The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (12:1-18)

Let us step back in time together. Every time we enter the Church and hear the Holy Gospel we are indeed stepping back in time to make remembrance. Remembrance of what? Remembrance of the holy and sacred ways that God has worked among His people. This remembrance is not simply a reminiscence of the past, it is a living remembrance that we enter into. As the people of God, as those who were baptized and became members of the household of God, this story is not just a story, it becomes our story. And we believe that the story continues on a daily basis in the lives of those who live for and with Jesus Christ. For others it is just a story. Even if you believe in Jesus but you reject to live in the manner prescribed by Christ and His Church, then the remembrance of the activity of God is not alive in you, it is simply a story that you have heard but haven’t entered into. It has not become a part of who you are because you have not become a part of Christ by your life.

The Church invites us again and again throughout the week, to humble ourselves and to enter into this story. To make the story of God’s redemption more than just a story, to make it our personal story. We must make it our story but we can’t unless we are willing to look closely at ourselves. Unless we are willing to bear some pain and some shame and really begin to acknowledge our failings and our brokenness. We can’t do that if we boldly and pridefully lie to ourselves and pretend that we are well when we are sick. We can’t acknowledge our brokenness and failings if we live deep in sin and then imagine that our life is well pleasing to God. A Christian moves from potential life to actual life through the painful road of humility. A naked and brutal admission that we are sick and in need of a physician. A courageous admission that we are lost and in need of a light. A powerful admission that we are sinners and that we need a savior.

We go through the beauty and majesty and the horror and pain and shock of this story every year so that we will remember and once again enter into this story with our own brokenness and pain. So that we can again raise our voices with the voices of the crowd who met Jesus Christ on that fine day as He entered into the gates of Jerusalem riding on a donkey and we say with them: “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!” But we can’t say “Hosanna!” unless we mean it. Hosanna means “Save us, we pray! Or We pray that you will save us!”

So we have to mean it and we can’t mean it unless we understand ourselves and come to terms with our need for a redeemer. We prepare ourselves to walk this lonely and difficult road with Christ firstly by acknowledging our own lonely and miserable condition. No more masks, no lies, no distractions. The worst lies are the ones that we tell ourselves because those are the lies that keep us from finding healing, they keep us from knowing God. We humans are quite good at lying about our own condition. We even try to lie to God and to others around them to convince them that we are not sinners, but really upright, righteous people. But please understand, each of us is required to enter into this holy week as we truly are, empty and helpless and ready to receive what Christ will offer us and nothing more.

The people who stood at the gate waiting for Christ came there and created a great commotion out of genuine excitement and anticipation of what Christ was going to do. They had just witnessed the unbelievable events surrounding the raising of Lazarus, just a day earlier. This was the greatest miracle that anyone had ever seen. Now they waited to see what God would do next through His Messiah, His chosen one, because of course they did not yet realize that the One who they waited for and called out to was in fact the Son of God. They figured him to be an earthly king.

As we enter into Holy Week maybe we can also come with some enthusiasm in our hearts. Instead of dreading a long week of many hours of services, perhaps we can bring ourselves joyfully because we know what God has done and we are being invited to once again enter into the story, to live His story and to allow Our Lord Jesus Christ to ride into our hearts and minds just as He rode into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday long ago.

Perhaps as we see what our Lord has suffered out of love for us, we will ourselves have the courage to suffer a little bit for Him. Perhaps as we listen to the holy hymns and readings we will gain new strength to be like the Lord and carry our crosses patiently and as we move through this week we will once again be reminded that the life we now share was made possible only through the love of God for mankind. Everything that you will see and hear and experience is for you. It is a part of you because you have become a part of Christ. It is your story. It is your master and Lord who suffered. It is your master and Lord who was led like a lamb to the slaughter. It was your master and Lord who offered Himself for the life of the world. It is your master and Lord who will rise from the dead and as He rises will lift us up out of the tombs if only we will reach out to Him and cry “Hosanna!” And Glory to to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons