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Today is Palm Sunday, which is a most unusual day in the Christian calendar. We entered the church singing praises to King Jesus as we waved palm branches in memory of the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt. We have just heard the reading of Christ’s Passion. Our joy has turned to sorrow as we enter into the week set aside to remember our Lord’s sufferings and death on the cross. It is the story about the King of Glory who chose to wear a crown of thorns and for his throne, he chose a wooden cross.
Jesus’ royal entrance into Jerusalem was unexpected by the religious leaders who reprimanded our Lord to silence the crowds and stop this madness. Jesus’ replies to their demands with these words, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” Even if the people were not praising the man from Nazareth, nature herself would cry out His praises. The rocks of the earth are wiser than the religious leaders for at least they recognize their creator when they see Him.
Jerusalem on that day was like a teapot getting ready to steam. Jews from all over the world had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. In the midst of this chaos of teeming humanity; there was talk of dissension and violence against the Romans. The Zealots, a political group, had ambitions to overthrow the Roman puppet king, Herod, and replace him with a man of proper lineage. Judas Iscariot, who was a Zeolot, believed he had found such a man in Jesus of Nazareth.
Meanwhile, the city authorities were on red alert to make sure no riots broke out that would encourage suppression by the Roman soldiers. For the city’s authorities, the people’s acclamation of Jesus as their king only added fuel to the fire. Expectations and anxieties ran high that first Palm Sunday.
Today expectations continue to run high as to who Jesus is. There are those who want to place Jesus on an earthly throne and to establish the kingdom of God through social justice by using the church for political gains. While others believe that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. Both sides want to claim Him as their King, but for much different reasons. The political side honors Jesus as an earthly king, while the other side honors Jesus as a spiritual king.
In an odd sort of way, both are correct. Jesus did come to change the world, but not through political means. Jesus came to change the world, one heart at a time. He is the King of Glory whose dominion knows no end. The earth is but His footstool. We humans who try to put Jesus into a box of our limitations are foolish indeed. It is like trying to study the universe under a microscope when a telescope is what is needed. Jesus is greater than we can think or imagine.
This is why it is so difficult for us as humans to accept His sacrifice for us. The cross for many remains repugnant and offensive. How could the King of Glory allow Himself to be brutalized in such a barbaric way? Like Peter, we too have been tempted to deny His true identity, simply because from an earthly stand point it is so embarrassingly unbelievable! After all, we are people of science who live in a world of advanced technology. We have put a man on the moon and sent out telescopes into the universe. We are the rulers of this world.
The sacrifice of someone so innocent for our redemption attacks our sensibilities. We do not believe we need a Savior, because whatever we can conceive in our minds we can achieve. The death of Jesus for many is a wasted effort of self-delusion on His part. Yet, for those of us who believe that we need a Savior, Jesus’ death is the gift of salvation for all peoples.
Instead of being an inclusive belief, traditional Christianity is an exclusive belief dating back to the writings of the early Church. For example, as we just heard read today from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.
How did Jesus the carpenter’s son of Nazareth obtain such a sole position of prominence? Again St. Paul answers our question in his letter to the Philippians. “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-even the death on a cross.”
In spite of what we may read or hear about other religious figures and gods, Jesus Christ alone left His throne in Heaven to become our sacrificial lamb. He alone is God’s gift of salvation to humanity. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. Jesus’ death on the cross was an intricate part of God’s plan to redeem humanity and to restore our birth rite as God’s sons and daughters.
There is only one way to heaven. Not because it is what I say, but because it is the Word of the Living God. To deny God’s gift of salvation for all humanity is to deny humanity’s only hope. Without Jesus Christ, this world is lost forever no matter what political policies are put into place. There is only one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. Everything else is secondary; for without Christ, we are doomed to our own destructive human behavior.
So on this Palm Sunday, let us open wide the gates of our hearts and invite the King of Glory to come in and reign over our lives. As we walk the final days of Christ’s sufferings, may the Holy Spirit so change us that we will become humble like our Savior. May our hearts be transformed by His love to reach out to others who also need the Savior, Jesus the Christ, the King of Glory.
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