Pay Attention...

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Palm Sunday – 9 April 2017

Texts: Matthew 21:1-11 (Processional Gospel) and Matthew 26:1-16

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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For another year, the divine drama of Holy Week begins to play out today – except this is no one-act play. Nor is it fiction. Holy Week bids us to remember – and to pay attention to - the holy struggles of Jesus and his disciples during the final week of Jesus’ life on earth.

At the point of our processional gospel reading that I read outside – what we call the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem – it seems like it’s all going to be OK. The crowds are jubilant. They are cheering for Jesus and calling out: “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  “Save us!” they are crying in their hosannas. They see Jesus as the One who will save them from Roman oppression – they see him a mighty prophet from God.

By the time we fast-forward to the story I just read – to Bethany, and the dinner in the home of Simon the leper, the tone around Jesus has changed. A woman comes in to anoint Jesus – and Jesus calls this an act of “good service.” The disciples focus on the wastefulness of her act. Jesus focuses on her action of preparation, for he knows that it is a holy and loving thing to prepare someone’s body for burial. The woman is paying attention.

Last weekend, Steve and I attended the Dallas Symphony’s presentation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. It is a musical re-telling of the Passion of Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew. Bach wrote this piece to include a choir, but also soloists, and each of these had a part to play. At times, the choir represents an angry crowd; at other times, they are singing of their love for Jesus.

Each of the soloists represents a different character in the story, too. Pontius Pilate has a role, and Peter, among others. And throughout, one of the soloists sings the part of the narrator, setting up each scene and introducing the dialogue.

You would think that the narrator’s part might be the most boring. But the soloist performing that part this time is apparently the guy you hire for this role right now. He didn’t just sing; he told the story. He was clearly moved by the story, at times putting down his musical score and singing completely from memory. He was there, in the story he was telling. He was there, with Jesus – as Jesus is betrayed and abandoned by his friends and disciples, he was there as Jesus is made to stand trial, he was there as Jesus is crucified.

The stories of Holy Week invite us into them, if we pay attention. Today, on Palm Sunday, we are the people in the crowds calling out for salvation: “Hosanna! Save us!” We are the woman who anoints Jesus, serving God with our own acts of love. We are the confused disciples, not knowing what lies ahead.

And so, next Sunday is Easter. But before we get to the glory of Jesus’ resurrection, we must walk with Jesus to the Last Supper, we must see him betrayed and arrested. We must watch the trial unfold and see Jesus crucified. We must watch as some of his followers take down his lifeless body and place it lovingly in the tomb.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” If we pay attention, we find that the stories of this Holy Week show us the full measure of God’s love for us.

Amen.

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