Palm Sunday and the Passion of our Lord

Lenten Season: Palm Sunday, 13 April 2014.  

Rev. Bruce Skelton, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Highlands Ranch, Colorado ☩ www.hclchr.org


Palm SundayPalm Sunday in the Christian calendar is the occasion that sets the stage for Holy Week and, most especially, for the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. World-famed Passion plays in Europe, particularly Oberammergau in Germany, and similar productions in this country are helpful in their portrayal of our Lord's Passion and in their devotion to keep alive the message of God's love revealed in Christ's redemption of mankind. Each year the drama of Holy Week and Easter is unexcelled as it provides a panoramic view of the mystery of Good Friday and the triumph of Easter.

The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as one of the first events of Holy Week, reported in today's Gospel, is not without its dramatic overtones. Although misinterpreted by the populace of that day as an opportunity to merely hail Jesus an earthly king, its deeper meaning is woven into the fabric of the whole of Christ's saving work. St. Paul in this Epistle lesson for Palm Sunday gives meaning and substance to what we witness in the events of Holy Week. This portion of his Epistle to the Philippians (which is our text) gives his audience of Greek Christians, as well as us, an opportunity to perceive the real message of Palm Sunday and the Passion of our Lord.

Paul does this, first, by casting Jesus in the role of the obedient and suffering Servant of the Lord and, second, in the role of the exalted Lord of heaven and earth. Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

The inspired apostle in this text pictures Christ as God in His preexistent state from eternity assuming the role of an obedient and suffering Servant. He leaves His royal throne in heaven and is clothed with the garb of our humanity in order to suffer and die on a cross. In a way he was like Peter the Great of Russia, who at one time during his rule, laid aside his royal garments and traveled to Holland to learn the art of shipbuilding for his people. He acted like any other workman in the ship yards. He dressed in workman's clothes so that his identity would not be known as he learned the trade and labored as a commoner for the eventual benefit of his people. He willingly assumed the most menial tasks to preserve his anonymity, and to know the full measure of laborious toil. Although this is a poor illustration of Christ Jesus assuming the role of an obedient, suffering Servant, it gives us a measure of insight into His humility.

He laid aside his glory, yet He continued to possess all the attributes of His divine nature. He did not simulate divinity, but thoroughly possessed it. He was not some actor playing a role, he was fully God as we confess in the Nicene Creed: “God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all thing were made…” Yet, even though he was on the same level with God He did not flaunt His divinity or make a show of it in order to gain favor or make an impression. He did not advertise His deity and put it on display for curious admirers. Above all, He did not exploit His role in order to capitalize on His ministry for self-gain.

Indeed, the burden of His ministry and His redemptive work was that "He made himself nothing” or as some translations put it, “He emptied Himself" of His power and glory, that is to say, He renounced them for the most part and voluntarily divested Himself of their unbounded and continual use. Although He assumed a servant's role, His assuming human flesh, that is His incarnation, was not necessarily demeaning in and of itself, rather His likeness in human flesh meant that He took upon himself the ordinary miseries of sinfallen people. He willingly suffered pain, and endured hardship and poverty. He knew hunger and thirst. He wept, and grieved and died, all without any sin of His own. He had the form of God in His divine nature and the form of a servant according to His human nature. He was God and man at the same time.

In His role as a suffering Servant Jesus assumed the ultimate stage in becoming obedient unto death, as St. Paul says in v.8 of the text. "And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." In His mercy Jesus was willing to take upon himself the most serious ill of all—death, the sum total of all of the evil of sin. Even though he was totally sinless, completely without guilt, He willingly died the death of a criminal. The worst death imaginable, death on a cross, which was considered to be an especially cursed way to die in that culture. The pomp and pageantry that was shown to honor Jesus on Palm Sunday with the waving of palm branches and shouting of hosannas contrasts sharply with His rejection and death a few days later. On Good Friday He did not suffer as a great hero, receiving admiration and support. There was no halo of earthly glory surrounding His death, He was regarded as suffering without honor, and His death was that of a despised and rejected criminal.

He had to die that way you see, because that was the only way that our sins could be taken away. In order to be just God had to punish sin and as the Scriptures say, “The wages of sin is death.” So a death had to be died. And the good news for us is that Jesus took the punishment that was supposed to be ours and He died the death we should have died, so that we could be saved through faith in Him.  And so we are, so we are. So what do we do now?

"Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus," Paul says in verse 5 of the text. He writes this to the Philippians in urging upon them and also upon us also a humble concern for others. In a real sense this is the calling or vocation of every Christian.

The mind of Christ in seen in His obedient role as the suffering Servant of the Lord . Here Paul portrays the highest pattern of self-forgetfulness. A personal regard for the best interests of others was the chief characteristic of our Lord's ministry and mission. In short, we are called to love others as ourselves and the second table of the Law prescribes. This mind of Christ must shape our personal posture as Christians. Christ laid aside His glory and assumed a servant's role. What other role is there for us as the church or as it is sometimes called in the Bible, the body of Christ? From the words preceding our text Paul urges the Philippians and us to do just that, vss. 1-4:

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves."

There, beloved, is the challenge that lies before us and we shall discover this more meaningfully when we look at the next scene in the drama of Holy Week in which Paul casts Jesus as our Exalted Lord. The solemn yet triumphant commemoration ofJesus' victorious entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday might be characterized as dramatic foreshadowing. Paul reflects this in the use of the connective "therefore," in v. 9, as he writes to the Philippians: "Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Here Paul portrays Jesus in the role of the exalted Lord of heaven and earth. His advancement to the full use and possession of His divine honor and glory is declared and affirmed. The so-called "bit" players dramatizing, for the most part, their rejection of the suffering Servant at the foot of the cross have dispersed and disappeared since Good Friday. The supporting cast of those who do acclaim His lordship now covers every realm in heaven and on earth and under the earth. The inevitable recognition of His status is proclaimed by all. At the mention of His name every knee bows its allegiance. Every tongue confesses that Christ is Lord. All inhabitants of the far-flung corners of heaven and earth feel the greatness of His power and majesty. Angels and the whole company of heaven sing their hosannas. Saints above and below sound forth in songs of victory and in paeons of praise and thanksgiving. Even Satan and his legions acknowledge their defeat. Even unbelievers so vehement in their confession of unbelief shake their fists and thereby admit that Jesus Christ is no insignificant personality to reckon with. In the end every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, willingly or unwillingly!

Indeed, Jesus Christ is Lord! That simple statement, by the way, was the earliest creed of the first Christians. Disciples of our Lord, like Thomas, cried out: "My Lord and my God!" Today yet it is also the most recent and up-to-date statement of faith. After all of these centuries Christ has never been dethroned. It will also be the last acknowledged confession of faith that the world will make, when finally, in its complete collapse and from the ashes of its judgment, it acknowledges what it always denied before—Jesus Christ is Lord! This simple four-word statement is the chart and compass of every Christian's life. It is this simple statement of faith, which lies lodged in this text, describing our Lord's humiliation and His exaltation—"Jesus Christ is Lord!" From the morning of creation to the day of consummation of all things Jesus Christ is Lord! When He intersected human history and appeared in servant form, He was born in swaddling clothes at Bethlehem. He was raised in Nazareth. He gathered several dubious characters to be His disciples. He kept strange company with the lowest of the lowest and finally brought upon His head the wrath of the establishment. Thus He died at the age of 33. And from there we operate by faith.

It is faith that asserts that Jesus Christ is God, equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Faith affirms that "for us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven, incarnate of the Virgin Mary." Faith affirms the purpose of His coming—to identify with us, to be our Brother, to assume our burden, and to incur the wrath of God's righteousness against our sin and for our ransom. Faith asserts that He is God who came in human form as a servant, in meekness and humility, not waving banners to exploit or commercialize the glory He possessed. Sneering unbelief, of course, asks: "And who is this guy?" as Jesus this Palm Sunday rides a donkey in majesty, and faith replies that Jesus Christ is Lord! The skeptic blasts, "You gotta be kidding!" and faith replies, "You better believe it!" for, if it cannot be said in faith now, it will be said regret at the judgment, "Jesus Christ is Lord!"

So, on this Palm Sunday, in a way we are drawing aside the curtain on the center stage of all human history. It is not some isolated little scene or act in the human drama of sin and death. Christ's suffering and death are not some sideshow for curious spectators. It is not like a ancient Greek tragedy enacted for its moralistic focus on the tragedy of human existence. It is not a modern melodramatic farce portraying the futility and hopelessness of human life. It is the true-to-life dramatic portrayal of every human being, with bit players and supporting cast, up-staged by Jesus Christ Himself, the Author and Finisher of our faith. When the curtain finally closes on the whole stage of human history, the grand finale of the eternal Easter will commence and linger forever and ever.

Paul lets it be known that this sweeping statement of Christ's exalted status is no starry-eyed and elusive hope of the Christian's faith. The mind of humility in Christ is a pattern for the Christian's earthly life. But there is also a sense in which Jesus is our example even in His exaltation. His redemptive work is a confirmation that we shall "be like Him and see Him as He is" and share in His glory. "Where I am, there shall also My servant be," says Jesus.  In eternal glory we also shall be a part of that great company of angels, archangels, and saints in heaven, bowing the knee and with our own tongues confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, even as we now suffer here as He did in his state of humiliation.

That is why we, along with most of Christendom, hold palm branches in our hands this morning.  The vision of St. John’s revelation comes to our mind's eye:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!' And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.'

And so shall it be in Jesus Name. Amen.