Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
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You know the words: He “was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,… suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.” That is quite a skip through Jesus’ visible, earthly life, right? When you come to think about it, there’s nothing in between as the Creed confesses our Lord and Savior. You only take a single step and you’ve gone directly from Christmas to Good Friday, do not pass Go. What about the teaching of Jesus? What about His miracles? His Baptism even?

Though it may look odd when you ask those kinds of questions, you should rest assured that simply because these ancient confessions omitted those key events in Christ’s life, it doesn’t mean at all that their saintly authors did not value them. They knew and they rejoiced that our Lord showed compassion and taught the truth. But the creeds intend to make a point when they move directly from Jesus’ birth to His Passion, that is, His suffering mixed together with love. They point to the fact that the Son of God who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary came specifically to suffer and to die.

There is a lot to observe this week! But when we observe these holy events, we don’t make note of them as a sad conclusion to an otherwise triumphant and well-lived life. Don’t be sorry for Jesus that His ministry came to this kind of end. The cross always was intended to be the very heart of who Jesus is and what He came to do in order to reconcile the entire sin-sick world to God the Father. There is no tragedy, no defeat here. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a Lutheran imprisoned and killed under Hitler’s rule, wrote, “It is no small matter, that God allowed Himself to be pushed out of the world on a cross.” To take his statement further, it is no small matter that the Son of God came into the world that He had made, and that world rejected Him. It is no small matter that Jesus rode triumphantly into the holy city of Jerusalem for the specific purpose to suffer and die as the Passover Lamb whose blood brings forgiveness into the world. Reflect and pray over all that takes place this week, because the Son of God did it all for you and for your salvation.

Today we notice that Jesus is at the head of a parade—well, everybody loves a parade, right? It goes without saying. The Romans didn’t love this parade, though. In fact, this parade looked more like the beginnings of a riot. With a hint of nervousness the Roman troops look on as the crowds chant something or other about a King of Israel, and He’s fulfilling a prophecy about riding a donkey’s colt. Whatever could that mean? they wonder. Was this humble-looking man some revolutionary like Mr. Judas Maccabeus, who stirred up the people a century or two before? It’s already bad enough that all these visitors are filling the city beyond capacity for their annual Passover. Will they start forming themselves into a restless mob? They’re already worked up when they conjure those ancient memories about slavery in Egypt. There already was a rebellion recently in Jerusalem, and among one of the arrests was a nasty murderer named Barabbas. The Romans however were not going to witness the rebellion they were bracing for. Jesus is not that kind of king.

There’s somebody else who doesn’t love this parade, either. The Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem—they had already learned that Jesus was not the Messiah they had in mind. He was not some weak-spined rabbi that they could control with their works-oriented teachings. Jesus was a threat to their deceitful power games, since His popularity was ever-growing. If He were allowed to go on doing those things He did, and teaching those doctrines He was teaching, then their version of religion would be ruined. No wonder they stand by looking at this parade and say: “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the whole world has gone out after Him!”

Satan really did not like this parade, at all! In fact, this is a parade that Satan had tried to prevent. Three years before, He had tried to offer Jesus another way when he tempted the baptized Lord to bow down and worship him. All these kingdoms I will give to you, but Christ wouldn’t fall for it. The cross is up ahead, and the devil knows it. The cross would mean suffering and shame for Jesus, but for Satan it would spell his own eternal defeat. The cross would spoil the spoiler of his prey, as the hymn sings. Christ crucified would judge Satan forever condemned and stripped of his power. No wonder Satan attempted to dissuade Jesus by speaking through Simon Peter, “Never Lord! This suffering and death shall never happen to you!” Satan hated the sight of this parade as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in the late afternoon humbly ascends the hill of Jerusalem, getting ever closer to the place of sacrifice.

I’ll tell you who loves this parade! Jesus does! Yes, the people who shout Hosanna today will change their tune on Friday and cry out, Crucify Him! He all-too-well knows that their fickle lips will scream for His execution. And His own disciples, even, they too will run away from Him, one will deny Him, and one is already preparing to betray Him. Jesus loves this parade not because of a momentary boost in His popularity ratings, but because He is getting closer to the cross, to the completion of His holy mission. He is fulfilling Zechariah’s prediction of long ago on the one hand, and predicting His own final glorious coming at the end of the world on the other hand. Here is the King parading to ascend His throne, a Bridegroom about to be united to His radiant Bride, clothed in the wedding clothes of His forgiveness. For this joy that is set before Him, Christ endured the cross, scorning its shame.

What do we want in our lives? We try so hard to avoid suffering! Our culture even stoops so low as to suggest that it would be better to destroy the life of someone who is suffering if it doesn’t seem expedient to end that suffering in any other way. To those who think that the supreme good in life is to avoid pain at all costs, the image of our Lord, our Suffering Servant, is an embarrassment—totally ludicrous!

Buddhism claims that suffering was a feature built-in to life, so we best train ourselves to be detached and distant from the pains we encounter in our existence. Even though pain is unavoidable as a force in the world, a devout Buddhist hopes to come to the point where he or she no longer feels, weeps, or grieves. Other similar viewpoints attempted to live one’s life as an other-worldly hero, serenely detached from both good and bad in this world. You can’t blame these people for trying. Don’t attach yourself to anything in this world—you’re just going to be disappointed, hurt, grieved. Cut yourself off from anything that would bring you pain. But that is not the way of Jesus.

Jesus is not a hero who detaches Himself from suffering. If He were, He would be running away from Jerusalem! He took a path very different from the Buddha. Jesus rode toward Calvary; He walked the way to the cross. Even when He was abandoned, deserted, betrayed and denied, He held to the holy work that was His alone to accomplish. He drank down the cup of suffering. When the parade was over and the cheering crowds fell silent, and the palm branches wilted in the dust, the Lamb of God kept up His march that would end in pain, shame and death.

This week, you will see Him as He goes from the upper room to Gethsemane’s garden, from Pilate’s judgment hall to the cross. He is not detached like some Zen master floating above the earth; He’s driven by the Passion, the love and pain together, for you to be with Him in His kingdom for all eternity. His pain is real, it’s raw and unabridged. The death He dies is dark and cold. And He does it all for you. It is no small thing that God allows Himself to be pushed out of the world on a cross.

It is also no small thing that the same God who went the way of the cross still comes to you today. He does not come to let you in on some secret of success or to show you the way out of suffering, or to find a cheat to get you around suffering. He leads you on the way through suffering. He wants you to follow Him on His parade! He skips all the other stuff in His life and heads straight to the suffering, like the Creed proclaims. It is the way of His cross and resurrection, and it becomes a pattern for your Christian life. It is the way of His Gospel. It’s how He gives salvation to you into your hurt-filled life. It is the way of His Body and Blood that He gives you to eat and drink for forgiveness and life from this altar. Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest!

Now you are in the parade, too! Don’t you love a parade?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Deut. 32:36–39 I am He, and there is no God besides me
Psalm 118:19–29 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.
or Psalm 31:9–16 Do not let me be ashamed, O LORD, for I have called upon You
Phil. 2:5–11 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus
Luke 22:1—23:56 The Last Supper
or Luke 23:1–56 The crucifixion and burial
or John 12:20–43 We wish to see Jesus