Palm Sunday 2015

Palm Sunday 2015

1.Palm Sunday has to be one of the strangest Sundays of the year: in a few minutes we re-enact the
events which took place in the last week of Jesuss life: from triumph to crucifixion.
We begun with the blessing the palms were a decoration, a festive symbol used by Jesus followers to welcome
him to Jerusalem. We too sang hosanna as we entered the church, then a few minutes later we read the the
account of Jesus passion and death.
Back then, a few days after the crowds had welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem, the leaders of the Jews, fearing that
he might take power from them, acted swiftly, accused him to lead a rebellion against the rule of Rome, and
convinced Pilate to arrest him.
For a brief moment he had been the toast of the town, but, after his arrest the cheers turned into jeers and
shouts of crucify him. The Gospel account of Jesus arrest, interrogation, beatings, crucifixion, and death does
not require an explanation.
What requires an explanation is the reason for what happened. Why did it have to happen? Last week we read
2 perspectives of why Jesus suffered and died: one from the Gospel of John and the other from the letter to the
Hebrews

2.Today we get another view from Pauls epistle to the Philippians. For Paul Jesus suffered and died in
an ultimate act of obedience to un-do Adam and Eves disobedience .
Jesus mission in becoming human, was to reveal God and his will, and remain coherent and faithful to his
message even though it upset the people in authority who turned against him and had him killed. But his
obedience to Gods mission reconciled human beings with God, bridging the gap between us and God.
Lets look at the passage from Philippians. Paul says that:
Jesus was in the form of God. Which is another way of saying that before becoming a man Jesus was divine,
he was God, the second person of the Trinity
However, Jesus did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited. Remember the
temptations of Christ? Jesus was tempted to use his powers to perform miracles for his own benefit, to make
himself rich and famous. But, doing that would have been a betrayal of his mission. He did not abuse of his
powers, he remained faithful to his mission.
He emptied himself, this is like saying something that he left his divinity in heaven and became human like
us, taking the form of a slave, he was not born as a king or an aristocrat, but as a poor lower class man
born in human likeness

Palm Sunday 2015

He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, having emptied
himself of his divinity, he became one of us in everything. We, however, are not obedient to
God, and thus we sin. He remained totally obedient, even at the cost of his life.
Even death of a cross, which was the worse possible way to die. It was what the Romans
used for rebel slaves. It was a cruel and unusual punishment, and slow and horribly painful
death meant to serve as a warning to all other slaves.
However, Jesus complete obedience to Gods plan was rewarded, God exalted him by
raising him from the dead and bringing him back to heaven.
Gave him the name above every name Jesus is called Lord (Kyrios) which is the name
the Jews used for God. This is a way of saying that God restored Jesus divinity
And every knee should bend, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Having completed his mission and accomplished the reconciliation of humans with God,
Jesus is now in heaven, we are called to worship and glorify him.

3. In the garden of Eden, the sin of Adam and Eve was an act of disobedience. In his
passion and death Jesus undid their sin with a supreme act of obedience.
Although Jesus could have avoided it, and to foiled the schemes of his enemies, he did not.
Because if had done that, he would have failed his mission to remain faithful at all costs.
By doing what he did he gave us righteousness he re-set our relationship with God as one
of Father and his adoptive children
As we go through Holy Week and commemorate Jesus sacrifice of his life, let us remember
that what happen was on the one hand, caused by evil human beings, but, on the other
hand, it was accepted by Jesus to remain obedient to God and achieve his mission of
reconciliation.
Paul invites the Philippians and us- to imitate Jesus obedience and spirit of self sacrifice
for others. If we will share in this obedience and willingness to sacrifice our self interest
with Jesus, we will also share in his resurrection.