RENEWsletter for March 28, 2010 - Palm Sunday

Dear Renewed people--
Next Sunday we commemorate the Lord's Passion. "Passion" these days means something like "ardor" or "wild enthusiasm", but the word comes from the Latin where its roots are in passus which means "suffering". So... next Sunday we commemorate the Lord's Suffering.

You can find the readings for this coming Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion on the web at: http://www.usccb.org/nab/032810a.shtml, or find them in your Bible in:

Isaiah 50.4-7
Psalm 22.8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
Philippians 2.6-11
Luke 22.14 -- 23.56

If you want to experience the entire last week of Jesus's life on earth before his death, start with Luke 19.28. Verses 28-40 are actually the Processional Reading and take us through Jesus's triumphal march into Jerusalem. Each year the Processional and Gospel Readings come from a different Gospel: Matthew in Year A, Mark or John in Year B, and Luke in Year C, this year. But the First and Second Readings and the Psalm are always the same.

The First Reading from Isaiah is the core of the Suffering Servant passage. It describes what Jesus went through during his last 12 hours before his death. If you've seen the movie The Passion of the Christ of a few years ago, this passage will invoke vivid mental images of the original meaning of "passion". "I gave my back to those who beat me" and "my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting" (Is. 50.6). Jesus was obedient to the Plan. He had to go through this if he was to fulfill the plan of Salvation. So he set his face like flint and he was not disgraced (v. 7).

In the Responsorial Psalm, David sings of the Passion as well. "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" (Ps. 22.2). Jesus uttered these words as he hung dying on that Roman instrument of torture and death. Those watching sneer, "He relied on the LORD; let Him deliver him" (v. 9). Ever wonder why those people, who thronged around Jesus and sang his praises as he entered Jerusalem triumphantly, turned against him? Maybe they thought they'd been tricked. If Jesus were so close to God the Father, why could he not save himself? Why didn't he overthrow the Romans and give Israel back to the Jews?

The Second Reading has the explanation. Jesus chose not to save himself! Phil. 2.8 says, "He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death." Without the shedding of blood, without the death of the sacrificial Lamb, there is no remission of sin (Hebrews 9:22). But the "Principle of the Paradox" kicks in here. "Because of this, God greatly exalted him" (v. 9). Visualize yourself on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in the midst of wilderness. Across the mighty canyon is civilization, people, gift shops, restaurants, rest rooms. You'd really like to get there. The direct route would take you down into the mile-deep gorge and back up the other side. Not an easy trip. Better go around. Christ didn't go around. He went through it. And because he did, every soul who ever lived, lives, or will live... every being in heaven or hell... will confess that Jesus is Lord (v. 11).

The Gospel Reading covers the Last Supper (Luke 22.14-38), the Betrayal (ch. 22 vs. 39-53), the Trial (ch. 22 v 54 through ch. 23 v. 25), and Christ's death on the Cross (ch. 23 vs. 26-49). Reading this long passage slowly and prayerfully takes us through the Stations of the Cross. Some are left out of Luke's narrative, but many are there. If you've seen The Passion, you have sharp images and piercing feelings as you read this account. It wasn't pretty.

The narrative closes with the mangled body of Jesus being laid in the new tomb of one Joseph of Arimathea (ch. 23 vs. 50-56), a member of the Sanhedrin, who didn't go along with the plan to kill Jesus. But because it was so close to sunset and Passover was about to begin, there wasn't time to properly prepare the body for burial. Thus the women who had followed the company from Galilee, gathered the embalming spices and oils and planned to do it after the Sabbath. Even they thought it was over and had given up. They hadn't really believed him when he said he would rise again.

Do we believe, truly believe, that there is a Resurrection? Slipping down the wall of the Grand Canyon, scraping our hands, tripping, falling, tumbling, cracking our bones against the rocks... do we really believe that there will be peace for us later? ...comfort? ...joy? Can our present pain, fear, and frustration succumb to faith, hope, and trust?

Life is a "passion" at times... in the Latin sense of the word. We suffer now, but we are promised a dawn, a resurrection after the horrible night. This week, if things get tough, set your face like flint (Is. 50:7) and look to the Resurrection. Believe that he will rise again!

Randy Jones
"Those who cannot endure the night say there is no dawn!"