Sermon (St.
Philip’s) – Year A, Palm Sunday
Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Matthew 21:1-11 Blessed is the one who comes in the
name of the Lord!
Isaiah 50:1-9A The Lord God helps me; therefore I
have set my face like flint.
Philippians 2:5-11 Christ Jesus emptied himself, taking the
form of slave, being born in human likeness.
Matthew 26:1-13 The Son of Man
will be handed over to be
crucified.
Matthew 26:14-25 One who dips his bread in the dish with
me will betray me.
For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve, we thank you, God. Amen.
“Leave Taking is Never Easy”
Leave
taking is never easy. Whether we are the
one leaving or the ones remaining behind, when we take leave of a place or
role, life changes. We go through a
range of emotions in leave taking. We
observe these transitions with ritual.
In leave
taking, we often throw a farewell party or do something to celebrate the gift
of time we have shared with a person who will leave us. We remember the good times and we look to the
future with hope and expectation. We
celebrate, with a peculiar sense of poignancy, in these liminal moments that
carry us across the threshold from what we know now in this time and place, to
what will be, just ahead of us in the future.
These
days we are experiencing the special form of leave taking right here in our
community at St. Philip’s. The Rev.
Megan Traquair will soon be leaving us to serve as Vicar at the Church of the
Apostles. Our emotions are stirred. I know I will miss Megan very much. It has been a joy to work with Megan as
colleagues in ministry here at St. Philip’s.
Megan’s
departure from our midst soon after Easter brings up a range of emotions for
me, and I imagine for you. I am sad to think
that I won’t see Megan every day here at the Church. I will miss working with her in the many ways
we have shared in ministry together. I
will miss her thoughtful and spontaneous sermons that always give me something
to ponder throughout the day and through the week that follows.
Mixed
with these feelings of sadness and longing, I also feel excitement for
Megan. I know that new challenges await
her in her new role as Vicar, and I know that she brings many gifts to the
community she will join. In that new
setting, she will have new opportunity to share gifts that will fit perfectly
with the community she will serve.
It seems
altogether fitting as we face our own realities of leave taking this day, that
when we look to the scriptures and discover the readings for this day, Palm
Sunday, we witness the prospect of Jesus’ leave taking from his disciples
following his arrival in Jerusalem.
Just to
be clear in making this parallel, I am not suggesting that Megan is our savior,
although it does seem she has helped save me on more than one occasion as we
have prepared lesson plans together!
You’ll have to ask her about that.
Now let’s
return to consider Jesus’ leave taking.
Our gospel today in the Liturgy of the Palms recalls the spectacle as
the crowds in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus, waving branches from the trees and
shouting “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest!” Their enthusiasm must have been contagious!
A
celebration was unfolding and while the crowd was imagining that this occasion
was a welcoming, Jesus knew this was actually a farewell party, a send off for
him that his disciples and the crowds could not imagine.
Today, as
we celebrate Palm Sunday, we celebrate the wonder of what it is to welcome
Christ again into our midst. We wave
palms, celebrate with prayers and songs of joy and are transformed as we
welcome Christ.
Yet, we
know the story is does not end here. The
week ahead will recall for us the foundational stories of our faith. Each day the liturgy will engage our work of
prayer together through the extremes of our emotions.
We begin
this Holy Week today with celebration, but even today’s readings reveal what we
must face in the week ahead.
From the
victorious palm waving at Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem, we are reminded of the
wisdom of Second Isaiah, calling the people to remain faithful servants of God
at the end of the Babylonian captivity.
Echoing
the faithful servant of Isaiah, we then hear that most compelling early
Christian hymn quoted in the letter to the Philippians. In the lines of the hymn, we recall the kenosis of Christ, the utter emptying of
himself to live a human life and undergo the suffering that would come.
As the
hymn sings, Christ took on the form of a slave, humbling himself to the point
of facing death on a cross. This horror
of this leave taking is almost more than we can bear.
Reflecting
today, we cannot help but look ahead to our prayer in the days ahead. Soon we will gather on Maundy Thursday and
take part in the compelling ritual of foot washing drawn from John’s gospel,
following the model of selfless service that Christ reveals to us. In this story as well, Jesus is portrayed of
taking on the dress of a servant, the one who washes the feet of others, and as
a model of service for us.
From
there, our scriptures today preview our upcoming reflections for Good Friday as
we consider Jesus’ unimaginable betrayal and condemnation. Soon we will hear how He was betrayed for
thirty pieces of silver. Our hearts
break at the very thought of this kind of leave taking. This week we must face our own shadows, the
ways we have betrayed the truth we know.
Our
prayer during the week ahead will reveal the depth and breadth of human
experience through our reflection on Jesus, and we will be stirred to reflect
on our own lives every step of the way.
We will
need to hold fast to God’s unfailing love for us. The celebration we witness today with Jesus
and the palms may seem short-lived, but we know the victory is ultimately
enduring.
The
Johannine gospel will remind us that this week of witnessing Jesus’ leave
taking is purposeful and grace-filled.
Jesus comforts his disciples with words of ultimate assurance, “It is
expedient for you that I go away, so that the Paraclete, or Spirit may come to
you.” As we embrace our own leave taking
in these days, may we, too, be sustained by the Spirit’s enduring presence. Amen.