Today is a strange and peculiar day. It reminds me of a film clip that I am sure many of you have seen. It was November 22, 1963, in DeelePlaza, Dallas, Texas, just outside the Texas Book Depository. There was a parade. In that parade was the limousine with Jackie wearing her famous pink dress and pink pillbox hat. And there was her husband, JFK, waving to the cheering crowds. As we watch them go down the street we shudder, because we know that a disaster is about to happen.
Today we remember another parade, very much like that one with which we began today's service. Jesus had deliberately staged this parade. Accompanied by his entourage, he deliberately stirs up messianic expectation and the crowd responds with shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" These were the words from Psalm 118, which the crowds had always greeted the arrival of a triumphant king to the holy city of Jerusalem. They waved palm branches as an expression of nationalistic fervor, just like you see people today waving flags and shouting, "God Bless America!" But like the parade in Dallas, we know that disaster is about to happen. We want to yell to Jackie and JFK, "Stop!" We want to yell to Jesus, "Stop!" Danger lies ahead.
But Jesus' parade is different! Jesus knew what was coming. There was a hint of that already in the parade. Unlike other kings who have made entries like this into Jerusalem, Jesus entered not on a war horse, not wielding a sword, not with a clenched fist raised in defiance, but riding on a donkey! Matthew sees this as an intentional allusion to Zechariah 9 and the prophet's portrayal of a king of peace who enters the holy city in utter humility riding on a donkey. Yes, Jesus was a king, but he was a different kind of king. Jesus knew that, but the crowd didn't! Instead it had visions of grandeur and a return to the glory days of King David.
Throughout this week in Jerusalem, Jesus will make it clear that he is a different kind of a king. He commands no army, brandishes no weapons, and exerts no brute force. Yet, in the temple he is confrontational. He harasses the religious leadership. He stirs up controversy. He is deliberately provocative. Therefore, we should not be surprised that by Thursday he is betrayed and arrested. It is no wonder the crowds that cheered him on Sunday were crying for his blood on Friday. They did not get the king they wanted!
On this Passion Sunday we read the entire passion story. You, the congregation, speak the parts of the crowd. Why? Because if there is anyone in this story that most reflects our situation, it is the crowd. Just like them, our lives often turn out to be not what we wanted. So much is simply not fair. This is not what we thought God was going to give to us in our lives. This is not the God, the church, and the religion we wanted.
I remember Ed. He was a middle-aged member of my congregation who one day was stunned to find out that he had ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease. For years he was tenderly cared for by his wife. I used to visit them almost weekly and watch how he was gradually wasting away. I was there on his last day in his last hour as he gasped for breath and finally choked. He was dead, far short of the three score and ten we all expect to get.
They were a jovial, senior citizen couple, German immigrants, both of them. On slow summer afternoons, I used to stop by their house and drink German beer with Henry. One day I got the panicked phone call from Elizabeth, his wife. Henry had been ravaged by a stroke and was now hardly more than a vegetable. For months, Elizabeth visited Henry every afternoon in a nursing home to tenderly clean him, soothe him, and minister to him. One afternoon when I came, she was sobbing. She looked up at me with rage and grief in her face. "Pastor, they stole everything! What few earthly possessions Henry had in his drawer and closet are gone." She continued to sob and then spoke to me with utter disappointment, "Pastor, they never told me that the golden years were going to be like this."
How many of you have had days like this? You come expecting just another day at work, when you are called to a surprise meeting with your manager. When you take your seat in his office, he asks you for your keys, gives you your pink slip, and then escorts you back to your desk. Everyone now is watching as you empty out your drawers and are led to the door. It is humiliating. You are embarrassed and ashamed. It is all so unfair. This is not at all what you expected or wanted.
How many of you young students have studied hard for a test, even studied together with your friends late into the night? It was a hard test. You were glad when it was over. You felt lucky to get a B. Then you hear others brag how they had cheated, outwitted the teacher, and got an A! That's just not fair!
That was the reaction of the crowd, a reaction not all unlike ours when things go bad. This is not what we wanted! This is not what we expected! So, we get angry. We want revenge. This is not fair. We want pay back. We want our "pound of flesh." The same crowd that had cheered on Sunday praising Jesus was cheering again on Friday. But this time they were cheering for blood! They wanted Jesus' blood. So they shouted these memorable words: "May his blood be on us and our children!" They felt so angry, so betrayed, and so disappointed with Jesus that they were willing to take full responsibility for his death.
But, be careful what you ask for! Be careful what you cheer for! You wanted it to rain. But when it starts, it never ends and you have a flood. You wanted sunny skies. But when the sun shines, it never seems to stop and you have a drought. You love snow. You pray for a white Christmas. But when it starts, it never stops and you have a blizzard. You are preparing for the grand opening of your business. You worry that not enough people will show up. But when you open the doors on that first day, a few hours later you have to shut them because they bought you out of everything. You get a flat tire on the freeway. You pull over to the side, get out, and wonder how you are ever going to get help. Finally someone does stop. When he gets out of his truck, you see one of the dirtiest, greasiest thugs you have ever seen. You want to take back your prayers and run.
When we yell our bloody cheer, we think that we know better. We know what is right and wrong and no one else does. We know what is best not only for ourselves but for everyone else. By golly, we ought to be God! The biblical tradition is very clear about the consequences for such arrogance. We saw what happened to the former governor of New York. He paid dearly for his arrogance. We all do. Not one of us escapes the cemetery. God will not be mocked!
But things are even worse! When we join the crowds cheering for his blood, this is not just Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter's son. This is the Son of God! This is the second person of the Trinity! This is the Son of the creator of the cosmos! We are playing with fire here. We are courting disaster. God will not be mocked!
This is a strange, odd, and peculiar day. How ironic! What a surprise! When that crowd cheered, "His blood be on us and our children!" it was actually a declaration of good news ... not only for them but for the world. There is no more wonderful and life-giving thing than to be splattered by the blood of Jesus!
In today's lesson, Paul quotes a wonderful hymn that surely was sung by first-century Christians in gatherings like this one. That hymn proclaims that this splattering of Jesus' blood was not the dark tragedy it appeared to be. On the contrary it was God's marvelous way of saving the world. In a world where everyone is grabbing, grasping, pushing, shoving, arguing, where only the bottom line matters, where only winning counts, where everything is measured by monetary success, where everyone shouts, "What's in it for me?" Jesus comes riding on a donkey! Jesus enters the holy city humbly, not counting equality with God as a thing to be grasped, not grabbing, grasping, pushing, shoving, or insisting "What's in it for me?" but humbling himself, taking the form of a servant, obedient to death, even death on a cross. If there was ever love, it was this!
We call today "Passion Sunday." In the context of this Sunday, we think that "passion" means "suffering," in particular the suffering of Jesus during this most holy of weeks. But "passion" also means "a deep feeling and commitment." We speak of people being passionately committed to something. During the last month, as we have had interviews with a variety of musicians to fill our organist position, it has been amazing to see how so many of them are passionately committed to music. Their lives are all about music, even at the expense of other things. For the sake of their music, they forget themselves and lose themselves in their craft. That is passion. Throughout this Holy Week as we once again hear those ancient stories of our Lord's suffering, we will see the passion of love, a love that forgets itself, that leaves behind its own needs for the sake of someone else.
This love is so passionate that the New Testament virtually invents a new word for it: agape. The Greeks had several words for "love." There was eros, erotic and romantic love. There was philos, love between friends and companions. There was storge, the love you might have for your favorite food. In each one of these loves, something is loved because it is worth loving. "I love you because you are attractive, because you are beautiful, because you make me feel good about myself." But God's agape is different. Something is loved not because it is worth loving or because it is beautiful or attractive. In fact, it might be ugly and unlovable. Rather, it is loved simply because the lover chooses to love it. The beloved becomes lovable because of the love of the lover.
That is exactly what God is up to in Christ. God in Christ empties himself, takes the form of a servant, and immerses himself totally and deeply in this broken world. Christ carries all that is wrong and ugly with this world. He bears ALS, strokes, thefts, the most distasteful of sins, jealousy, hatred, and even those impersonal economic forces that crush so many, that bites them off, grinds them up, spits them out, and then calls them "a tax write-off." Even Jesus dies on a cross. He goes all the way to the cemetery and joins us in that ultimate state of oblivion, all because he loves us.
That will be remembered this coming Friday. It will be a dark day. This sanctuary will be draped in black because that was a tragic day. We will remember that Jesus did not come down from the cross. There were those angry voices that taunted, "You can't even save yourself and come down from the cross!"
But that's precisely the point! Jesus was not in the business of saving himself. He was all about saving us! For that reason it is a good thing that he didn't come down from the cross. That is agape love!
Therefore, God raised Jesus from the dead! Therefore, we can look back at Friday and the cross and not see tragedy or only black or just another bad day, but Good Friday!
Now his name is exalted above every other name! At his name every knee shall bow! Every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord! And every voice will join us in that bloody cheer: "May his blood be upon us and our children." Yes, that is exactly what happens when we come here. We are gloriously splattered with Jesus blood at his table, at the font, when we hear that wondrous promise: "Your sins are forgiven!" That is good news for a world afflicted with sin, disease, and death and longing for new life.
Paul has one more gift to offer to the Philippians and to us: a new way of living. The special grammar of the gospel makes it clear: "Because ... therefore...." Because we have been splattered with the blood of the crucified and risen Christ, therefore we get to pour ourselves out in service to the world.
When we leave this place, we are reminded that we are "now entering the mission field." The most important ministry of this congregation does not take place within these walls but out there, Monday to Saturday, wherever you are called to make a difference in the lives of other people. You get to do amazing things out there because the bloody cheer of the crowd on that Good Friday was true in ways they never anticipated. Because you have been splattered with the blood of Christ, you can pour yourselves out in love for others, splattering the world with the blood of Christ. And then maybe even our neighbors might join us in that gloriously bloody cheer "May his blood be on us and our children!" Amen.