Isaiah 50:4-9a, Philippians 2:5-11, Mark 14:1-15:47, Psalm 31:9-16

As described in the Gospel according to Mark, we read of the celebrations for Jesus as he enters Jerusalem – shouts of “Hosanna in the highest; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  The Passion Narrative, also recorded by Mark, describes the same crowd, five days later shouting, “Crucify him!  Crucify him!”

We entered our worship today with celebratory songs of Hosanna, but, with the reading of the Passion Narrative, we now find ourselves in the dark shadow of the Cross.  This is a gut-wrenching human story.

Paul’s letter to the people of Philippi alerts us to Jesus’ willingness to be and to remain fully human as he has throughout his earthly life and ministry and, now, throughout this horrendous inhuman experience – fully human until the last heartbeat on the Cross.

In what we know as the “Christ Hymn,” Paul writes:

He emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.

Jesus willingly took on our humanity – feeling the abandonment as he stood alone before Pilate, unjustly accused of the irredeemable crimes of treason against earthly political powers and blaspheme against God.  All alone – Where are those who shouted Hosanna, spreading their cloaks upon the road?  “Hosanna in the highest; Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  We will sing/say these same words as we prepare for Holy Eucharist.  But, the celebrants have disappeared; Jesus is all alone before Pilate, unjustly accused.

Jesus willingly took on our humanity – the target of merciless bullying by the soldiers who laughed and taunted him; they dressed him in purple robes and a crown of thorns to mock his identification as the Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Jesus willingly took on our humanity – feeling the cutting sting of the whip of his tormenters, the stickiness of the blood that oozed over his body; the grit of the rocky path grinding against his teeth and filling his mouth as he fell to the ground under the weight of the cross he was forced to bear.

Jesus willingly took the abandonment and the bullying and the physical torment that was rightly ours to bear.  Yet, Jesus did not come to shame us into penitence or to bully us into begging for mercy.   He came to bear our grief and our physical torments as one of us.

All Jesus asks is that we believe in his unconditional love for us – believe that we are truly, truly loved by God who is love and created us in love.  In the words of our Nicene Creed, we affirm that “for us and for our salvation Jesus came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.  For our sake he was crucified, suffered death, was buried, and rose again.”  For our sake.

Who has ever loved you the most – unconditionally loved you the very most?  Who do you love the most?  How do we know we are loved?  How de we express that love?  That is our focus for Holy Week as we stand at the foot of the cross, gazing upon the wounds, hearing the agonizing words.  Yet, knowing down deep in our souls that this is all for love, that we are loved by God who created us in love – that that love is immeasurable, beyond any love we share on earth.  Believe that you are loved and that the Cross is all about love.  Believe.

Blessed Holy Week.