Our Jouney Through the Passion

Wait for the Lord whose day is near. Wait for the lord. Be strong. Take heart. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.


All through lent we’ve been waiting for the Lord. What are we waiting for and how long do we have to wait?

Today we are going to take our own journey through the Passion. We come with questions. We will leave with questions. I pray that we will learn something along the way.


Today we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus, the King of the Jews, the Messiah, the Chosen one or the Anointed enters into Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. At the same time, directly across the city, Pilate and his entourage would have been entering the city. The Romans kept a strong military presence in Jerusalem when the Jews celebrated their release from bondage, when they remembered throwing off the chains of their oppressors and fled to freedom. The Romans did not like this holiday. Jesus walks into this and stirs it all up.


Wait for the Lord whose day is near.


Whom shall we release … Jesus Bar Adam or Jesus Bar Abas: Jesus Son of Man or Jesus son of the father? Even in moments of truth, the answers are never perfectly clear. How can we know which to chose? How do we recognize the Messiah? Where do we look for the Messiah?


Wait for the Lord whose day is near.


Today we celebrate the Passion of Christ. We celebrate his walk to Golgotha: the place of the skull. On the way, he meets Simon of Cyrene. Simon would probably have been a Jew who made his pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover. Cyrene was in North Africa and was home to many displace Jews. Simon was compelled to carry the cross for Jesus and was healed by it. The same words which are translated as “they laid the cross on him” are used at other times to speak of laying healing hands on someone. Simon came to Golgotha and found salvation in a man on his way to die.


Wait for the Lord whose day is near.


Even as he died on the cross, Jesus faced the tempter. Jesus faces the same fears, the same pains, the same trials as us. When tempted to save himself from death, Jesus instead turns and pardons the sins of one who repents. When choosing between earthly life and eternal life, he chooses eternal life. At the moment of death this may be an easy choice for us, or at least easier, but sitting here in this place, firmly earthbound, this choice is close to impossible. How do we find the strength to choose eternal life when earthly life is so tempting?


Wait for the Lord whose day is near.


When Jesus dies on the cross, two very important things happen. “The sun’s light failed.” The light of the world left the world. “The curtain of the temple was torn in two.” The curtain which divided the main area of the temple from the sanctuary was destroyed. The laity were no longer barred from direct contact with God. They no longer had to pass their prayers and sacrifices to God through the priests. These two are the same event. The light had not left the world but it had changed.


Wait for the Lord whose day is near.


What are we waiting for? The Kingdom of God. How long do we have to wait? We can get glimpses every day. When we forgive or are forgiven we see, just for a moment, the Kingdom of God. When we see Christ in ourselves or in others, we see the Kingdom of God. In a little while we will celebrate the Eucharist, our own remembrance of the Passover, when Jesus died to heal us all, to free us all from eternal death, we glimpse the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is here already but there is much work to be done for it to be here fully. In the Kingdom of God, the choice is clear. In the Kingdom of God, we are tempted by salvation. In the Kingdom of God, the only choice is eternal life.


Today is the day of the Lord. His day is near. Be strong. Take heart.