Following Jesus: Suffering

Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday
March 28-29, 2015
Mark 15:1-47

“Following Jesus: Suffering”

The uncertainty and fragility of life was driven home to us again this past week with the crash of the Germanwings airliner in which 150 people perished. But then the stunning news came out that the co-pilot locked himself in the cockpit and deliberately set the plane on a crash course in the French Alps. What are we to make of this? Suffering and anguish are not things we willingly seek out. As we enter into this Great and Holy Week, we are led to grapple with suffering – not senseless suffering that leads nowhere, but that marks the highpoint of our Christian faith: Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. And it begins with his entrance into Jerusalem. You probably picked up in the worship bulletin that today actually has two names: Palm Sunday and the Sunday of the Passion. So, what’s up with this? The service today begins as Palm Sunday on a note of triumph and celebration. We retrace Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday with palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna!” But the mood of worship quickly changes as the focus moves to Jesus’ Passion – that is, his suffering and death, reflecting the Sunday of the Passion. This isn’t either/or (Palm Sunday or Sunday of the Passion), it’s both/and here. Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in order to suffer and die upon the cross. As we follow Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we follow him to the cross on Good Friday. This becomes the theme for today’s message: “Following Jesus: Suffering.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Like the Palm Sunday and Sunday of the Passion contrast, there are also contrasting images of Jesus that emerge from all of today’s Scripture readings. First, Jesus is king. This comes through clearly in the Old Testament lesson (Zechariah 9:9-12): “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). Entering Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, Jesus is the very fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophetic words. In that Passion reading (Mark 15:1-47), we hear more of Jesus as king: “And Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’” (Mark 15:2). There is a back-and-forth between Pilate and the people on whether Jesus is their king, but they reject him as such. Jesus is then mocked as a false king by the soldiers, but the inscription posted on his cross still read: “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26). It is today’s Epistle lesson (Philippians 2:5-11) that opens a door into the other image of Jesus, and that is as servant. We heard about this in last Sunday’s Gospel lesson (Mark 10:35-45), where Jesus spoke clearly about his calling as one who came “not to be served, but to serve, and to offer his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). In today’s Epistle lesson, Paul identifies Jesus as the One “…who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant…” (Philippians 2:6-7). When we put these two contrasting images together, we see Jesus as the Servant King. His crown is not of gold, but thorns, and his throne is the wood of the cross! This is our suffering Servant King who “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). And he did this for you! Jesus died the death that we deserved because of our sin and rebellion against God. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). Jesus has become our cosmic Servant King!

Last August, at the Southeastern District’s “Tending the Flame” Conference, we heard author and speaker Reggie McNeal who spoke about his book, Get Off Your Donkey: Help Somebody and Help Yourself (2013, Baker Books). The book is based on Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), in which the Samaritan literally got off his donkey to help the injured man left for dead on the road. McNeal’s point is just that: if we are going to be Jesus’ hands and feet and mouth in the world, if we are going to show the world what Christ’s love looks like, then we are going to have to get off our own donkey, roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty in helping others. This is what Paul reminds us of at the beginning of today’s Epistle lesson: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant…” (Philippians 2:5-7a).

So, what does this look like in real life? McNeal writes in his book: “I have yet to hear anyone say to me, ‘I am hoping to waste my life, and I want to get started as soon as possible.’ Nor have I heard, ‘I have no desire to make a difference with my life.’ What I have heard over and over is some rendition of a common theme: ‘I want my life to count!’” (p. 149, Get Off Your Donkey). Isn’t that what we all want? But here’s the thing: are we willing to get down off our donkey in order to make our life count? All too often we want life to come to us; we want life on our terms. But it rarely, if ever, works that way.

On this Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion, stop by and take a good long look at that beautiful framed print in the Narthex that depicts the first Palm Sunday. Jesus is shown riding that donkey into Jerusalem, fulfilling the words of the prophet (Zechariah 9:9-12). But after riding into Jerusalem, Jesus did not just continue to sit on that donkey. Like the Good Samaritan in that parable, Jesus got down off his donkey and “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). The mocking charge leveled at Jesus while he hung upon the cross, “He saved others; he cannot save himself” (Mark 15:31) needs to be changed to, “He saved others; he will not save himself.” Jesus would not save himself from suffering and death in order that he might save you and me! Jesus’ humble and sacrificial love changed the world, and it continues to change the world today, one life at a time. So what is the donkey that Jesus is calling you to get down from? What is it that stands in the way of making your life count and following Jesus’ own example of humble, sacrificial love? In this Holy Week as we meditate on all that God in Christ has done for us, let us rejoice and give thanks for our suffering Servant King as we follow him to the cross. Amen.