Sunday of the Passion
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle A
The church year theological clue
By shortening Passiontide from two weeks to one and shifting Passion Sunday from the Fifth to the Sixth Sunday in Lent, several significant liturgical changes have been made. First, the Sixth Sunday in Lent can no longer be Palm Sunday, as it could when the period of passion stretched over two weeks and Palm Sunday was in the middle of it; Palm Sunday has to be a part, really the beginning, of the liturgy of Passion Sunday. Second, there is an attempt to return to the earlier practice of reading the story of the Passion in its entirety on Passion Sunday and three other times (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Good Friday) during Holy Week; each evangelist told the Passion story from his perspective. Third, there is a focus on the mighty - redemptive - acts which God performed in Jesus' passion - his suffering and death - during this week. Holy Saturday is really given over to the resurrection in the first service of Easter, the Easter Vigil. Clearly, the first part of Lent deals with the human predicament, with penitence, baptism, while the last week highlights God's dealing with sin in Jesus' death on the cross and anticipation of the Paschal mystery, Easter. Passion Sunday could be an occasion when there is no formal sermon in the liturgy of the word. A brief homily might be preached in the Liturgy of the Palms, if it is done at all. A dramatic reading of the Passion history, with different persons reading the dialogue of the various people involved surely is one way to deal with the mass of narrative material in the text. It is a story and should be treated liturgically and homiletically as a story.
The Prayer of the Day (LBW) -- The prayer, which would be said near the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word, addresses God from the context of Holy Week: "Almighty God, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take our flesh upon him and to suffer death upon the cross." The petition asks God to let the faithful "share in the obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of his resurrection." Those who dare to follow Jesus are committed to obedience to death and live in the hope of the resurrection of the Lord. The best way that people can participate in the "glorious victory of his resurrection" is through the renewal of their baptismal covenant. Baptism, as death and resurrection, brings obedience and victory together as a gift of grace.
The Psalm of the Day (LBW) - Psalm 31:1-5, 9-16 - The last word Jesus spoke on the cross, "Into your hands I commend my spirit," comes from this psalm. It points to Good Friday and the apparent end of the story. The plea of the psalmist is appropriate for the Passion of our Lord because he, like Jesus, was in desperate straights and had only God for his refuge. He calls on God for help and cries out:
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble.... my strength fails me ... and my bones are consumed. I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbors, a dismay to those of my acquaintance.... I am forgotten like a dead man.... For I have heard the whisperings of the crowd; fear is all around; they put their heads together against me; they plot to take my life.
And Jesus could have said, as he faced death on the cross:
But as for me, I have trusted in you, O Lord. I have said, "You are my God. My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. Make your face to shine upon your servant, and in your lovingkindness save me."
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
God of kindness and truth, you saved your chosen one, Jesus Christ, and you give your martyrs strength. Watch over your people who come to you now, and strengthen the hearts of those who hope in you, that they may proclaim your saving acts of kindness in the eternal city; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The readings:
Isaiah 50:4-9a
The words of this passage could also be put into the mouth of Jesus who, like the prophet, knew that his mission in the world was to deliver the Word of God to the people, even if it cost him his life. Jesus, like Isaiah, knew that he would encounter opposition and would suffer the consequences of being the servant of God. Jesus, like Isaiah, was ready to obey God and receive the worst that people might give him for his willing obedience. Jesus, like Isaiah, was ready to face shame and "spitting." Jesus, like Isaiah, had made up his mind to do God's bidding and, in his case, had set his course to the cross. Jesus, like Isaiah, is sure that God will finally vindicate him and declare him righteous. Jesus, like Isaiah, could declare, "Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?"
Philippians 2:5-11
Scholars today believe that Paul certainly wrote to the church at Philippi, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus' but that he was quoting an older hymn in the beautiful verses that follow. The first part of the hymn refers to Jesus' existence with the Father before he took on human flesh and form, "emptying" himself and taking the form of a servant. The second section speaks of his "being born in the likeness of men," and, as a human being, "humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." The third part tells how God has "highly exalted" him and has given him "the name which is above every name." The fourth stanza states that "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow ... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Paul probably made additions to the second and fourth verses of the hymn, which have been accepted as integral parts of it. The reading, indeed, is most proper as a reading and also a preaching text for the Sunday of the Passion.
Matthew 27:11-54
The longer form of the Gospel, chapters 26 and 27 of St. Matthew, combine into a reading of such length that in some congregations, where this is read in its entirety, the people are invited to sit rather than stand for the reading of the Gospel for the Day. This is the shorter form, which is also quite long, but can be managed and incorporated into a sermon quite readily.
The story of Jesus' trial is taken up at the point where Caiaphas and the chief priests sent Jesus to Pilate to be condemned and executed. The chief question Pilate asks has to do with Jesus' royal lineage, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Pilate was amazed that Jesus wouldn't answer the charges brought against him; he knew he was innocent, was warned by his wife, "have nothing to do with that righteous man," but gave in to the crowd, released Barabbas, washed his hands, and condemned Jesus to die by crucifixion. The soldiers pressed the question of Jesus' royalty, putting a purple robe upon him and a crown of thorns, mocking him by saying, "Hail, King of the Jews," and, when they crucified him, putting a sign on the cross, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." Later, the chief priests joined in the cries of derision:
He saved others; he cannot save himself He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, "I am the Son of God."
Scholars say that Jesus' desperate cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is probably the most authentic saying of Jesus from the cross; it makes the priests' taunts more pronounced and final. This shorter reading ends with the centurion's statement from below the cross, "Truly this was the Son of God."
The processional Gospel - Matthew 21:1-11 - "The One Who Is the King of Kings."
This gospel is to be read before the Liturgy, or Procession, of the Palms, as the preliminary part of the day's worship. As the beginning of the final drama that took place in Jerusalem, it needs to be articulated in one form or another - read or told, or both. The royalty theme that Matthew sounds in this section of the story is clearly announced in the quotation he borrows from Isaiah (62:11) and Zechariah (9:9), "Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass." Although he rides into Jerusalem like an ordinary person, he is accorded a greeting fitting for a king born in the royal line, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" When the people ask, "Who is this?" and the crowds answer, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee," the beginning of the end is at hand for Jesus.
A sermon on the Gospel - Matthew 27:11-54
Rudyard Kipling's story, The Man Who Would Be King, which was made into a movie, suggests the scope of the content and how the shape of a sermon on Passion Sunday should be structured. When Dan Dravot and Peachey Carnahan enter the legendary Kingdom of Kafiristan to seek their fortunes, it is almost like Jesus' entry into Jerusalem; they are accepted as gods, and Dan is acclaimed king, Peachey his prime minister. Dan is a benevolent ruler until he decides, against the advice of Peachey, to take a wife for warmth and companionship during the long, cold winter. The girl he picks out is resistant to his idea and bites him; he bleeds, therefore he cannot really be a god - "gods do not bleed." A revolt ensues and Dan goes to his death when a suspension bridge over a deep gorge is cut; Peachey is crucified, left to hang on the cross until he dies, but he survives snow and a cold winter night and lives to tell the whole story on his return to the story teller, Kipling. Could this be Kipling's explanation for the death and resurrection of Christ? At any rate, he had to use two persons to tell his version of the story, if that's what he was up to. The clue for the preacher who faces the task of preaching on the Sunday of the Passion is simply this: the whole story has to be told as succinctly and interestingly as possible. That's the homiletical priority of the day.
1. Begin with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as the sermon introduction.
2. Describe the events that led up to the arrest of Jesus; this material is so voluminous that it may take the shape of a listing, or an enumeration, of these portions of the story.
3. Retell - in a condensed version - the story of the arrest, trials, condemnation of Jesus, taking care to include the most important details in it.
4. Tell the tale of Jesus' passion and death over against the story of the resurrection.
5. Make clear the meaning of all of this for the people who observe Holy Week in anticipation of the Easter celebration.
Simply tell the passion week story. Tell it simply!
A homily on the Gospel for the Liturgy of the Palms - Matthew 21:1-11 - "The Triumph and the Terrible Tree."
1. Jesus entered the Holy City in triumph, seated on a lowly beast of burden - a strange sort of entry for royalty; five days later he left the city, became a beast of burden himself who carried his own cross - and the sins of the world - to Calvary.
2. He deserved every accolade he received - the shouts of Hosanna, the palm branches, the clothing strewn in his path, because he was indeed the Son of David and the Son of God. He did not deserve the taunts of the crowd, "Come down from the cross, if you are the Son od God!" He died to save all people from sin and deliver them from death.
3. His story forces all who hear it to ask, "Who is this?" - and to find the answer through the Word and the Spirit and prayer so that they may shout, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
A suggestion for homiletical treatment of the Ffrst Lesson.
Both lessons tend to create homiletical problems for the preacher. The homiletical problem of the first reading is, simply, that it seldom is preached by itself on the Sunday of the Passion or Palm Sunday. At best, this servant song might find a place, either as an illustration or a quotation, in Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday sermons - "The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. I gave my back to the smiters ... I hid not my face from shame and spitting.... therefore I have set my face like a flint.... he who vindicates me is near." A sermon on this text would see it becoming incarnate in the Suffering Servant, Jesus, and the story of his last trip to the Holy City. The prophet spoke words which could never come forth from the very mouth of Jesus as he went to his terrible death on the cross.
A sermon on the Second Lesson - Philippians 2:5-11 - "Jesus Christ is Lord."
1. In his birth and life, Jesus emptied himself of the godhead - vacated his place with God - and became the Suffering Servant of whom Isaiah wrote.
2. In his life, Jesus obeyed God perfectly, even in the face of death. His obedience brought him death instead of the benefits and the blessings that God promises to those who fulfill the law.
3. God turned Jesus' defeat and death into a victory, and has "highly exalted him" and given him a name - Christ - that is above every other name. Christ, the crucified and risen one, is the Lord of all.
4. At Jesus' name, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that "Jesus Christ is Lord" - and "to the glory of God the Father." That's our agenda for today - and for every day that we live on earth.
By shortening Passiontide from two weeks to one and shifting Passion Sunday from the Fifth to the Sixth Sunday in Lent, several significant liturgical changes have been made. First, the Sixth Sunday in Lent can no longer be Palm Sunday, as it could when the period of passion stretched over two weeks and Palm Sunday was in the middle of it; Palm Sunday has to be a part, really the beginning, of the liturgy of Passion Sunday. Second, there is an attempt to return to the earlier practice of reading the story of the Passion in its entirety on Passion Sunday and three other times (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Good Friday) during Holy Week; each evangelist told the Passion story from his perspective. Third, there is a focus on the mighty - redemptive - acts which God performed in Jesus' passion - his suffering and death - during this week. Holy Saturday is really given over to the resurrection in the first service of Easter, the Easter Vigil. Clearly, the first part of Lent deals with the human predicament, with penitence, baptism, while the last week highlights God's dealing with sin in Jesus' death on the cross and anticipation of the Paschal mystery, Easter. Passion Sunday could be an occasion when there is no formal sermon in the liturgy of the word. A brief homily might be preached in the Liturgy of the Palms, if it is done at all. A dramatic reading of the Passion history, with different persons reading the dialogue of the various people involved surely is one way to deal with the mass of narrative material in the text. It is a story and should be treated liturgically and homiletically as a story.
The Prayer of the Day (LBW) -- The prayer, which would be said near the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word, addresses God from the context of Holy Week: "Almighty God, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take our flesh upon him and to suffer death upon the cross." The petition asks God to let the faithful "share in the obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of his resurrection." Those who dare to follow Jesus are committed to obedience to death and live in the hope of the resurrection of the Lord. The best way that people can participate in the "glorious victory of his resurrection" is through the renewal of their baptismal covenant. Baptism, as death and resurrection, brings obedience and victory together as a gift of grace.
The Psalm of the Day (LBW) - Psalm 31:1-5, 9-16 - The last word Jesus spoke on the cross, "Into your hands I commend my spirit," comes from this psalm. It points to Good Friday and the apparent end of the story. The plea of the psalmist is appropriate for the Passion of our Lord because he, like Jesus, was in desperate straights and had only God for his refuge. He calls on God for help and cries out:
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble.... my strength fails me ... and my bones are consumed. I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbors, a dismay to those of my acquaintance.... I am forgotten like a dead man.... For I have heard the whisperings of the crowd; fear is all around; they put their heads together against me; they plot to take my life.
And Jesus could have said, as he faced death on the cross:
But as for me, I have trusted in you, O Lord. I have said, "You are my God. My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. Make your face to shine upon your servant, and in your lovingkindness save me."
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
God of kindness and truth, you saved your chosen one, Jesus Christ, and you give your martyrs strength. Watch over your people who come to you now, and strengthen the hearts of those who hope in you, that they may proclaim your saving acts of kindness in the eternal city; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The readings:
Isaiah 50:4-9a
The words of this passage could also be put into the mouth of Jesus who, like the prophet, knew that his mission in the world was to deliver the Word of God to the people, even if it cost him his life. Jesus, like Isaiah, knew that he would encounter opposition and would suffer the consequences of being the servant of God. Jesus, like Isaiah, was ready to obey God and receive the worst that people might give him for his willing obedience. Jesus, like Isaiah, was ready to face shame and "spitting." Jesus, like Isaiah, had made up his mind to do God's bidding and, in his case, had set his course to the cross. Jesus, like Isaiah, is sure that God will finally vindicate him and declare him righteous. Jesus, like Isaiah, could declare, "Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?"
Philippians 2:5-11
Scholars today believe that Paul certainly wrote to the church at Philippi, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus' but that he was quoting an older hymn in the beautiful verses that follow. The first part of the hymn refers to Jesus' existence with the Father before he took on human flesh and form, "emptying" himself and taking the form of a servant. The second section speaks of his "being born in the likeness of men," and, as a human being, "humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." The third part tells how God has "highly exalted" him and has given him "the name which is above every name." The fourth stanza states that "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow ... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Paul probably made additions to the second and fourth verses of the hymn, which have been accepted as integral parts of it. The reading, indeed, is most proper as a reading and also a preaching text for the Sunday of the Passion.
Matthew 27:11-54
The longer form of the Gospel, chapters 26 and 27 of St. Matthew, combine into a reading of such length that in some congregations, where this is read in its entirety, the people are invited to sit rather than stand for the reading of the Gospel for the Day. This is the shorter form, which is also quite long, but can be managed and incorporated into a sermon quite readily.
The story of Jesus' trial is taken up at the point where Caiaphas and the chief priests sent Jesus to Pilate to be condemned and executed. The chief question Pilate asks has to do with Jesus' royal lineage, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Pilate was amazed that Jesus wouldn't answer the charges brought against him; he knew he was innocent, was warned by his wife, "have nothing to do with that righteous man," but gave in to the crowd, released Barabbas, washed his hands, and condemned Jesus to die by crucifixion. The soldiers pressed the question of Jesus' royalty, putting a purple robe upon him and a crown of thorns, mocking him by saying, "Hail, King of the Jews," and, when they crucified him, putting a sign on the cross, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." Later, the chief priests joined in the cries of derision:
He saved others; he cannot save himself He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, "I am the Son of God."
Scholars say that Jesus' desperate cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is probably the most authentic saying of Jesus from the cross; it makes the priests' taunts more pronounced and final. This shorter reading ends with the centurion's statement from below the cross, "Truly this was the Son of God."
The processional Gospel - Matthew 21:1-11 - "The One Who Is the King of Kings."
This gospel is to be read before the Liturgy, or Procession, of the Palms, as the preliminary part of the day's worship. As the beginning of the final drama that took place in Jerusalem, it needs to be articulated in one form or another - read or told, or both. The royalty theme that Matthew sounds in this section of the story is clearly announced in the quotation he borrows from Isaiah (62:11) and Zechariah (9:9), "Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass." Although he rides into Jerusalem like an ordinary person, he is accorded a greeting fitting for a king born in the royal line, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" When the people ask, "Who is this?" and the crowds answer, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee," the beginning of the end is at hand for Jesus.
A sermon on the Gospel - Matthew 27:11-54
Rudyard Kipling's story, The Man Who Would Be King, which was made into a movie, suggests the scope of the content and how the shape of a sermon on Passion Sunday should be structured. When Dan Dravot and Peachey Carnahan enter the legendary Kingdom of Kafiristan to seek their fortunes, it is almost like Jesus' entry into Jerusalem; they are accepted as gods, and Dan is acclaimed king, Peachey his prime minister. Dan is a benevolent ruler until he decides, against the advice of Peachey, to take a wife for warmth and companionship during the long, cold winter. The girl he picks out is resistant to his idea and bites him; he bleeds, therefore he cannot really be a god - "gods do not bleed." A revolt ensues and Dan goes to his death when a suspension bridge over a deep gorge is cut; Peachey is crucified, left to hang on the cross until he dies, but he survives snow and a cold winter night and lives to tell the whole story on his return to the story teller, Kipling. Could this be Kipling's explanation for the death and resurrection of Christ? At any rate, he had to use two persons to tell his version of the story, if that's what he was up to. The clue for the preacher who faces the task of preaching on the Sunday of the Passion is simply this: the whole story has to be told as succinctly and interestingly as possible. That's the homiletical priority of the day.
1. Begin with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as the sermon introduction.
2. Describe the events that led up to the arrest of Jesus; this material is so voluminous that it may take the shape of a listing, or an enumeration, of these portions of the story.
3. Retell - in a condensed version - the story of the arrest, trials, condemnation of Jesus, taking care to include the most important details in it.
4. Tell the tale of Jesus' passion and death over against the story of the resurrection.
5. Make clear the meaning of all of this for the people who observe Holy Week in anticipation of the Easter celebration.
Simply tell the passion week story. Tell it simply!
A homily on the Gospel for the Liturgy of the Palms - Matthew 21:1-11 - "The Triumph and the Terrible Tree."
1. Jesus entered the Holy City in triumph, seated on a lowly beast of burden - a strange sort of entry for royalty; five days later he left the city, became a beast of burden himself who carried his own cross - and the sins of the world - to Calvary.
2. He deserved every accolade he received - the shouts of Hosanna, the palm branches, the clothing strewn in his path, because he was indeed the Son of David and the Son of God. He did not deserve the taunts of the crowd, "Come down from the cross, if you are the Son od God!" He died to save all people from sin and deliver them from death.
3. His story forces all who hear it to ask, "Who is this?" - and to find the answer through the Word and the Spirit and prayer so that they may shout, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
A suggestion for homiletical treatment of the Ffrst Lesson.
Both lessons tend to create homiletical problems for the preacher. The homiletical problem of the first reading is, simply, that it seldom is preached by itself on the Sunday of the Passion or Palm Sunday. At best, this servant song might find a place, either as an illustration or a quotation, in Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday sermons - "The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. I gave my back to the smiters ... I hid not my face from shame and spitting.... therefore I have set my face like a flint.... he who vindicates me is near." A sermon on this text would see it becoming incarnate in the Suffering Servant, Jesus, and the story of his last trip to the Holy City. The prophet spoke words which could never come forth from the very mouth of Jesus as he went to his terrible death on the cross.
A sermon on the Second Lesson - Philippians 2:5-11 - "Jesus Christ is Lord."
1. In his birth and life, Jesus emptied himself of the godhead - vacated his place with God - and became the Suffering Servant of whom Isaiah wrote.
2. In his life, Jesus obeyed God perfectly, even in the face of death. His obedience brought him death instead of the benefits and the blessings that God promises to those who fulfill the law.
3. God turned Jesus' defeat and death into a victory, and has "highly exalted him" and given him a name - Christ - that is above every other name. Christ, the crucified and risen one, is the Lord of all.
4. At Jesus' name, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that "Jesus Christ is Lord" - and "to the glory of God the Father." That's our agenda for today - and for every day that we live on earth.
