Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

Luke 23:1-49

 Jesus, remember me, when You come into Your Kingdom.

And so it begins:  God’s Holy Drama that gave new birth to our humanity.  And so it begins: as always demanding so much more than memory; seeking that we should enter in; that we should, with Jesus, set our face toward Jerusalem and stand amid the Mystery.

And we know the story to which in action and song we bear eternal witness. “Blessed are You who have come in abundant mercy!”  You have come, O Lord, through Ancient Doors rousing struggling and often hardened hearts.  You have come, O Lord, then as now, neither deterred nor disgraced by our seemingly endless excuses for ignoring Your ways; and the times we have rejected the goodness and mercy offered - by life in Your Presence.  You have come, O Lord, to overcome, bind and best the Strong Man that would condemn us to endless strife and lives without meaning.  You have come, O Lord, and it must break Your heart that we who know You still engage, without lament, in the practices of brokenness that left You alone to die.

Like those of old, we too are called to follow. It is Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion.  Here begins the reminder that even “discipled” human ones in the presence of Holiness, too often live out of their jealousy and their fear - not their faith or their trust.  Not unlike the first disciples, when called to follow, we too often find ourselves asleep in the garden or running in another direction, because following Jesus…truly living Jesus, is just a whole lot more than we planned on. 

And yet we come.  Why?  Because: this is the Sunday of the Lord’s Passion.  We come because so great a Mystery requires that we, who have come to know the Lord by waters of baptism and the breaking of the bread, must make this Holy Drama visible for all to see.  

Our faith is so much more than a good idea to be dutifully discussed in the safety of halls filled with the likeminded.  We are born of the challenging love of GOD MADE VISIBLE whose love and faithfulness would never be thwarted:  neither by an unbelieving world nor by disciples who struggled then and struggle now to live out the words they speak.  

Sift us O Lord that we might come to know our faults.  Heal us from moments of jealousy and fear.  Keep us watching and awake.  Teach us to sheathe our swords.  My God…My God…forgive us for the times we have abandoned You.

And so we come. We come, to proclaim, walk and embody the story.  We come to enter the Mystery.  It is we who must begin our dying and rising to live in Christ and as the Body of Christ.  

It is the Sunday of the Lord’s Passion.  The drama continues.

Jesus, remember me, when You come into Your Kingdom.

Let us pray:

Forgive us Lord for the days when by our actions we deny You.   Saturday we will wait.  It is the time of Your Holy Mystery O Lord. “Amazing love, how can it be…that You my Lord would die for me?”  We are not worthy…but we are Yours.  O Lord, save us now…and in the world to come.  Come, Lord Jesus, come.  Amen.

Sermon by – Linda Ballard OSC

Edited by The Rev. Elise Kinney