Palm/Passion Sunday

Mark 14:12-25
12On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 13So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, 14and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” 16So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.
17When it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, “Surely, not I?” 20He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. 21For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.”
22While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. 24He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”


The journey toward Easter is almost over, my friends. These last several weeks we have been thinking together about our faith journeys—where we see hope that may seem impossible to hold on to, the ways we receive grace for the journey, allowing the Light of the World to lead us out of our darkness, considering the life and death, loss and gain that we go through as we commit ourselves and our lives to Christ. I hope this has been a time of deep self-reflection for you as it has been for me.

And so today we are arrived at Jerusalem with Jesus and the twelve. As the children reminded us, Hosanna was the word on the lips of the crowds as he entered the city. They laid their clothing on the ground for the donkey he was riding to travel over. That is some serious devotion! They waved branches at him in a gesture of honor and praise. It is almost painful for me when I read and hear this story now, knowing what is to come in just the few days that will follow this great celebratory day. The long journey to the holy city is completed for Jesus and the disciples. They are there as were so many other Jews to celebrate the high holy days of Passover—the sacred time in which they gathered to celebrate God’s salvation of the Hebrews out of Egypt as they escaped the slaughter of the children and were able to slip out of Egypt into the dessert.

Remember that story for just a moment: what happiness there must have been as the people were finally able to leave the country that had held them in slavery for so many generations. They just walked out under the hand of God—the God who had always been faithful to them even when they turned away and their faithfulness to God failed. They celebrated and gave thanks, only to turn on God once again as they traveled the desert, complaining about the circumstances of their exodus, the food provided, the time it was taking to get to the Promised Land. And yet, God did not turn God’s back on them; instead God continued to love and lead them to safety and security, and today they continue to give thanks for the faithfulness of God’s journey through the generations of their people even into today.

Now fast-forward yourself to the Passover festival when Jesus and his companions were joined together for a meal. Jesus sits at the celebratory table with the others, likely saying the prayers and recalling the traditions of the meal they share together. They may still be on the high of the entrance into Jerusalem they had just experienced a few days earlier. Things seem to be going well. Jesus just gets more and more popular and well known for his deeds of healing and mercy and his teaching on how God really wants the world and our lives to be—an exodus from the slavery the people continued to live in: slavery to the government of Rome, slavery to the interpretation handed down to them of the Law of God. Jesus breaks the barriers that keep people from fully knowing and loving God and offers a new way of living and journeying through life with God. And these twelve were witnesses to that as we are today through the study of their story with Jesus in the gospels.

What glory they must have been living in since they arrived in the holy city. And so they gather at table with Jesus for this sacred meal, and suddenly they are derailed by his announcement that one of them will betray him, one who sits at that very table and shares the food they all eat. And then he serves them the bread and the wine and shares with them that this is the last time he will receive this meal until he shares in a new way in the kingdom of God. This is too much information to bear: after this climax of Jesus ministry and celebration of him, one of these who have journeyed with him all this way and time will turn on him? How could that be? Not a single one of them could imagine that he would be the one who would do it. Surely not they, who were the insiders of this movement, would be the ones to betray the Son of God whom they had come to know and love and whose power had been at work changing lives all around them, even theirs. It just couldn’t be. And to be sitting at this most holy table, too! How could one of them share in this meal and remember God’s presence and protection for their ancestors while all the while plotting against God’s Son whose presence had offered them new life all these many months they had shared together?

In a few moments we will gather around this holy table here to remember all the mighty acts of God in Jesus Christ and to ask the presence of the Spirit to bind us together into the resurrected body of Jesus Christ who has gone before us to death and has been raised again. We will each respond to the invitation to gather here and receive this sacred food that will be bread for our journey and the cup that fills us with the grace and presence of God. We will come with love in our hearts, offer prayers of thanksgiving and petition while kneeling before the altar of God. Some of us may even join hands with others and shed tears of deep emotion while feeling true communion with God. As it always is, it will be a powerful experience of putting back together the body of the ministry and gospel of Christ. What a beautiful time to be a Christian and part of this community of faith who demonstrates some of the diversity of those called to be at this table from many different situations in life. We are not all perfect, but we are all loved by Christ as he meets us here and offers us the bread of life and the cup of salvation.

And yet, he looks at us across the table and says, “One of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” And we look around at each other and say, “Surely, not I?” Surely I am not the one who will deny that I know him. Surely I will not sell him for money or things of great material value. Surely I will not think that I know better than God how life ought to go and try to do things that force God’s hand to prove that I am right. Surely I will not be the one who comes here for a great celebration and to sing and shout “Hosanna!” and then be conspicuously absent at the cross in just a few days as only a few actually gather to remember the death of Jesus or his resurrection early in the morning on Easter.

Surely I am not the one who will not live up to the name “disciple of Jesus.” I am here in church; I go to Sunday school; I pray a lot of the time; I try to treat people well; I read and study the scriptures; I serve when I can. Surely, it isn’t I?

Surely, it isn’t I?