior; no, Jesus is equal with the Father and in the Form of God. In fact, St. Paul picks up on that in this morning’s Epistle: “Being in the form of God, though ti not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation.” This is called the Kenotic Hymn, the song of Christ’s self-emptying. Now, Fr. David and I try not to talk too much about the Greek, and I know he did it last week but I want to make a grammatical note here. That verse, “Being in the form of God” can be translated a few different ways. The King James here takes a fairly neutral translation. Many English translations, like the ESV and NRSV, say “Although he was in the form of God.” But I think the best way of translating it is “Because”: “Because Jesus was in the form of God, he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” This changes what is happening in the hymn quite a bit: although Jesus was in the form of God means he was making a concession; because he was in the form of God means that the Incarnation and Cross tells us what kind of God he is. This the most compelling translation because it agrees with what First St. John tells us: that God is love. The story of Christ is the revelation of God; to look at the Cross is to look at God. Out of that divine love, he was willing to humble himself by taking on human nature. Because he’s God, the Son willingly takes the form of a servant, something we will focus in on for Maundy Thursday as we remember how he washed the feet of his disciples: “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”

Act II: Crucifixion

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

But we know God’s gratuitous love for us not only in the fact of his Incarnation; it’s accentuated in the fact that his downward motion continues all the way to the Cross. Jesus didn’t die from natural causes or illness; in fact, there’s theological reasons to believe he couldn’t have died of those things. No, Jesus died because we killed him. When God became man, man killed God. When the light shone and pierced the darkness, we lashed out in violent response. it was a public and gruesome display of violence that unveils the ugly horrors of our sin that would push us to put the Son of God on the Cross. This is the Suffering Servant prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah who anticipated that the one would suffer for the sins of the many. Yet his suffering isn’t futile, this is the Wisdom of God that brings about our salvation. Only God’s Wisdom can transform a symbol of such profound defeat into a symbol of victory.

Act III: The Ascent

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Like any good play, Act 2 ends on a cliff hanger, the crucifixion. But there’s a resolution. God exalts him in the Resurrection. The Resurrection is a vindication: everything that Jesus said can be trusted because the power of God has raised him up. And he’s given him a name above every name: the Ascension is the coronation of Jesus as the King, the rightful ruler. And the result is that Jesus becomes the object of our adoration, of the cosmic liturgy: Every knee will and every tongue. And so the grand finale of the story that Paul tells isn’t just a happy ending as we have traditionally understood it; it’s an eternal ending, the ending towards which all happy endings point.

Application

And the beautiful thing about this drama is that we—me and you and all of us—play a role by virtue of our Baptism. When we’re baptized, w’re transplanted “into” Christ. Think about all the places St. Paul discusses the significance of being in Christ:

Romans 6: “so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”

Romans 8:1–2“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

Romans 12:5: “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”

For this reason, Holy Week can be one of the most important weeks of the year because we relive these precious events that brought about our salvation. We get to play a part. The revelation of Jesus is bidirectional: he shows us who God is, but he also shows us who we are supposed to be. As Michael Gorman says, “God became the kind of human that humans were intended to be.” The point of all our theology, of all our liturgy, of the whole sacramental system, of all our prayer, of all our good works is that we might be transformed into types of Christ through cross-shaped lives.

Conclusion

When we look at Philippians 2, we see the great things he has done for us; how can we do anything other than adore these precious mysteries? So I invite you to observe this Holy Week and Easter knowing that God loves you

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.