Year B Palm Sunday Isaiah 50:4-9a Mark 15:1-47

At last! It is Palm Sunday – a day on which, were we not still under pandemic restrictions, we would be at church, receiving our palms and waving them on high and singing “Hosanna” and other joyful praises to our Lord. In some congregations the tradition is to leave the church building with our blessed palms, and march around the property singing our joyful hymns, before reentering the church for the Sunday service. For children it’s always a fun day – because you get to take something home with you when the church service or Sunday School is over. As a child I always looked forward to getting my palms and bringing them back to the house.

But – despite this being known as Palm Sunday, because of changes in the way we worship, the day has become much more serious and solemn, covering much more than Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In years gone by, today was the beginning of what the Church still calls Passion Week. Back then, the tradition was to attend a service every single night of the week, drawing ever closer to Good Friday. Some denominations still offer such services during this week, which is also known as Holy Week.

But nowadays, as many folks hardly manage to show up for church on Sundays, lest we forget the solemnity of this upcoming week, our Gospel reading leaves Palm Sunday and continues into a much darker theme, covering topics we would have observed had we attended a service every day this week. We are carried rapidly past the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and in our Gospel reading, our second lesson, it is the brutality endured by our Lord that takes center stage. That is why we use red altar hangings and vestments on this Sunday and all through the week. Red is the liturgical colour symbolic of passion (suffering) and blood.

The part of Palm Sunday we all enjoy, the receiving of the palms, the joyous march into church waving the palms and singing hymns of victory and joy – these are the things we think of when we hear it is Palm Sunday. We do not think of pain, and abandonment, but that is what today’s Gospel reading asks us to do.

Today’s Gospel is one of the longest we read in Church. In the very simple way that Mark has of telling the Gospel story, he lays out the events that lead up to Jesus’ crucifixion, His betrayal by Judas, His institution of Holy Communion, also known as The Blessed Sacrament, and His retiring to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.

Something we notice in all of this is the constant presence of His disciples. Yet, as they sit eating the Passover meal, Jesus says to them, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” The disciples are understandably upset by this, they find it difficult to accept, and say to Him, one after another, “Surely, not I?” Then, later, as they head to the Mount of Olives, Jesus says to them, “You will all become deserters; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ Peter, of course, objects, stating he will never abandoned Jesus.

We too would object. Surely not us? We are certain we would never abandoned our Lord – but when we stop to consider, when we are honest with ourselves, we recognize that that is exactly what we do, over and over again. We do it, not in any spectacular way, not through denouncing Him in public, or joining some strange cult, but in the little ways we let Him down. It is in the cruel word, the mild curse that escapes our lips, the unloving gesture, the bit of gossip we share, the self-righteous anger we express, all done in perhaps only a small way, but it is in that way that we turn our back on Jesus.

When Jesus and His disciples arrive at Gethsemane, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John aside to a separate place, where He throws Himself on the ground and begins to pray. He has asked His friends to be there to support Him, but they grow weary and soon fall asleep.

We know what happens next. Jesus comes to them and finding them asleep He addresses Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Jesus is speaking to a friend He trusts; one who, based on their friendship, He would have had good reason to expect would stay awake. It is heartbreaking. “Watch and pray with me,” Jesus has asked His closest friends – and though they remain physically present, they nod off – abandoning Him in His hour of greatest need. Nothing in the gospels shows as poignantly that Jesus, like each one of us, needs His friends as He walks through the valley of death and agony.

How terrible to suffer alone. We’ve heard of such suffering during this pandemic when people have not been able to visit loved ones in their own homes or in nursing homes, or in hospitals. It has been heartbreaking! We know the importance of human company and support. We know that a loved one who remains with us to the end, a friend who continues to pray fervently even when all hope is extinguished, a hospice nurse who remains to sustain the family, all these offer a service that Jesus asked of His disciples but did not receive. His friends have missed the opportunity of a lifetime, on that will not come again.

What sort of friends are we? Certainly we would never leave a friend or loved one to suffer alone. Yet, amazing as it is to realize it, during His lifetime Jesus’ friends did just that. They didn’t do it in any big way – they just fell asleep. We, too, are Jesus’ friends, and how often do we “fall asleep at the switch” when it comes to doing the important little things He has asked us to do? Be kind, give to the poor, be thoughtful, respectful, humble. “Love one another as I have loved you.”

And Jesus said, “The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners”. And His “friend” Judas, betrays Him with a kiss. Then they laid hands on Him and arrested Him.

We would never dream of betraying a friend with a kiss – yet we say unkind things, in anger perhaps, or we gossip “just a little bit” – and all these sting and betray.

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified Him.

A Cross is a terrible place to die.

To ponder Jesus’ death for us upon the Cross, is frightening and terrible. Surely, as He hung dying there, His friends must have thought, each one to himself or herself, “Too late! Too late!” That small group that gathered at the foot of that torturous means of execution were surely torn by grief, and, many of them, guilt. Guilt for all the ways they knew they had failed Him.

We too fail Him. We cannot help it. We are human, we are sinners. We do not always stay awake as He has asked us to do. We grow weary from daily chores and responsibilities, and we forget our commitment to Him, to our Friend. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own agenda, our ego, our pride, we deliberately ignore His commandments – seeking to do our own will. And thus, we betray Him.

But it is never too late. Though it does not appear in Mark’s Gospel, we know that as He was dying, Jesus forgave. How incredible! In the midst of the torture and agony of His dying on the cross, Jesus forgave.

Paul Simon once compared old friends to bookends. They lean toward each other, and they support a lot of interesting content between them. And yes, friends do that, but they do so much more. A friend is someone we like, even love, someone we respect. A friend is someone with whom we have interests in common, whom we support, trust, and with whom we share confidences. A friend listens. A friend is someone for whom we would “go to bat” or even to battle if the call came.

Do we share this type of friendship with Jesus? The answer needs to be “yes”. But like any true friendship, it takes work. Jesus has called us to be His friends. How can we refuse?

In today’s Gospel reading and during this Holy Week we take a look at something we do not always study, at Jesus’ humanity. Jesus’ full humanity with all its accompanying terror of abandonment is revealed in the loneliness of the Garden of Gethsemane, and before such agony we remain speechless. “Let this cup pass from me,” and the answer is No.

During this week especially, let us think about how we fail to be the friends Jesus calls us to be. Let us think about how we can stay awake, pay attention, and be there for Him, finding Him in every person we meet. Let us become closer to Him, knowing He understands that it is not always easy to be His friends, but showing Him in all the little things we do, just how much we love Him.

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, please help us to know You personally and intimately and to be identified with You in every area of our lives. Help us day by day to grow in grace and in knowledge of You. Help us to find You and serve You, to be there for You, in each and every person we meet – even the ones we don’t immediately like. Help us to be good friends to You. All this we ask for Your love and mercy’s sake. Amen.