Who Is This?
Palm Sunday - April 13, 2014
Now you might have guessed from the movies I’ve talked about in previous sermons that I don’t get out to the movies much; I don’t even get to watch movies without interruption at home on Netflix or DVD very often, so you probably won’t be surprised when I tell you that I haven’t seen any of these movies yet. But I’m intrigued by their existence. It strikes me that there is in our culture, even as we have moved beyond Christendom, a deep curiosity out there about the things and person of God as Father and Son (the Holy Spirit often gets left out of the equation). There is some hunger, even and perhaps especially among those who call themselves Christian, to know more about God, to go deeper into the story, to understand who God is and what God does and how these events speak to us even today. We long to have answers to the question of who Jesus is.
It’s an age-old question, one we see asked boldly and directly in the gospel of Matthew this morning. The time has come for the Passover festival and Jesus is about to enter the city of Jerusalem for his final week. Over the course of his ministry, word has been spreading about Jesus and what he can do, and so as he comes to the city gates, crowds have gathered to welcome him, to cheer and rejoice, to cry out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” They have high hopes for this Jesus, that he will be the one promised, the messiah who will save their people, overthrowing Roman rule and occupation and taking his rightful place as king of their nation. They make a ruckus, throwing clothes down on the path, cutting branches off of trees and laying them on the road, a kind of ancient day red carpet for Jesus to ride in on.
But there are those in the city of Jerusalem who haven’t been paying attention to this peasant carpenter from Nazareth. Though Jesus is well known in the country and the outskirts, his fame hasn’t quite spread to Jerusalem yet. And so, as the people lead and follow Jesus in a triumphant parade, the crowds in the city are stymied. Confused. They are in a turmoil, Matthew says. “Who is this?’ they exclaim, wondering who this visiting dignitary might be who draws such attention and deserves such acclaim.
“Who is this?”
It’s the central question, isn’t it? This is the heart of the matter for us as followers of Jesus. It is the focus, not just of this Palm Sunday, but of the whole season of Lent that has gone before, and the Holiest of Weeks that lies ahead of us. We have spent Lent hearing the stories of Jesus, watching him encounter all sorts of people and beings, and all of them have this same question in the back of their mind. As they have seen how he speaks and interacts, as they have watched what he does, this is what they want to know. Who is this? From the devil in the wilderness who calls Jesus’ identity into question: “If you are the Son of God…” he says three times as he tries to tempt Jesus; to Nicodemus who comes to Jesus at night, saying, “Teacher, we know that no one can do these things you do apart from God”; to the Samaritan woman at the well, “Come, see a man who has told me everything I have ever done. He can’t be the Messiah, can he?’; to the man born blind, whose spiritual sight grows with every interrogation by the people around him – from “I do not know where he is,” to “He is a prophet,” to “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing,” to a final face to face encounter with Jesus, who asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” to which he replies, “Lord, I believe,”; to Lazarus and Mary and Martha, who hear Jesus say, “I am the resurrection and the life…”; and finally, to this day, when some welcome Jesus as prophet and warrior king and others are shaken, saying “Who is this?” All of these meetings, everything has been leading up to this, and we may think that we know him, we may think we know what he is about. We may think we don’t need to hear the old, old story again, that we can’t afford the time to come to worship on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, that it will be enough to show up Easter morning to rejoice and celebrate in the year’s high point of festive worship.
But think again. Because the stories of this week to come are where Jesus reveals himself most fully. To miss the events of Holy Week and skip right to Easter is to miss the point. Here we will see Jesus as humble servant, kneeling at the feet of his friends, tenderly washing them, even Judas who will betray him, even Peter who will deny him. Here we will hear him give us our mission: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Here we will witness Jesus, betrayed and handed over to the authorities, deserted, tried, convicted and hung on a cross to die, willingly giving up his life so that we may see the depth of his love for us and for this whole world, that we may begin to know how far that love is willing to go to restore and redeem us. Here we see Jesus revealed, power arising out of weakness, love winning out over death and anger and fear, life emerging victorious from death.
Who is this? Come this week and see.
Amen.
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