An Introduction to the Passion according to Luke [Palm Sunday: The Sunday of the Passion - Luke 22:39-23:56]

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Luke 22:39-23:56

 

An Introduction to the Passion according to Luke

 

I am very sorry to tell you that the story you are about hear does not have a happy ending.  Not yet.  I don’t fault you if you expected better.  The Gospel story you heard just minutes ago, outside, in the garden, set, I suppose, unrealistic expectations.  You will soon hear the rest of that story.  And I feel I should warn you: it does take a shocking and horrific turn.

 

It all takes place on what feels like an impossibly small timeline. The entire story, beginning with the colt ride through Jerusalem, ending with the mysteriously vacant tomb, takes place over the course of just one week. The time between Jesus’ celebrated entry into the Holy City and his arrest is just a few days. And the arrest, trial, sentencing, and crucifixion: well, they all take place in just a matter of hours, before the earth can even make one complete rotation.

 

The people who greeted Jesus on Sunday, what we call Palm Sunday, greeted him with joy and excitement.  His arrival set the city abuzz.  They waved branches of palm in his presence; they even spread their cloaks on the filthy first century road, so that the colt upon which he rode did not dirty its feet.  And, in the midst of the city of David, in the shadow of the Roman Emporer, they named him their messiah, their king: the King of the Jews.

 

And it will be that title that adorns his cross.  Into the hard wood, above his sacred head, is nailed a sign that explains to all those who pass by why he wears a crown of thorns and why he hangs, dying, on a Roman cross.  This is the King of the Jews.

 

Perhaps the people condemned him to death days before they cried “Crucify Him!”  Perhaps it was those elated cries of “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” that set everything in motion.  Because before that week ended, Jesus was found guilty of treason.  And his sentence was death.

 

It was a charge Jesus never denied, though he was asked many times, though he was given many opportunities.  He never denied it because he couldn’t.  Because it was true – just not in a way that makes sense to most of the characters in the story you are about to hear. 

 

As today’s story comes to a close most everyone just moves on: the soldiers run out of insults and the crowds brush the dusty hoof prints from their cloaks as they drift away and the politicians return to their crooked politics.   

 

But though it sounds impossible, you will see that there are a few people who can still see the coming kingdom in Jesus’ bloodied face and outstretched arms. There is Joseph, who refuses to allow Good Friday to dampen his expectations; and there are the women, who prepare spices and ointments fit for a king; and there is a criminal, a condemned man, hanging on a cross beside Jesus.  And that man spends the little breath that remains in his suffocating body to whisper one final prayer to the man dying at his side: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

 

And Jesus, this battered king, on his twisted throne, hears his prayer and mercifully grants his request.  And then the king breathes his last.  And that is the end of the story – at least for today.