Grace Notes 2024-03-20

This Sunday with our gathering for Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion, Holy Week begins. We are nearing the completion of our Lenten Journey. We have one final Lenten Midweek Soup, Song and Story. And then during Holy Week we will assemble on Maundy Thursday, March 28, for the Agape Feast and on Good Friday, March 29 for the Tenebrae Service.

We have the rich opportunity this coming Sunday for a little festivity with the procession with palm branches. And then as we transition to a consideration of the Passion of our Lord, we will hear read the whole account of the Passion from Mark’s Gospel. This includes all of chapters 14 and 15.

So, why is it called the Passion? We are used to the term referring to our emotions, desires, feelings, and convictions. But the Latin base for this word was synonymous with the word ‘suffering’. That meaning with the English word has become obsolete in common usage, but the former meaning lingers in the Church. It deals with the part of the Creed which reads, “[He] suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.”

And speaking of the Creed, isn’t it interesting how we jump immediately from Jesus birth “born of the Virgin Mary” to His Passion? It isn’t that His healings, exorcisms, teaching, and example do not matter. Rather, it is the case that who He is and what He came to accomplish matter most. The Incarnate Son of God, now also fully man, came to suffer and die for us that we might have forgiveness and eternal life.

Roughly 30 percent of the Gospel Accounts are devoted to His final week on earth, what we call Holy Week. In Mark’s Gospel we will read of Jesus’ Anointing at Bethany; the Institution of the Lord’s Supper at the Seder Meal; the prediction of Peter’s denial; Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane; the betrayal and arrest; Jesus’ on Trial; Peter’s denial; and Jesus’ death and burial.

Since You Asked…

What are we observing on “The Sunday of the Passion”?

To many this day is known simply as Palm Sunday. And indeed, the prelude to Jesus’ final week begins with his triumphal entry into Jerusalem which involved a procession of Palms and shouts of joy. And yet, Jesus knows full well what lies ahead. He will be wounded and killed. He knows that blood will be spilled and flow from His head, hands, feet, and side. He knows his death on the cross will bring about a great victory over sin, death, and the devil. The horror of being severely wounded lies ahead, and yet he will not be deterred. It is for this purpose that He has come into this world.

In remembering his joyful and triumphant entry, we realize the irony of crowds that one week hail Him as King, and the next week cry “Crucify Him!” Palm Sunday is the prelude to the Cross in which all the events of the rest of the week participate.