Lectionary, March 20, Palm Sunday
I.Theme – "Strength is concealed in humility, pain is hidden in triumph, victory, in defeat, life, in death, God, in human form" -Diedrik Nelson
"Palm Sunday" – Giotto (1305-06) "Betrayal & Arrest of Christ" – Fra Angelico (1450)
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm – Psalm 31:9-16 Page 623, BCP
Epistle –Philippians 2:5-11
Gospel – Luke 22:14-23:56
"Borg and Crossan (The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem) imagine not one but two political processions entering Jerusalem that Friday morning in the spring of AD 30. In a bold parody of imperial politics, king Jesus descended the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem from the east in fulfillment of Zechariah’s ancient prophecy: "Look, your king is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Matthew 21:5 = Zechariah 9:9). From the west, the Roman governor Pilate entered Jerusalem with all the pomp of state power. Pilate’s brigades showcased Rome’s military might, power and glory. Jesus’ triumphal entry, by stark contrast, was an anti-imperial and anti-triumphal "counter-procession" of peasants that proclaimed an alternate and subversive community that for three years he had called "the kingdom of God."
This week has two liturgies – Liturgy of the Palms and Liturgy of the Passon.
"The church is called to reckon with paradox on this week: triumph and rejection, death and rebirth." So writes Melinda Quivik in Working Preacher. The week begins with Jesus triumphant arrival and by the end of the week he is killed. Next week we trace the path day by day. God is sacrificed by those he brings life.
"Strength is concealed in humility, pain is hidden in triumph, victory, in defeat, life, in death, God, in human form" -Diedrik Nelson
The theme is established by the first lesson. The servant is disciplined by suffering so he may bring strength and refreshment to the oppressed, but there are those who oppose him. Willingly he submits to those who torture and humiliate him. But God is his helper, so he is not disgraced or shamed. God vindicates him, no one can convict him.
The servant willingly suffers humiliation at the hands of his adversaries. He is not disgraced or put to shame because Yahweh vindicates him and helps him; no one can declare him guilty.
The servant of the Lord is opposed (Isaiah), is obedient to death (Philippians). He is betrayed, tortured and crucified by those who should have listened to him, and is seen as an innocent man by a centurion (Luke). He will be vindicated (Isaiah), exalted by God (Philippians), and honored by the unexpected one of the criminals- (Luke).
II. Summary
Old Testament – Isaiah 50:4-9a
The part of Isaiah written in exile (Chapters 40-55) contains four servant songs, sections that interrupt the flow of the book but have a unity within themselves. This is the third – he is disciplined and strengthened by suffering
Yet the thrust of this passage is the openness of the faithful believer to obeying God’s will, even to the extent of yielding to mockery and abuse
In vv. 4-6, God has “opened my ear”; he has commissioned the servant as one who is taught, i.e. like a disciple. God has made him a “teacher” (a prophet) of the “word” of God, to bring God’s comfort to “the weary”, his fellow Israelites – who reject God. He has accepted this command: he is not “rebellious”. They have tortured him (v. 6), as they did prophets before him, but he has accepted their “insult and spitting”. In vv. 7-9a, in courtroom language, the servant says that, because God helps him, he is not disgraced; he confidently accepts the suffering (“set my face like flint”), and will not be put to shame. God will prove him right (“vindicates”, v. 8). He is willing to face his “adversaries”, his accusers – for the godly to “stand up together” with him against the ungodly. He is confident that, with God’s help, none will find (“declare”, v. 9) declare him guilt
Isaiah presumes in vv.8-9 that there will be some form of legitimate legal process, that proper charges will be brought, that the accused will know the identity of his accuser, that there might be proper debate and the examination of evidence. This doesn’t happen with Jesus when he is confronted by Pilate. His decision is based on an emotional crowd.
Psalm Psalm 31:9-16 Page 623, BCP
The Psalmist appears to speak quietly and from a position of oppression, confident that the Lord will certainly hear him, and will also be his rescuer
The Psalm also introduces the opposite of a crowd motif. Neither neighbors nor friends are willing to stand alongside the afflicted one in this Psalm. Instead, they flee from him or forget him, thrown away like discarded broken pottery.
The psalmist seeks deliverance from personal enemies. He is “in distress”: his troubles have led to ill health; his strength fails him (v. 10); perhaps he is terminally ill. The Psalm also introduces the opposite of a crowd motif. He is “scorned by all my enemies” (v. 11a, ) and even by his neighbors; his friends avoid him. People forget about him, as though he is already dead (v. 12); he feels as useless as “something thrown away. People are conducting a whispering campaign against him and they scheme to take his life (v. 13); but he accepts God personally; he has confidence in God (v. 14). His destiny (“times”, v. 15) is safe in God’s hands; he trusts that God will deliver him from his adversaries and persecutors.
Seeing himself as a “servant” (v. 16), he cries let me experience you, O God! May God, in his compassion, save him from all that beset him.
Epistle – Philippians 2:5-11
In Vv1 -4 Paul provides guidance for the Christians at Philippi to be of the same mind set and shows how to live in relationship with others. Their attitude should be one of service and of humble self-giving. They are to “regard others as better than … [themselves]”, freely adopting a lowly, unassertive stance before others, replacing self-interest with concern for others.
Vv. 5-11 are an early Christian hymn. The purpose of this hymn is to encourage practical attitudes and action among the people of God
He exhorts his readers to be of the same mindset as Jesus – one that is appropriate for them, given their existence “in Christ” (v. 5). Christ was “in the form of God” (v. 6): he was already like God; he had a God-like way of being, e.g. he was not subject to death. He shared in God’s very nature. Even so, he did not “regard” being like God “as something to be exploited”, i.e. to be grasped and held on to for his own purposes. Rather, he “emptied himself”
(v. 7), made himself powerless and ineffective – as a slave is powerless, without rights. He took on the likeness of a human being, with all which that entails (except sin), including “death” (v. 8). As a man, he lowered (“humbled”) himself, and throughout his life in the world, was fully human and totally obedient to God, even to dying. (Paul now adds: even to the most debasing way of dying, crucifixion – reserved for slaves and the worst criminals.)
God actively responded to this total denial of self, his complete living and dying for others, by placing him above all other godly people (“highly exalted him”, v. 9), and bestowing on him the name, title and authority of “Lord” (v. 11) over the whole universe (“heaven”, v. 10, “earth”, “under the earth”).
God has given him authority which, in the Old Testament, he reserved for himself. (Isaiah 45:22-25, in the Revised English Bible, says: “From every corner of the earth turn to me and be saved; for I am God … to me every knee shall bow … to me every tongue shall swear, saying ‘In the Lord alone are victory and might … all Israel’s descendants will be victorious and will glory in the LORD’”); everyone shall worship him; confessing that “Jesus Christ is Lord”.
(v. 11) is equivalent to proclaiming the victory and might of God. The ultimate goal is the “glory of God the Father”, the reclamation of God’s sovereignty, his power over, and presence in, the universe.
There is a social element to this teaching: this hymn to Christ’s humility is not only to be honored in singing but in the lives of those who, trusting him and following his example, are to look out for the interests of others in the group and not simply their own. This crowd, formed in Christ’s life, death and resurrection, is not simply to be a disparate gathering of like-minded people. Much more than a crowd, this is a church – at least in its early stages. It is a united people, ambitious not for individual gain but for corporate blessing, as together with one another and indeed with ‘every tongue’ on earth and heaven they praise the Christ who is Lord and give glory to God. The whole company of heaven constitutes quite a crowd! We are part of God’s people, and as such we have the privilege of serving his world, and speaking out to praise the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Gospel Luke 22:14-23:56
5 main scenes in the Narrative
A. LORD’S SUPPER 22:14-22;38
Sitting down at a meal was not unusual for Jews. The Passover meal was central, but so also was the weekly remembrance of the Passover in the Sabbath evening seder that gave a weekly shape to the religious life of the Jews
But this one different – a teaching meal and one for God to become flesh and sit at table with them and give them food from his own, fleshly hands was scandalous. And he talks about the dawn of a new era.
Why did Jesus "earnestly desire to eat this passover meal" with his disciples? Luke mentions that "the passover lamb has to be sacrificed" on this feast (Luke 22:7). This would be Jesus’ last meal with his chosen twelve. It was not coincidental that he would suffer and die on a cross at passover time. Luke points to Jesus’ death as the sacrificial passover lamb who fulfills and makes obsolete the sacrifices of the old testament. This meal is both a celebration of the passover according to the old covenant and the institution of a new covenant to be commemorated by a new meal. Jesus institutes this "new covenant" in the form of a last will and testament. Jacob and Moses, just before their deaths, blessed their heirs with their last will and testament (Genesis 49; Deuteronomy 33). Jesus’ passover is similar as he blesses his chosen twelve who would become the leaders of the new Israel. Jesus’ institution fulfills the old testament promises of a "new covenant" and "new exodus" which would bring about true freedom from slavery to sin, as well as the promise of blessing.
Luke ties the last supper meal with Jesus’ death and the coming of God’s kingdom. Jesus transforms the passover of the old covenant into the meal of the "new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20). In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to their Creator. Melchizedek’s offering of bread and wine, who was both priest and king (Genesis 14:18), prefigured the offering made by Jesus, our high priest and king. The unleavened bread at Passover and the miraculous manna in the desert are the pledge of God’s faithfulness to his promises. The "cup of blessing" at the end of the Jewish passover meal points to the messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
Jesus’ passing over to his Father by his death and resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Last Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the church in the glory of God’s kingdom. In this meal Jesus identifies the bread as his body and the cup as his blood. When the Lord Jesus commands his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he invites us to take his life into the very center of our being (John 6:53
There is a section unique to Luke – instructing his disciples
Luke 22.35 And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. 22.36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 22.37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. 22.38 And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.
B. MOUNT OF OLIVES – PRAYER & ARREST (22:39–53) :
The Lucan form of this scene is less suspenseful and dramatic in relation to the disciples than is the comparable account in Mark/Matthew. Jesus goes to a customary place, the Mount of Lives, so that Judas has no problem in finding him. No words of rebuke are spoken to the disciples who follow Jesus. After all, at the Last Supper (in Luke alone) Jesus has praised them by anticipation, ‘You are those who have continued with me in my trials’; and he has assured them that they will have a kingdom, as well as a place at the eschatological table, and thrones of judgment (22:28, 29) – how can they then seriously fall away? Accordingly, Jesus does not separate himself from the body of the disciples and then from the three chosen ones, as he does in Mark/Matthew. He simply withdraws a stone’s throw urging them to pray. If they sleep, it is ‘for sorrow’ (22:45); and they are found sleeping only once, not three times.
All the drama in the scene is centered in Luke’s unique portrayal of Jesus. He is not one whose soul is sorrowful unto death or who lies prostrate in the dust. He has prayed often during the ministry; so now on his knees he utters a prayer to his Father prefaced and concluded by a subordination of his will to God’s wish. The Son’s prayer does not remain unanswered; rather God sends an angel to strengthen him.
It is a mark of Lucan sensitivity that when the arresting party comes, led by Judas, the perverse kiss is forestalled. Jesus addresses his betrayer by name (the only time in all the Gospels) and shows a foreknowledge of the planned strategy (22:48). Sensitively, too, Luke adds a motif to the traditional cutting off the ear of the high priest’s slave, namely, that Jesus who has so often healed in the ministry heals this opponent, even in the midst of his own peril. The figures who come to arrest Jesus on the Mount of Olives are not simply emissaries of the Jewish authorities as in the other Gospels; rather, the high priests, the Temple officers, and the elders themselves come out against him. The scene of the arrest terminates with Jesus’ dramatic announcement that it is their hour; with them the power of darkness has come (22:53).
C. PETER’S DENIAL – SANHEDRIN INTERROGATION (22:54–71) :
It is the look given to him by Jesus who seemingly is present all the time that Peter is denying him! This dramatic look, peculiar to Luke, is an aspect of Jesus’ continuing care for Peter promised at the Last Supper (22:32). The court yard is also the scene of the abuse of Jesus as a prophet, an action which ironically confirms his foreknowledge that he would die in Jerusalem as a prophet (13:33).
D. THE TRIAL BEFORE PILATE & HEROD (23:1–25) :
Luke’s staging of the Roman trial, almost as elaborate as John’s, goes considerably beyond the picture in Mark/Matthew. Although some of the same basic material is included (the issue of the ‘King of the Jews’ and the alternative offered by Barabbas), the overall development is uniquely shaped by parallelism with the Roman trials of Paul in Acts 16:19–24; 17:6–9; 18:12–17; 23:23–30. There are clear similarities in such features as detailed charges involving violations of Roman law and of Caesar’s majesty, indifference by Roman officials to the religious issues that are really involved, and the desire to let the prisoner go, or at most chastise him with a whipping.
The unique and fascinating Lucan contribution to the Pilate scene is the interspersed trial before Herod, the tetrarch or ‘king’ of Galilee, who is present in Jerusalem for the feast, and to whom Pilate sends Jesus upon learning that he is a Galilean. Christian memory has preserved a series of Herodian adversary images: a Herod (the Great) who with the chief priests and scribes conspired to kill the child Jesus (Matt 2); a Herod (Antipas) who killed John the Baptist (Mark 6:17–29; Matt 14:3–12), reputedly sought to kill Jesus (Luke 13:31), and would be remembered as aligned with Pilate against Jesus (Acts 4:27); a Herod (Agrippa I) who killed James, son of Zebedee, and sought to kill Peter (Acts 12:1–5); and a Herod (Agrippa II) who sat in judgment on Paul alongside a Roman governor (Acts 25:13–27
These traditions have been woven together into the passion narrative in different ways in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter (where Herod becomes Jesus’ chief adversary who crucifies him) and in Luke. Although annoyed by Jesus’ silence and contemptuously mocking him – two details that the other Gospels relate to Jesus’ appearance before Pilate – the Lucan Herod confirms Pilate’s judgment that Jesus is innocent (Luke 23:14–15). In turn, contact with Jesus heals the enmity that had existed between the Galilean ‘king’ and the Roman, an enmity that may have been caused by Pilate’s brutally killing Galileans (Luke 13:1). Once more Jesus has a healing effect even on those who maltreat him.
E. CRUCIFIXION, DEATH & BURIAL (23:26–56) :
In this section of the passion narrative, Luke is most individualistic. Since he narrates no mocking of Jesus by Roman soldiers after Pilate’s sentence, the deliverance of Jesus ‘up to their will’ (23:25) creates the impression that the ones who seize Jesus, take him to Calvary, and crucify him are the chief priests, the Jewish rulers, and the people – the last plural subject mentioned (23:13). Eventually, however, we hear of soldiers (23:36), presumably Roman: and the people are shown as following Jesus without hostility, lamenting. Thus Luke alone among the passion narrators portrays a segment of Jews who are not disciples of Jesus but who are touched by his suffering and death.
Jesus addresses these ‘daughters of Jerusalem’, not in reference to his own impeding fate, but to the catastrophe that awaits them. They belong to a city that has killed the prophets and refused all Jesus’ overtures of grace, a city already destined to be dashed to the ground and trodden by Gentiles (13:34–35; 19:41–44; 21:20–24). Elsewhere, Luke shows great reluctance in having Jesus speak harshly; if he permits that here in threatening words borrowed from Isaiah (54:1–4) and Hosea (10:8). Luke is probably constrained by the factuality of the destruction of Jerusalem that has already taken place at Roman hands by the time he writes.
The contrast in Jesus’ attitudes is heightened by the first words he speaks upon coming to the place of the Skull: ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do’. This hint that the Jewish chief priest and scribes acted out of ignorance, which is reiterated in Acts (3:17), runs against the general NT judgment of deliberate blindness and malevolence on the part of the Jewish authorities involved in the crucifixion. It constitutes not only a more humane understanding of the complex responsibilities for the death of Jesus but also a directive for the gracious treatment of one’s enemies that has often been simply called ‘Christian’. There are many who would come after Jesus, beginning with Stephen (Acts 7:60), who would find hope in facing unjust brutality by repeating the prayer of the Lucan Jesus.
Three groups (but not the people) mock the crucified Jesus in response to his forgiving words: the rulers, the soldiers, and one of the two criminals crucified with him. In a major departure from the Synoptic tradition, the other criminal in Luke acknowledges the justice of his own sentence and confesses the innocence of one whom he addresses intimately as ‘Jesus’ – an address used elsewhere in the Gospels in a friendly manner only by the blind beggar of Jericho. And the suffering Jesus responds with greater generosity than the petitioner requests, for Jesus will not simply remember the man after entering into his Kingdom; he will take the man with him this very day. The oft–used observation that the ‘good thief’ ultimately stole the Kingdom is not too far from the truth.
In the last hours of Jesus’ life (the sixth to the ninth hours), darkness comes over the earth (which Luke explains as a failing of the sun or as an eclipse, which technically is not possible at Passover time), but it does not obscure the confidence of the dying Jesus. His last words are not those of abandonment (Mark/Matthew) or those of triumph (John) but words of trust: ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’. Adapted from Psalm 31:5–6 (especially as phrased in the Greek Bible), these words, like those in which he forgave his enemies, have offered many a way of meeting death in peace. Once again, the first of the followers of Jesus on this path was the martyr, Stephen (Acts 7:59). Luke places the rending of the Temple veil before Jesus’ death, not after (Mark/Matthew); for only acts of grace will follow the death of Jesus. The first is a final affirmation of the innocence of Jesus drawn from a centurion, so that time wise on either side of the cross a Roman governor and a Roman soldier have made the same declaration of not guilty. Then the Jewish multitude who followed Jesus to Calvary and looked on (Luke 23:27, 31) is moved to repentance, so that the people return home beating their breasts. A sign of goodness is evoked even from the midst of the Sanhedrin, as Joseph of Arimathea, a saintly member of that body who had not consented to the purpose or the deed of crucifying Jesus, asks for the body of Jesus in order to render the required burial service. If the daughters of Jerusalem wept over Jesus on the way to Calvary, providing the mourning required for burial, the women of Galilee (alongside Jesus’ male acquaintances!) look on the burial from a distance (23:49,55) and prepare spices to complete the burial. The words that will ultimately be addressed to the Galilean women will not be words of warning such as those addressed to the Jerusalem women but words of joy – their burial ministrations will prove unnecessary, for Jesus is among the living, not among the dead (24:1, 5). It has often been critically observed that the cross bears for Luke none of the atoning value that it had for Paul. Lucan crucifixion, however, is clearly a moment of God’s forgiveness and of healing grace through and by Jesus. The theological language may be different, but the atoning effects are the same.
III. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher:
Old Testament – Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm – Psalm 31:9-16
Epistle – Philippians 2:5-11
Gospel – Luke 22:14-23:56