The Preacher’s Study
Sunday of the Passion, Year C
D. Jay Koyle
Luke 19.28-40
Isaiah 50.4-9a
Psalm 31.9-16
Philippians 2.5-11
Luke 22.14 – 23.56
We are the stories we tell. The stories we tell form and transform us. They
shape our view of the world and have the potential to spark change in the world
itself. We are, or at least we are becoming, the stories we tell. This insight,
this wisdom lies behind our weekly rehearsal of the gospel story through
scriptures proclaimed, rites celebrated, feasts and seasons observed.
Our “storytelling” has particular potency as the church gathers to mark the
days of palms and Passion, Resurrection and New Creation. This Sunday, the menu of
Scriptures proclaimed will escort us from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem
to the seeming defeat of his Passion. This Sunday marks the first step of
transition from our Lenten journey to the fifty-day celebration of Easter.
Soon the
candidates for baptism will voice their renunciation of all the spiritual forces
of deceit and wickedness; the powers and systems that corrupt,
destroy, and degrade the creatures of God; and all sinful desires that
draw them from God’s love. They will be asked if they turn to Jesus Christ,
Redeemer of the world, pledging to trust the grace and love revealed in him;
pledging to obey him as Lord and follow him as the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. The baptized will echo this choice of allegiance in words of
reaffirmation. The entire
Passion narrative, announced in all its power and drama, displays the stark
choice with which those baptismal questions confront us.
Essentially,
two “kingdoms” are on display in the narrative of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection:
one personified by the likes of Herod and Pilate, the other embodied in Jesus. The
disciples as they argue about who is greatest, and later as they betray, deny
and abandon Jesus, serve as a reminder of how both dominions make a persuasive
claim on our lives. What do these “kingdoms” look like in our world, our
generation, our context(s)? How do we find ourselves torn between the two? How
is God at work to liberate us? Where do we see the seeds of God’s purpose and
promises taking root and beginning to bloom in our lives? In the world around
us?
Our participation in the services of Holy Week orients us to active
citizenship in the everlasting Reign of God, immersing us once again in the
story of Jesus, crucified and risen.
It is vital to recognize that
this story is our story, too – the story of the baptized, the story of our
world, the story of God at work today.
Attending to
Paul’s words from the Letter to the Church
in Philippi can help the preacher bring home this recognition. The conflict
and transformation painted on a cosmic canvass in the Gospel’s passion
narrative is inked by the apostle on the sketchpad of our life together as
church.
The snippet
of the epistle we listen in on finds preacher Paul breaking out in song. As he
lifts up the crucified Christ to remind his congregation of who they are and
what this means for how they live, he cannot help but pick up his hymnal and
extol the One who poured himself out for the world, the One whom God has now
raised up, the One to whom all peoples will one day sing.
“In a world
where people grasp for prestige and privilege,” sings Paul, “Christ Jesus
emptied himself and became servant.
“In a world
where people covet status and association with the right people, Christ Jesus
walked and dined and died with outcast and sinner.
“In a world
where people look out for number one and compromise their principles to save
their skin, Christ Jesus never wavered in his fidelity to God, even when it
took him to the shameful gallows.
“Therefore,”
sings Paul, “God has exalted him above all else!”
Then,
catching his breath, Paul looks at his congregation and says, “You are rooted
and one in Christ already, his Body in the world. So let this same mind be in
you.” Paul knew that the cosmic changes wrought by the cross had very concrete,
down-to-earth implications for the way we live. So says he, “Let the same mind
be in you.”
The preacher
would do well to follow Paul’s example in Philippians,
naming concrete matters, but then taking on a similar tone of hope and praise
even as people are exhorted to take up their cross and follow.
Make sure
that, in preaching and any other aspect of the liturgy, you approach the coming
week not as a dramatic reenactment, but rather as a ritual opportunity to deepen
our participation in the paschal mystery. The vitality of the Christian people is
fueled when they are reminded about “who and whose” they are, and then exhorted
to live out of that reality, that story – their story.
Reading of the Passion Gospel
In many
congregations it is customary for parts to be assigned for the proclamation of
the Passion story. If this option is chosen, it is recommended that the
congregation not be delegated the part of the crowd, shouting “Crucify Him!” It
is a questionable practice to have Christians ritualize themselves in
opposition to Christ when they should be strengthening their identification
with Christ and his devotion to God.
Instead, the
congregation might take part through a refrain sung at the start of the passage
and repeated after Luke 22.38; 22.71; 23.31; 23.46. Possible refrains include
the refrain from “Now We Remain” (Haas), “Bless the Lord, My Soul or “Jesus
Remember Me/Us” (Taize), or a setting of the Kyrie or Trisagion. If your
“script” of the Passion Gospel has a part for the congregation to voice the
part of the crowd, this part can be assigned to a chorus of readers.
If the
Passion Gospel is proclaimed in the manner suggested here, there is no need to
provide copies of the passage to members of the congregation.
Jay Koyle is
president of The Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission. He is a presbyter
serving as Congregational Development Officer of the Diocese of Algoma
(Anglican), and a member of the Liturgy Task Force of the Anglican Church of
Canada.
Artwork from Chris Gollon’s ‘Stations
of the Cross’ (2009). For more information about the collection, or to order
cards or reprints: http://www.chrisgollon.com/collections/stations-of-the-cross/
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