Palm Sunday: [2015] :Is 50:4-7; Phil.2:6-11; Mk 14:1-15,47/15:1-39

Palm Sunday: [2015] :Is 50:4-7; Phil.2:6-11; Mk 14:1-15,47/15:1-39

Introduction: This week we walk with Christ into the mystery of saving by suffering. Our Blessed Lord knows suffering. All who suffer now have Him with them. He suffers with us, we suffer with Him.

Exegesis: Today's Proclamation of the Passion was from the Gospel of Mark. This is the Gospel that often presents crowds of people pressing on Jesus to be healed. Jesus heals many people in this Gospel, but he then he directs them, "Tell no one about this? Jesus silences devils who call out from the possessed that they know who He is. Why the secrecy? Why does Mark present what scripture scholars would call, the Messianic Secret? The message behind the secret is that no one can understand the healings or the Messiah until they understand the cross. Jesus accepts the cross in obedience to the Father, opposite of Adam's disobedience. He accepts the cross to defeat the power of hatred and death through sacrificial love. When the centurion looked up and saw the love flowing from the man whose crucifixion he had supervised, he was the first to proclaim, "Truly, this is the Son of God.? It is only from the perspective of the cross, of sacrificial love, that we can understand the wonders of the Lord.

Joke:  A priest was preaching in an unfamiliar church on Palm Sunday. The temporary arrangements were done outside the church. As he stood in the pulpit to begin the service, he tapped the microphone to make sure that it was on. He heard nothing, even though the microphone was working fine. So he leaned closer to the microphone and said to himself; "There is something wrong with this thing." The congregation, being well trained church people immediately responded, "And also with you.”

Practical Applications: 1) Does Jesus weep over my sinful soul as he wept over Jerusalem at the beginning of his Palm Sunday procession? 2) Will Jesus have to cleanse my heart with his whip?  Jesus cannot tolerate the desecration of the temple of his Holy Spirit in me by my addiction to uncharitable, irreverence, unjust and impure thoughts words and deeds; neither does he approve of my calculation of loss and gain in my relationship with God.  4) Am I ready to surrender my life to him sincerely? Or Are we like “hosanna” today and “Crucify him” tomorrow.

Introduction: Palm Sunday

Message: Jesus, humbling himself out of love for us, did not shield his face from buffets and spitting, but offered his life on the cross.  He relied on his Father’s love.