WHAT DOES SALVATION LOOK LIKE?

Passion Sunday - Palm Sunday
Luke 19:29-40; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:4-11; Luke 23:1-49

And so it begins. Another year, another Holy Week. Our journey commences with Jesus, as we relive the drama: the triumph and dissolution, the glory and the shame, the ecstasy, and the agony. We play out the parts in a pageantry of sound and color which has been re-enacted by millions since at least the 4th-century in Jerusalem and this morning by countless Christians all around the world. We find our own Bethphage from where to start the parade, a place to gather and hear that Jesus is coming. We take up our palms and coats to follow our Lord to the sanctuary our own little bit of Jerusalem. We proclaim that he is our King with songs and shouts, and we catch the fever of the moment as a strange but familiar word passes our lips. HOSANNA! Because of our years of Sunday School and Passion Plays, because of the bright red and verdant leaves, after so many weeks of violet and ashes, we find ourselves associating this strange word with praise and adulation, with great honor and great hope. But that is because the word and the gravitas of this day have lost some of their meaning. Hosanna is a greek and Latinized version of an ancient Hebrew phrase. הושיעה-נא (Hosh’ya - na). The root is the same as my name or Jesus’ Yehoshu'a - which means, “God Saves” Adding the ‘na, gives us a much different phrase, a pleading command even, Hosh’ya-na ––– SAVE NOW, O GOD! We first see it in the works of the Psalmist. 118, verse 25. It comes stuck between lines of praise, 24 This is the day that LORD has wrought. Let us exult and rejoice in it. 25 We beseech You, LORD, pray, save us. We beseech You, LORD, make us prosper. 26 Blessed who comes in the name of the LORD. We bless you from the house of the LORD. This is a festival hymn for a procession to the Temple. Quite well known at the time. Quite appropriate for the journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if hosh’ya-na, “Save us now” was the cry of Israel in Egypt as they awaited deliverance from bondage. The deliverance remembered in Passover. So here we find ourselves. With branches at the ready to welcome the long-awaited Messiah, the anointed King who has come to set us free. But wait a minute, something is wrong here. He doesn't look like a king. Where are his armies? Where is his sword? And for that matter, where is his mighty steed? Jesus comes over the ridge riding a baby donkey. He has no army, no sword in his hand. In fact, he almost disappears in the crowd.

Palm Sunday Procession on the Mount of Olives

James Tissot (1896)

We have set up for ourselves an expectation of what it means to be rescued, to be saved, to be delivered. We have heard all that Jesus has done in the Galilee and the Jordan. Now we expect him to come armed at the ready. We are geared up for a fight to destroy our enemies and free us from bondage. But Jesus throws that all on its head. After an initially good show and clearing the temple of extortionists, Jesus spends the next few days teaching in the Temple. Telling us to love our enemies. Well, this just isn’t right. This isn’t how it's supposed to be. Over the next few days, our fever of triumph turns to dissolution. We spiral from the glory of the moment to shame as we realize that this is not playing out how we expected. It takes five days for us to go from “Hosannah!” to “Crucify Him!” It only takes five days to go from “Save Us!” to “I don’t know him.” What does Salvation look like to you? We still want a God of power and might. Deep down we all still want the armies and the pageantry. We want the fire from heaven to burn up our enemies. We cry out to be saved from the other. We cry out to be saved from the evil that lurks around the corner. We cry out to be saved from the enemy at the gates. But in reality, we really need to be saved from ourselves. We have to change our thinking. We have to embrace the paradox. Your king comes riding on a donkey. Glory is found in humility. Love your enemies and do good to those who hurt you. Forgive, when you want to take revenge. The King of kings is foremost a servant. The first will be last and the last will be first. And perhaps the greatest paradox of all, In order to live, you only have to die. This is all too much to handle. We do not understand the love of God. We are not willing to take on the challenge He lays out. Since God has not saved us like we thought God would or should, we find ourselves calling for the death of God. And because God loves us so much to come to us in human flesh, riding on a donkey, he listens to our cries and gives himself up to death. So what does salvation look like? not an army and not a sword, but a teacher on a donkey and a cross.

Hosh’ya-na! Save us, O God. Let us pray. And teach us how to be saved. AMEN.

Rev. J. Nelson - Passion Sunday - April 14, 2019 St. David of Wales Episcopal Church - Elkhart, Indiana