PALM SUNDAY Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mt: 21: 1-11,27:11- 66

On Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, General of the Union Army, at the McLean house in Appomattox, Virginia. This surrender ended the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. State against state, brother against brother, it was a conflict that literally tore the nation apart. Five days later, on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, America’s most revered president, Abraham Lincoln, was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theatre. It was Lincoln who wrote the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery in the U.S. forever. It was Lincoln who wrote and gave The Gettysburg Address. Lincoln hated war, but he was drawn into this one because he believed it was the only way to save the nation. On Palm Sunday the war ended. Triumph. On Good Friday, Abraham Lincoln became the first U.S. president to be assassinated. Tragedy. We begin today the triumph and the tragedy of the six days preceding Easter.

The Church celebrates this Sixth Sunday in Lent as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday.  The liturgical experts in the church are trying to remind us that the two Sundays belong together because you cannot divorce the two. We cannot just highlight the palm Sunday events and down play the Passion events.

Imagine the gospel story ended with Palm Sunday? The disciples probably wanted to capture and bottle that festive atmosphere. It was rather like Peter's reaction to Jesus' transfiguration when Moses and Elijah also appeared with Jesus on the mountaintop. Peter piped up and said, "Let's build some tabernacles right here so we can keep this great thing going forever!" So also on Palm Sunday: if they could have hit the pause button on the remote control of life, this would have been a wonderful image to freeze frame.

The problem is that there is no salvation for anyone on Palm Sunday. The people cried "Hosanna," which means "Save us!" But given the world we are in, there could be no salvation from that kind of happy parade. That festive atmosphere, though in one sense befitting the true, deep-down royalty of Jesus as God's Son, still all that hoopla just doesn't fit our world. It doesn't address the problems that need solving.

Before we can get to celebrate Easter we need to tiptoe past the tombstones and stand together at the foot of the cross. Palm Sunday runs right through the middle of Good Friday to Easter Sunday. We will hear another shout there under the cross in response to our shout of Hosanna. It is "Tetelestai!" – it is finished. Finished the payment for human sins. Until we hear that, until we see the empty tomb we cannot sing praising God, Halleluiah.

If Jesus came today we'd line the streets and strike up the band and have a grand parade right down Main Street. But it is also certain that, by the end of the week, we'd have him nailed to a cross, too. Why? Because the Kingdom Jesus came to establish still threatens the kingdoms of this world -- your kingdom and mine -- the kingdoms where greed, power, and lust rule instead of grace, mercy, and peace. And who among us really wants to surrender our lives to that Kingdom and that King?

It is not just the Jews who acted against him, but also the Romans. Not just the religious leaders, but also the common ‘regular’ people. Not just Judas, who we can readily write off as corrupted and evil, but also Peter, the faithful disciple, and the others, who never even get mentioned during all of Jesus’ trial, beatings, and crucifixion. Not one who Jesus healed, not one who Jesus forgave, not one who Jesus broke bread with speaks for him, acts on his behalf.

Before the beginning of the procession, Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Lk 19:41-42), and when the procession was over, He cleansed the Temple (Lk 19:45-46).  On the following day, He cursed a barren fig tree. These events and reactions show how sad he felt over the situation and in Jerusalem. Would he feel anything different today? If we accept Jesus as king today, the King of our hearts let us resolve to stick up for him on Good Friday, let us try to make time for Him in our daily life; let us be reminded that He is the One with Whom we will be spending eternity with.  If only we will stand up for him, he will stand up for us before the Father.