April 10, 2022
Palm/Passion Sunday
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
Phil. 2:5-11; Lk. 19:28-40; Lk. 22:14-23:56
Roller Coaster Ride
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Dale and I watched the NCAA Men’s Basketball final on Monday night between the Kansas Jayhawks and North Carolina Tarheels.
The game began with Kansas scoring 7 unopposed points. They looked like the dominant team. But North Carolina quickly regrouped and bounced back. Before long, the momentum had completely shifted. By the end of the first half, North Carolina was leading by 15 points. The halftime dialogue had all but hammered the nails in the coffin for Kansas.
But Kansas came out in the second half with renewed vigor. They steadily chipped away at the deficit until it disappeared. It was anybody’s game. With less than 10 seconds left in the game, Kansas led by 3 points. It appeared they were going to win. But then the possession turned over to North Carolina. A three-point shot would tie the game. But the shot failed, and the Jayhawks won.
The game was an emotional roller coaster ride. Up and down, the momentum shifted over and over.
I’ve always enjoyed a good roller coaster ride. At least the kind you find at an amusement park. But the emotional kind, not so much.
If anything constitutes an emotional roller coaster ride, it’s the events of Holy Week. It begins with the ecstatic celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. But it ends just outside the city limits with his execution on a cross. The week ascends to soaring heights but crashes into a devastating low. Jesus begins the week as the anticipated Messiah, but by Friday he’s reduced to a condemned criminal.
This morning we hear the entire sweep of Jesus’ final week. We began our service with his celebrated entry into Jerusalem. We waved our palm branches and sang a triumphant hymn. But within the span of just a few minutes, the mood abruptly changed during the long passion reading.
Jesus’ final week of life was a roller coaster ride. The train’s cars were filled with a random mix of players: Jesus and his disciples were in the front cars. The citizens of Jerusalem were there; so were Roman soldiers and the Jewish leaders. Pilate and King Herod shared a seat. In the last car there were two condemned criminals. The emotions of the week were going to soar and dive.
The week began with an incredible high. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was the culmination of his entire ministry. Expectations for Jesus’ Messiahship had been building over the course of his three-year mission. As he set his face from Galilee to Jerusalem, it seemed like he was heading there to claim the throne of David. And now he made a king’s entrance. The crowd shouted, “Blessed is the king!”
This was THE moment! Israel had been waiting for the promised Messiah for generations. And now, in their own time, the promise was being fulfilled. This was the peak moment. It would never again feel this high before the ride would reach its conclusion.
But they’d reached the crest of the roller coaster’s peak. Emotions were about to go down and up and down.
• There would be the touching intimacy of that dear time together in the upper room. Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples. And during that observation, he instituted a new meal of forgiveness and liberation.
• But after the meal they walked to the nearby Garden of Gethsemane. The roller coaster was beginning its steep descent. Jesus was filled with dread over what was about to occur. He prayed like a desperate man.
• The downward descent picked up more speed. Jesus’ own friend, Judas, betrays him, and with a kiss, even. Jesus is apprehended and arrested.
• Then roller coaster screeches through a series of abrupt turns:
o Peter, stalwart Peter, denies being associated with Jesus.
o Jesus is mocked and beaten by his captors.
o In the morning, he’s handed over by his own people to the Roman governor, Pilate.
• For a moment, during his trial, it appears that he might be released. But the gentle rise is momentary. The whipped-up crowd selects the violent criminal Barabbas instead while Jesus is sentenced to die.
• Nailed to the cross, he’s mocked again. Even one of the condemned criminals joins in.
• But in his final moments of life, we see his immeasurable faithfulness. His words soar with promise and grace. He promises paradise to the man crucified beside him and then he turns himself over to God.
• The terrifying ride ends at Jesus’ grave. This is not where his family and friends thought this ride into Jerusalem would end. They anticipated glory for Jesus. What they got was death on a cross.
They didn’t understand. They couldn’t understand. They couldn’t see the final destination of this roller coaster ride. Because it wasn’t going to end at the grave. It would go THROUGH the grave. To them, the horrible ride ended in front of Jesus’ grave.
This incredible up and down journey would only be fully perceived on the other side. God’s divine plan could only be grasped after the ride had fully concluded. When we’re in the middle of the ride, we can’t see the full cycle, we can’t anticipate the ending. We don’t see the path until we’ve reached our destination and look back on where we’ve been.
St. Paul shared Christ’s full cycle with us. When he wrote to the Philippians he shared the entire path of Christ’s up and down journey with them. It hadn’t started that Palm Sunday on the back of a colt at Bethphage and Bethany. It began much earlier. The start was much earlier and much, much higher. It began when the Son dwelled with the Father in equality.
This journey began in the glory of heaven. From there, Christ’s mission was to completely pour himself out. It was a self-emptying. Firstly, he poured himself into our human form. He plummeted from Son of God status to a flesh and blood servant. And from there, his servant path led even him further downward. He had to expend all of himself, all of his life. He needed to lay out every last drop of his grace, the entire contents of his divine benevolence. From the heights of heaven to the pit of the cross and grave.
From the highest high, to the lowest low. But from there, back to the highest glory. This is the full Christ cycle. In its up and down and up movement, the sublime wisdom of God’s good and gracious plan for humanity is revealed. The roller coaster ride will not end down in the pit. It ascends again. It charts a path through our death until it finally ascends through the power of divine resurrection. He ascends into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. Divine love will overcome all perils, even death.
Holy week led Jesus and his followers on a roller coaster ride. From his cross, Jesus utters, “Father, into YOUR HANDS I commend my spirit.”
Somewhere I read that faith is trusting in God even when you don’t understand God’s plan. Life will surely take us on many highs and lows. Wherever you find yourself on your journey, go there in faith. Commend yourself into God’s hands.
You are somewhere in the middle of your roller coaster ride of life. But the ride isn’t over yet. Remember: all along the way you are in God’s hands. Whether you are in the heights of ecstasy or plummeting so low it seems the bottom has dropped out, God’s plan is expansive enough to embrace and sustain you through all things.
