• "How to Read the Passion"
• Sermon for Palm Sunday
• April 1st, 2007
• The Reverend Stephen C. Scarlett
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The Passion, like other major biblical stories, should be read on two levels. One level is the specific historical setting of the story. The other is the way in which the characters in the story represent us. On one level, the story of the fall of man is a story about Adam and Eve, the choices they made and the consequences they suffered. On another level, it is a story our own unfaithful choices and our own consequences, for we can see ourselves in them.

The narrative of the Triumphal Entry and Passion tells us about the expectation and disappointment of a particular group of first century Jewish people. They welcomed the Messiah, anticipating that he would defeat the enemy and change the world as they desired.

Instead, they got a man who was whipped and beaten; a man nailed to a piece of wood; a man offering no resistance to his captors. The crowd despised the humiliation and weakness; the people were angry that their expectations were not fulfilled. So they joined with the enemies of Jesus to make the verdict unanimous, “Crucify him!”

We welcome Christ into our lives with our own expectations. We want what we want—change in our lives, in our families, in our work and in the world. But, there inevitably comes a time of disappointment. God doesn’t do what we want or expect. What we get from Christ, ultimately, is the Cross: a dying man who invites us to die with him.

When we are given the cross rather than what we wanted or expected, we are tempted to join the Good Friday crowd and, as Hebrews says, “crucify again the Son of God” (6:6).

Before the kingdom of Jesus could come in power, he had to first deal with the problem of sin. Sin is the root problem behind all human problems. Sin separates man from God. Sin renders humanity incapable of fulfilling its own aspirations. Because we don’t want to face the weight and the cost of our sin, we deceive ourselves into thinking that the problem lies somewhere else; in the system, in our particular circumstances, or in other people.

The Cross teaches us that if we want to follow Christ, we must accept that the change to be instituted will take place first in my life, my heart and my mind. It will require two deaths—his and mine.

We will meet on Easter Day to see how the despised cross turned out to be the answer. Jesus didn’t solve the temporal concerns of the first or twenty-first century crowd. Rather, he conquered Satan, sin and death. We won’t get from him easy answers to all our problems or freedom from our share of pain and suffering. We will get the gift of eternal life and the promise that our share of the cross will lead to our share in the Resurrection—if we put our faith in him.

The Palm Sunday liturgy reminds us to beware of false hope and false expectation. A real answer to the human condition—resurrection—can only come to those who have faced the real problem on Good Friday, with real sorrow, real confession and the real death that is necessary to atone for our sins.