March 16, 2008
Palm Sunday , Matthew 26:14-27:66
For people used to hearing small digestible slices of scripture each week, the story we just heard may seem like too much to take in. From Judas’ collusion with the chief priests to the sealing of Jesus’ tomb the story is long enough, but consider that we began this morning with Jesus’ kingly entrance into Jerusalem and the story gets even longer.
I was tempted to treat this reading as an Ignation meditation, speaking before the reading and encouraging you to find yourselves somewhere in the story. The danger in that of course is that by the end of the reading, everyone would have been off in their own little corner of the story and no one would have heard it out to the end. That happens anyway with such a long reading. Chances are that certain parts of the passion narrative caught you, or stopped you, or sent you down a side road into some part of your own story. I hope so. I hope also that if you noticed side paths leading from this story you will find some time to explore those paths in the week to come.
A theme running through the two chapters we just read, a theme that is one of the gifts of Holy Week is that of truth telling. The story today begins with truth telling. Judas, Peter and the rest of the disciples all hear something about themselves that they would rather not know, would rather not face. Jesus doesn’t confront them, he isn’t upset about what he knows about them. It is simply the truth. It doesn’t mean they can’t still eat the meal together. It doesn’t mean that Jesus won’t keep asking them to accompany him and be his friends. Having Jesus know the truth about their ability to be faithful, about their ability to face hardship is just part of what it means to be a companion of Jesus. The disciples have been learning that along the way. Jesus knows them--better than they might like--and he still wants them with him. In these final hours there is just no time for anything but the truth.
Jesus has some truth to face himself.
Praying in the garden, Jesus faces the truth that he doesn’t want to go through what’s coming. A very human Jesus doesn’t want to suffer.
More truth. When the time comes for him to face the authorities and his own religious leaders, the only one who understands his innocence, who is willing to stand up for him, is a foreigner. Pilate.
Finally, on the cross he faces the truth that even he can feel abandoned by God. Jesus, who was so deeply saturated in Spirit, Jesus who throughout his ministry, in every other situation operated out of a deep trust in his connection to God, that same Jesus faced the truth that sometimes God just cannot be found.
I have told you many times about my favorite description of who Jesus is, that he is the one who gives us the lowdown on ourselves, helps us live with what we see and then shows us a new way.
The Palm Sunday liturgy helps us begin to get the lowdown on ourselves, it invites truth we might rather not consider. It reminds us that people who welcome Jesus as king one minute can claim to have never heard of him the next.
If you drifted off for even a moment during the reading of Jesus’ last hours, you are not alone. You are no different from Jesus very best friends. And the place you went when you left the story might be a good place to begin your work on truth telling during this Holy Week. What are your preoccupations? Your hurts? Your fears? Your sins? Whatever the answer, nothing can change the fact that you are welcome at table with Jesus. Jesus who helps us see ourselves as we really are and then helps us live with what we see.
Amen
JB