Scripture
Matthew 27:46
Isaiah 50:4–7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2:6–11; Matthew 26:14–27:66
Sermon Week/Year
Henri Nouwen, the spiritual writer, once observed that one of our greatest temptations is to turn away from our own suffering—and in doing so, to miss the chance to recognize the suffering of Christ in our lives.
Today’s liturgy begins with palms in our hands and ends with the Passion in our ears. We move, in a single service, from welcome to rejection, from a cheering crowd to a lonely cross.
Matthew tells the story with striking honesty. It opens in celebration. Palm branches are lifted. Cloaks are spread across the road. Voices rise in welcome: “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Mt. 21:9). For a moment, it looks like triumph.
But Palm Sunday begins with a crowd, and the story of salvation unfolds in loneliness.
A woman once spoke about sitting in church during the reading of the Passion. She had come, as she often did, because it was Sunday and that is what she did. Life was…
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