Praise God. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice and passion.
You notice I began my homily a little different today. But today is different. Today is a day of contrast. It is a day we realize the emotional roller-coaster of our life and the life of Jesus. It is a ride we all must experience as Pilgrims of Hope on our journey to eternity.
There was a small one at the City Park in Alexandria where I grew up. My bothers and I would love to go and ride, when it was working. The fair will usually have a kiddie coaster when it comes to town. Those are not scary or unexpected.
I've been on big ones like the Space Mountain at Disney World. It was dark, there were flashing lights, and music was blasting. It was fun because you couldn't see what was coming. I’ve been on several roller coasters with no anxiety or worry and I enjoyed it.
But, I was scared when I rode the Arkansas Twister at Magic Springs in Arkansas. That was a wooden roller coaster hat shook and groan as you rode on it. I rode it with my then 9-year-old daughter. I wasn't scared for the ride. I was scared that my 320 lb self was going to be thrown against my 65 lb daughter and she would be hurt.
My wife said she could see the fear in my eyes.
Today, on this Palm - Passion Sunday, we brief experience of the emotional roller-coaster that was part Jesus' life here on earth. It began at his birth when the angels in a song of praise proclaimed “Glory to God in the highest.”
It started slow. There was no room in the inn. He was born in the stable and laid in a manger beside sheep, oxen, and beasts of burden. Only later to be visited by wise men and declared a king. In danger for their lives, his family fled to Egypt.
At one moment he healed the sick and cast out demons. In the next moment, the scribes and Pharisees accused him of being a demon. Other times they tried to throw him off the cliffs. Thousands followed him to hear him preach or receive a miracle. He fed them all with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. He walked on water, calmed the storm, and raised the dead.
His earthly life was full of ups and downs. It was filled with rushes of excitement and danger? His family, his friends, and the community were on the ride with him. You could see the fear in their eyes. That is why the scribes and Pharisees accused him. That is why his family said he was crazy and his friends denied him.
But, there was no fear in Jesus’ eyes.
Because he had no fear, people saw him as something they wanted. They saw him as a political and military savior. But they did not know Jesus. He did not come to usher in a kingdom of man; Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God. The Lord called for a revolution of the heart not the sword.
But that is not the way people are. They see what they want to see. Some saw a political king. Some saw a miracle worker. Some saw a free meal.
As this emotional roller-coaster of Jesus’ earthly life comes near to the end, again we hear the exclamation, “Glory to God in the highest.” The people were caught up in the excitement of the moment. They lined the streets to welcome him. They laid down their cloaks and cut branches from the trees. They praised God with joy, shouting Hosanna - “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” Hosanna in the highest.
But people are a fickle bunch.
Before the end of the week, it all changed. Some decided that Jesus wasn't the messiah the people wanted. Jesus did not come to conquer an empire; he came to transform hearts. That is not what the masses wanted. So, at the end of the week, instead of shouting praise, they shouted - crucify him, crucify him.
One moment they hailed him king with “Hosanna” but after they demanded his crucifixion. Instead of a crown of gold, they crowned him with thorns. Instead of placing a royal cloak on his back, they scarred his back with scourges and beat him. Instead of a throne of silver, they gave him a cross of wood.
From shouts of hosanna to demands to crucify him shows the complex relationship between Jesus and the people around him. It is also a mirror of our relationship with Jesus.
Just like the people who lined the streets almost 2000 years ago, we are fickle and erratic in our life of faith. Sometimes we love Jesus. Sometimes we are mad at God. Sometimes we run to him. Other times we run away. We either seek Jesus crying Hosanna or seek Jesus to see what we can get from him. If we don't get what we want, we cry out crucify him. This is the emotional roller-coaster that is our life in this world.
No matter our faults – no matter how sidetracked and preoccupied by up and downs, dullness or excitement, joy or anguish of life we become. Jesus remains unwavering. When we feel the most forsaken and abandoned that is when the Lord is closest of all. He is beside us without any fear in His eyes, only love. Not just to us - but to all people. Even those who would crucify him.
Even the hymn Paul gave the Philippians reminds us of the ups and downs Christ went through. “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself… and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.”
Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday is an emotional roller-coaster ride. Life is an emotional roller-coaster ride; and, even our faith is part of that emotional roller-coaster ride - ups and down, slow crawls, sharp curves, and rushes of excitement. No matter where our life journey with its twists and turns may take us, as followers of Christ our voyage of faith leads us to the one who will be next to us with no fear in His eyes.
That is the message of Jesus’ Passion and death.
My fellow Pilgrims of Hope be good, be holy and preach the gospel on the emotional roller-coaster of life we experience on our journey to eternity.
Praise God, Thank you Jesus for being beside with no fear in your eyes. Amen
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