Palm Sunday, 2008

THE PASSION OF MATTHEW
THIS IS THE SUNDAY I USED TO DREAD WHEN I WAS A LITTLE KID. IT WAS THE SUNDAY WHEN THEY READ THE PASSION. FOR SOME REASON, IT WAS A LOT HARDER TO SIT THROUGH THE SUNDAY READING THAN THE GOOD FRIDAY READING. ON GOOD FRIDAY, YOU HAD THE OPTION OF NOT BEING THERE. SUNDAY YOUR HAD TO BE THERE.
AND YOU KNOW WHAT? IT HASN'T GOTTEN ANY SHORTER SINCE I WAS A LITTLE KID. BUT I DO LISTEN MORE ATTENTIVELY. I TRY TO GET INTO IT, I TRY TO SEE THE EVENTS AS THEY UNFOLD. BECAUSE IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T HURT ANY OF US ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR TO REMEMBER THAT JESUS WAS A REAL HUMAN BEING, THAT HE WAS BETRAYED BY A FRIEND, THAT HE WAS DESERTED BY OTHER FRIENDS, THAT HE WAS BEATEN, SCOURGED, HUMILIATED, AND PUT TO DEATH. THIS REALLY HAPPENED; IT ISN'T A LEGEND.
BUT I WANT YOU TO THINK ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF THIS STORY FOR A MINUTE. AFTER THE SUPPER, JESUS, PETER, JAMES, AND JOHN GO TO THE GARDEN OF GESTHEMENE. THERE JESUS POURS OUT HIS HEART IN PRAYER TO THE FATHER. THERE IS A FAMOUS PICTURE OF JESUS PRAYING IN THE GARDEN, THAT MOST OF US HAVE SEEN. IN IT HE IS KNEELING, LEANING ON A ROCK, LOOKING UP TO HEAVEN, AND THERE IS A LIGHT SHINING DOWN ON HIM. VERY DIGNIFIED, VERY SERENE. AND IT DIDN'T HAPPEN LIKE THAT AT ALL. JESUS SAYS THAT HIS HEART IS NEARLY BROKEN WITH SORROW. I'VE BEEN THERE, AND SO HAVE YOU. YOU LEARN THAT SOMEONE YOU LOVE HAS TERMINAL CANCER. YOU GET THE NEWS THAT YOUR SON IS GETTING DIVORCED AFTER TEN YEARS OF MARRIAGE. YOU LOSE YOUR JOB AND IN THIS ECONOMY, YOU HAVEN'T MUCH CHANCE OF GETTING ANOTHER, AND IF YOU DO, IT WON'T PAY NEARLY AS WELL. YOU ARE CONFRONTED BY THE IRS WITH A HUGE BACK TAXES BILL; AND SO ON, AND SO FORTH.
I THINK OF ELIOT SPITZER, THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, THIS PAST WEEK. GRANTED, HE BROUGHT IT ALL ON HIMSELF, AND I NEVER PARTICULARLY THOUGHT MUCH OF HIM, BUT I FELT HIS AGONY WHEN HE HAD TO STAND UP IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY AND HIS WIFE, AND ADMIT HIS GUILT AND RESIGN FROM THE OFFICE THAT HE HAD SPENT MUCH OF HIS LIFE TRYING TO WIN-- NOT ONLY THAT, BUT HE HAD TO GIVE UP THE CAREER THAT HE HAD SINGLEMINDEDLY PURSUED. IN A FEW YEARS, HE MIGHT HAVE HAD A REAL SHOT AT THE PRESIDENCY. BUT NOW ITS ALL ASHES.
WHEN OUR HEARTS ARE BROKEN WITH SORROW, FOR WHATEVER REASON, WE DON'T THINK STRAIGHT. THE ADRENALIN RUSHES AROUND IN OUR BODIES; WE SWEAT, OUR HEARTS RACE, WE'D RATHER BE ANYWHERE BUT WHERE WE ARE. AND YOU CAN BE SURE JESUS FELT THE SAME; HE KNEW WHAT WAS COMING, AND HE KNEW THERE WAS NO GETTING OUT OF IT. LIKE ALL OF US IN THIS SORT OF SITUATION, WE LONG FOR SOMEONE TO HELP US BEAR OUR BURDEN. JESUS DID ALSO, BUT WHEN HE WENT TO HIS THREE BEST FRIENDS, THEY WERE ASLEEP.
SO JESUS SHOWS US HOW WE ARE TO RESPOND WHEN OUR HEARTS ARE NEARLY BROKEN WITH SORROW. CERTAINLY WE CAN PRAY THAT OUR SITUATION BE RELIEVED AS HE DID -- OUR PROBLEM REDUCED, OUR TRAGEDY AVERTED. AND SOMETIMES GOD ANSWERS OUR PRAYER THE WAY WE WANT HIM TO. BUT THE REAL KEY IS IN THE WORDS OF JESUS, “MY FATHER, IF THIS CANNOT PASS BY ME WITHOUT MY DRINKING IT, YOUR WILL BE DONE.” BECAUSE WHEN OUR HEARTS ARE NEARLY BROKEN WITH SORROW, HOWEVER WE GOT THERE, OUR FAULT, SOMEONE ELSE'S FAULT, NO ONE'S FAULT, IF WE MUST PASS THROUGH THE SORROW, LET US PRAY THAT GOD'S WILL BE DONE, THAT IN SOME WAY OUR TRAGEDY WILL LEAD TO SOMETHING GOOD, THAT THIS SORROW THAT LOOKS SO MALIGNANT AND MEANINGLESS WILL IN SOME WAY UNITE US TO THE CROSS OF CHRIST, AND IN THAT WE CAN FIND JOY.
SO PRAY ON THIS PALM SUNDAY THAT WHEN YOU HAVE TO FACE THAT NEXT TRAGEDY IN LIFE, THAT MOMENT WHEN YOUR HEART ALMOST BREAKS WITH SORROW, YOU WILL REMEMBER THE PRAYER OF JESUS, AND PRAY IT AS HE DID.