The Palm Sunday
16th March 2008 : 9:00am
& 11:30am
Preacher: The Very Revd Andrew Chan
Passion
Fall and Agony
If someone ask you, ‘What
did Jesus Christ die for?’ How do you answer? The readings of today, the Palm
Sunday, has given us a very clear answer ; he died for
love of God and humanity.
In fact, all through his passion he suffered alone
brings out the depth of his love, for loneliness in suffering is the clearest
indication of a person’s capacity to love. Yes, Jesus suffer, but his suffer
was not because of weakness inherent in human nature. On the contrary, his
suffer was the result of human injustice and of his revolutionary message, and
it proves his faithful love for God and humanity. In his suffering he acted
upon his own words : such accounted in John 15:13 ‘The
greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them.’
However, Jesus did not suffer to wipe out suffering from our lives but to teach
us how to face suffering, to teach us that suffering will always accompany true
love; and hence anyone who follows him must carry his daily cross, as he taught
his disciples earlier. He taught us about the supremacy of love and of the
qualities that exemplify it; namely that love is stronger than violence, that
humility is stronger than pride, that kindness is stronger than anger, that
gentleness is stronger than rudeness and that peace is stronger than war.
The apparent futility of suffering runs through the
whole of Christ’s passion. His mission seems to end in failure. However, as
stated in today’s epistle reading (in Paul’s letter to Philippians 2:8), ‘He
humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on the cross’ Jesus
overcomes the apparent futility by abiding obedience to his Father’s will.
Prophet Isaiah once mentioned in his Book (Is 50:6) that the suffering servant
of God ‘gave his back to those who beat him’, being fully in control of his
destiny, whereas others during the passion acted as prisoners. Pontius Pilate
was utterly imprisoned by his own weakness; the high priests were controlled
not by truth but by their lust for the blood of Jesus; Peter could not control
even his tongue and denied his Master; Judas ended his life as the prisoner of
his own helplessness. But Jesus was all the time free, so free that he would
later say, ‘I am now ready for you’. It is this freedom with which Christ chose
to suffer for the love of us that crowned his passion. Of course, he needed
help; help which he could not expect from his own disciples who slept when he suffered
and woke up only to desert him.
Like Christ, those who love God and neighbour must be ready to face conflicts, sufferings and
even death. In the past, many have laid down their lives for the sake of love.
For example, in a lot of countries, even nowadays, there are thousands
imprisoned unjustly for their Christian convictions. To try to face each day as
a true Christian, with courage, in a world which requires so many kinds of
painkillers can be very hard. Struggle for high personal and
communal ideal, for the infinite love, for social justice and for human
freedom. All these will involve some forms of death: death to one’s
position, honour, wealth and power; sometimes even
physical death. But if our love of God and neighbour
is deep and strong, we will be able freely to accept these sufferings as a way
of sharing in Christ’s love. We would also be able to love, to reach out to
others and diminish their sufferings.
Victory always comes through suffering. Passion was
not the last word in the life of Christ. It was only the first word of the Holy
Week that will reach its climax on Easter Sunday. So, too, however many of our
days seem to end in a depressing way, they are not the last word in our life.
Rather, they are only the prelude to triumphs we have yet to experience in this
life; and they point to the ultimate victory which will be ours in the next
life. Hitting rock bottom in our personal life and falling into the depth of
sin must not make us pessimistic. No matter how low we fall, there is always
the possibility of rising from it to the heights.
Yes, the story of the Passion is a very touching
story. The attitude of our Lord is so moved. His composite attitude went
outwards and upwards. In going outwards he didn’t strike back. He didn’t retaliate.
He didn’t return evil for evil. There was no attempt to outdo them in
bitterness. Their malice was swallowed up in his mercy. Jesus prayed to the
Father, ‘Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.’ And in
going upwards, he wasn’t throwing up his hands in helpless surrender. What he
did? He did positively. What he did, he did creatively. He offered his
suffering, indeed his whole life, not in timid capitulation or even in stoical
acceptance, but in generous, redemptive sacrifice for humankind. In that
combined or composite movement of his life, he was forgiving people and
glorifying the Father. He was stretching out his hands and joining his hands in
salvation and prayer.
Therefore, the Passion story is not only
description; it’s invitation too. The Passion of Christ is not over at all. It’s
meant to be reproduced every day in our lives.
There is suffering in all our lives – sickness,
loneliness, ridicule perhaps. We can have the upward
movement too, through it’s never easy. But, for all
participation in Christ’s Passion, even that won’t be enough. We’ll have to
move outward as well, refusing to strike back, refusing to retaliate, but
making active in our lives the positive, creative virtues of justice,
forgiveness and peace.
Yes, we are not only admire
Jesus, but also try to imitate him as well.
Palm Sunday should solidify our movement. Palms
should be signs that we are willing to march with Jesus, not only in moments of
triumph and glory, but also in times of fall and agony. For the passion and
resurrection of Jesus, prove that life will prevail over death; that when death
has done even its worst, life will still be victorious.