Isaiah 50:5-10; 1 Peter 2:21-24; St John 12:1-43
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
One was angry with Him, the other confused. They were sisters and their brother was dead. Do you know the panic, when you’ve called for help, and help is not coming fast enough? Do you know the terror when death has come for your brother, your husband, your father? Nothing matters, because everything that is anything is gone.
That’s how these sisters - Mary and Martha - felt. And besides that, disappointment. No - betrayal. What a friend we have in Jesus? Some friend. He’s not there when you need Him. He even skipped the funeral.
Are you angry with God? Or worse, maybe you find it hard to believe at all. Its been a long time since anything happened. The tombs have closed on your brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives. No one is coming to help.
Jesus made them wait. Four whole days. Why? He teaches them that He both weeps with them, sharing in their suffering, but also that in Him is the power of the resurrection. He answers in the best time, which we cannot comprehend.
This is why the crowds gathered in Jerusalem the first Palm Sunday. They heard He had done this sign. They came for the resurrection of the dead.
Why have you come here, to this House named after the one who denied the Nazarene? The one who was willing to go even to death with Jesus, but shrank in cowardice at the voice of a little girl. What are you expecting? Like these Greeks, do you wish to see Jesus? Why? One has a difficult marriage, another seeks a spouse, while the widow grieves the husband who is no more. What can Jesus do?
There are those whom you have hurt and those whom you have failed to help. Will your life be changed if you meet the One whose name you sing? His glory is not visible in feats of strength or in instantaneous reversals of your life. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. You gave something up for Lent and soon found excuses and loopholes for your own resolutions. What is wrong with us?
The death that caused Lazarus’ decaying body to stink causes our own lives to stink. Our first parents tasted the Tree of the Knowledge of Evil. We have feasted on that fruit so that our minds are sick, calling good “evil” and evil “good.” Do you love the glory that comes from man? That is, the indulgence of your temptations, your own glory? Do you sin intentionally, certain you will find forgiveness afterward? This is death.
This is why He came. To raise the dead.
We who are in the lowest cry out, Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna means, “Save!” This week and always the Church prays, “You, Jesus, who are in the highest, save the world that you brought into being. Blot out our sins, just as you previously dried the tears of Mary and Martha.”
Even a son who has wandered far in this vale of tears, even a daughter who has scorned her parents’ counsel, will they not be welcomed home again? The Father welcomes home His children because they are His. He formed us out of clay and comes to save us at the right time. He raises up His Son in the glory of the Cross in order to draw all men to Himself.
That is why God brought you here, this day; because He desires to give you His gifts; to open your blind eyes, and soften your hard heart. He has brought you here to save you from your death, to free you from your sin; to heal you.
There was another crowd that assembled later in Holy Week. It wasn’t the same crowd. The Palm Sunday crowd was filled with children. They rioting crowd killed their children. For when offered Jesus, they cried out, His blood be upon us and our children! They meant it for His death; but we must appropriate these words for our own. His blood is on us, for our sins are on Him. You are guilty. Our whole race is guilty.
But, His blood be on us and on your children!, is also what we mean when you are baptized, washed white in the Blood of the Lamb. It is what is meant when you are absolved in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is the voice of the Father spoken to you; not thundering, but gentle and in mercy. For you are His child, crying out “I am yours! Save me!”
Hosanna. Save. It is the song most associated with yesterday, the beginning of the holiest week. It has become a song of joy because we know that it is accomplished. You don’t see it yet. Your father needs surgery. You son is struggling. Your career is stalled. You struggle with your own temptation and flesh and sin. Yet we sin, Hosanna! Save! not only because we need it, but because we know He will do it. By His wounds you have been healed.
This week cannot leave us the same. An encounter with Jesus makes us new and different. He raises the dead. He puts to flight demons that haunt you. We follow Him to the Cross, we rest with Him in the tomb, knowing that He will bring us to the raising of our bodies and the renewal of the world.
Hosanna. Save us, we pray! And He comes, riding in on bread and wine, His Body and Blood, back from the dead to bestow on you new and everlasting life.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
One was angry with Him, the other confused. They were sisters and their brother was dead. Do you know the panic, when you’ve called for help, and help is not coming fast enough? Do you know the terror when death has come for your brother, your husband, your father? Nothing matters, because everything that is anything is gone.
That’s how these sisters - Mary and Martha - felt. And besides that, disappointment. No - betrayal. What a friend we have in Jesus? Some friend. He’s not there when you need Him. He even skipped the funeral.
Are you angry with God? Or worse, maybe you find it hard to believe at all. Its been a long time since anything happened. The tombs have closed on your brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives. No one is coming to help.
Jesus made them wait. Four whole days. Why? He teaches them that He both weeps with them, sharing in their suffering, but also that in Him is the power of the resurrection. He answers in the best time, which we cannot comprehend.
This is why the crowds gathered in Jerusalem the first Palm Sunday. They heard He had done this sign. They came for the resurrection of the dead.
Why have you come here, to this House named after the one who denied the Nazarene? The one who was willing to go even to death with Jesus, but shrank in cowardice at the voice of a little girl. What are you expecting? Like these Greeks, do you wish to see Jesus? Why? One has a difficult marriage, another seeks a spouse, while the widow grieves the husband who is no more. What can Jesus do?
There are those whom you have hurt and those whom you have failed to help. Will your life be changed if you meet the One whose name you sing? His glory is not visible in feats of strength or in instantaneous reversals of your life. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. You gave something up for Lent and soon found excuses and loopholes for your own resolutions. What is wrong with us?
The death that caused Lazarus’ decaying body to stink causes our own lives to stink. Our first parents tasted the Tree of the Knowledge of Evil. We have feasted on that fruit so that our minds are sick, calling good “evil” and evil “good.” Do you love the glory that comes from man? That is, the indulgence of your temptations, your own glory? Do you sin intentionally, certain you will find forgiveness afterward? This is death.
This is why He came. To raise the dead.
We who are in the lowest cry out, Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna means, “Save!” This week and always the Church prays, “You, Jesus, who are in the highest, save the world that you brought into being. Blot out our sins, just as you previously dried the tears of Mary and Martha.”
Even a son who has wandered far in this vale of tears, even a daughter who has scorned her parents’ counsel, will they not be welcomed home again? The Father welcomes home His children because they are His. He formed us out of clay and comes to save us at the right time. He raises up His Son in the glory of the Cross in order to draw all men to Himself.
That is why God brought you here, this day; because He desires to give you His gifts; to open your blind eyes, and soften your hard heart. He has brought you here to save you from your death, to free you from your sin; to heal you.
There was another crowd that assembled later in Holy Week. It wasn’t the same crowd. The Palm Sunday crowd was filled with children. They rioting crowd killed their children. For when offered Jesus, they cried out, His blood be upon us and our children! They meant it for His death; but we must appropriate these words for our own. His blood is on us, for our sins are on Him. You are guilty. Our whole race is guilty.
But, His blood be on us and on your children!, is also what we mean when you are baptized, washed white in the Blood of the Lamb. It is what is meant when you are absolved in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is the voice of the Father spoken to you; not thundering, but gentle and in mercy. For you are His child, crying out “I am yours! Save me!”
Hosanna. Save. It is the song most associated with yesterday, the beginning of the holiest week. It has become a song of joy because we know that it is accomplished. You don’t see it yet. Your father needs surgery. You son is struggling. Your career is stalled. You struggle with your own temptation and flesh and sin. Yet we sin, Hosanna! Save! not only because we need it, but because we know He will do it. By His wounds you have been healed.
This week cannot leave us the same. An encounter with Jesus makes us new and different. He raises the dead. He puts to flight demons that haunt you. We follow Him to the Cross, we rest with Him in the tomb, knowing that He will bring us to the raising of our bodies and the renewal of the world.
Hosanna. Save us, we pray! And He comes, riding in on bread and wine, His Body and Blood, back from the dead to bestow on you new and everlasting life.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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