It’s here! Holy Week is upon us! Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be lifted up and glorified. Like the people gathered to celebrate the Passover Feast so long ago, we, too, look forward to Palm Sunday each and every year. Year after year, the children process down the aisle of churches around the world shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” Year after year we sing songs of praise together in preparation for the week to come.
The celebration this year is vastly different. The pews are empty. There are no children waiving branches, and you are watching service from afar. The shut-in list has grown from three to everyone overnight. The future is uncertain. Years of economic growth have not only come to a halt, in many cases they’ve gone over a cliff. I don’t feel like celebrating much of anything most days. But, here we are, gathered together miles apart to take the final few steps that lead us to the cross and the empty tomb. The reality of this season remains the same as it always has been. This week the sorrowful, penitent reflection of the season of Lent will give way to the joyous celebration of our Lord’s resurrection, but we’ll have to do things a little differently than what we call normal. The important things of the season don’t depend on us; we depend on Him. Everything we do as a congregation and in life through our many and various vocations, is all about Jesus. Whether we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation or we’re isolated during Holy Week because of a pandemic, it’s all about Jesus. Listen to Him.
While they were in the city making preparations for what would be the final Passover sacrifice, Jesus and the Twelve were going about their day when some Gentiles approached Philip asking to see Jesus. Philip went and got Andrew and the two went together to Jesus. It’s easy to pass over this little detail, but don’t. Philip should have been concerned with his own cleanliness. No self-respecting Jew would have been caught in the presence of a potentially unclean Gentile during this time, but Philip knows where true purity comes from—Jesus, who gives the answer, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:23-24) The hour has come. The Son of Man will be lifted up upon the cross and all the world will see it. The only pure, blameless Lamb is about to be led to the slaughter. The Light will overtake the darkness. The Son’s heel will be struck and the serpent’s head crushed.
Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” Isn’t it funny how the people gathered in Jerusalem, waiving branches and singing praises had no clue who they were welcoming. We often don’t know the power and truth of our words. Many times in Scripture (and in life) we see people get what they ask for in unexpected ways. Just before we hear of Jesus’ entry into the Holy City, we’re told the Jewish officials are plotting and planning to do away with him. Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for one man to die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” (John 11:49-50) What a wonderful prophecy given to the High Priest by God Himself. They planned to arrest Jesus and offered a reward to any who would turn Him in. They plotted even to murder newly resurrected Lazarus to halt the news that a man dead for four days was again making the trek to Jerusalem for the Passover.
Be careful what you pray for, you just might get it. Have you prayed for more time together with your family? This stay-at-home order is an answer to your prayer. Have you asked God to rekindle to a fading flame in your marriage? Safely at home you are reminded of why you fell in love in the first place. Have you asked God to help you understand Common Core math? We’ve prayed as a congregation that God would return those who have wandered from the fellowship of the saints on earth. Could He use this time to fan an ember of faith into a blazing flame? He might be.
Holy Week is going to look drastically different. Much of the pomp and circumstance is not possible this year, but the reality is that nothing has changed about this week. Jesus was welcomed as asking, pursued by the priests and the Pharisees, and he will share a final Passover Seder with the Twelve after which one there present will betray Him. He’ll be tried by the Sanhedrin and handed over to the executioners. He’ll be stripped, beaten and paraded through the streets on the way of suffering that leads to a place called “Skull”. His hands and feet will have nails hammered through. He will be lifted up. The crowd that welcomed him will call for his death. He will be mocked and bloodied on the cross for all to see until he cries out with his last breath, “It is finished.”
Our celebration will be different, but the truth of the gospel story remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. Previous plagues have disrupted the life of the saints on earth before. What got them through will do the same for you. Remember your baptism each and every day. Pray for a quick end to covid-19, for protection from the disease if it is God’s will. Remember the promise Jesus gave to the disciples as they began the final journey to Jerusalem, “We must go to Jerusalem in order that I may die and be raised again on the third day.” Amen.