Palm Sunday

 March 31, 2007

 Reverend Richard D. Wilson

We often ask why God allows us to suffer. Just this afternoon at the gas station at the corner of Cove Rd. and Rodney French Blvd. a lady asked why God would allow her baby son to die. We ask in these situations “where is God?” We ask these questions, as if God did not know what suffering is, as if God did not know what type of pain and sufferings humans experience. However, this week we are reminded that God indeed knows what human suffering is all about.

Christ knows what it is like to endure physical pain and torture. He knows what it is like to have a friend betray you, as Judas did. He knows what it’s like to have people pretend not to know you, as Peter did. He knows what it’s like to have people make fun of you, as Herod and company did. He knows what it is like to be judged unjustly, as the chief priests and Pilate did. When we are suffering these things or anything else, God is with us, and we are with God. Our sufferings are united.

This is one message from Holy Week. The second is that we are called by God to be God’s presence to people who are suffering. We are called, as Simon of Cyrene was, to help other people carry their crosses. The woman and boy helping that grieving mother at the gas station were modern examples of Simon of Cyrene. We are called, as the woman disciples were, to accompany dying people with our loving presence. We are called, as Joseph of Arimathea was, to help when there is a death, both with the physical details which need to get done, and with the spiritual needs of the survivors. In all of this God works through us

The third and final dimension we should meditate upon in Holy Week is the fact that Christ would not have had to suffer in this way were it not for our since, that God the Father would not have had God the Son become a man were it not for our sins. The Easter Proclamation called the Exultet which we sing next Saturday night calls Adam’s sin “o happy fault,” happy because it “gained for us so great a Redeemer.” Yes, in our sin we see the depths of God’s love for us – we see that regardless of the stupid evil things which we do, God still loves us. Does He want us to keep on doing stupid, evil things? No – He warned Peter about his denials and He asks Judas incredulously if a kiss is an appropriate means of betrayal. Holy Week reminds us that we are sinners, but we’re called to be “Christs” – which means “anointed ones.” We were anointed at our Baptisms and we will renew our baptismal promises at the end of Holy Week, promises which allowed us to go under the water with Christ, so that together we might share His sufferings and His joys.