Palm Sunday: March 25 ,2018

Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Josép R. Martínez-Cubero, OHC
PALM SUNDAY - Sunday, March 25, 2018

To hear the sermon in its fullness click here.

Br. Josép Martínez-Cubero,OHC

Judas betrayed him. The other disciples would not keep awake and wait with him. Peter, despite his promises, denied him when confronted. So, Jesus died because he was betrayed, deserted, and denied by his followers.

But Jesus also died because of the scheming of his enemies. His ever-escalating conflict with the powerful reached its final stage. The chief priests and scribes looked for an opportunity to kill him. His encounter with Pilate proved that empire is more interested in keeping peace and order, than pursuing justice. So, Jesus died because his message and his way of being provoked powerful enemies.  

But Jesus also died because of his self-giving love. The same Jesus who at the beginning of the gospel account performs remarkable healings, feedings, exorcisms, and authoritative teachings is, in these chapters, a victim placed under arrest, mocked, beaten and crucified. It is, however, clear that Jesus’ life was not taken from him, but given by him. This is shown with his offering of bread and wine that signifies the offering of his own body and blood, and firmly stated when he says he came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life, and all in obedience to the one he called “Abba”. So, Jesus died because he chose to give his life for others.

And, so in this Holy Week we are invited to experience the interplay that takes us from celebration to desolation, from joy to sorrow, from affirmation to betrayal. It is the interplay that reminds us of our inability to commit ourselves fully to the will of God, especially when our self-interest is at stake. It is the interplay that reminds us that those who claim to follow Jesus are capable of betrayal. It is the interplay that reminds us of the paranoid violence of empire, the greed of corrupt governments, and the dangers of self-interest among the religious elite.

The crowd who shouted: “Hosanna” is the same crowd that later shouted: “crucify him”, and we are that crowd. We cannot distance ourselves from the shouts of praise or the shouts of insults and rage. And the unfathomable thing is that we who through our actions shout “Hosanna, and then “Crucify him”; we can still come to the table time and time again and in the breaking of bread meet Jesus, who suffered, so that when we are suffering we know God is with us through our suffering; meet Jesus, who was utterly alone by the end of the story, so that when we feel alone we know God is with us in our aloneness; meet Jesus, who cried out in despair, so that when feel ready to give up, we know that God holds onto us; meet Jesus, who died, so that we know God understands death, and the fear of death, and reminds us that death does not have the last word; meet Jesus, who meets us exactly where we are, just the way we are, with open arms just like the father of the prodigal son.

And why? Because we are known by God, whose love is the only unconditional love we will ever have; a love that surpasses all understanding, a God who came into humanity in the form of Jesus and humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, so that we might be exalted, and live in hope and courage, and love. Can we comprehend it? We don’t have to. All we need to do is celebrate the mystery, ponder it, bear witness to it, proclaim it, and submit ourselves to it. ~¡Que así sea! Amen+ 
 
 _______________References:
·      Thomas Jay Ord, The Uncontrolling Love of God: An Open and Relational Account of Providence (AVP Academic, 2015)
·      Bruce Epperly, Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God (Energion Publications, 2014)
·      Br. Robert Sevensky, Sermon for Palm Sunday/ Passion Sunday – April 5, 2009