Isaiah 45:21-25
Psalm 22:1-21
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew (26:36-75) 27:1-54 (55-66)
Some of you know that as a child I was raised in the Presbyterian church. In our tradition, Palm Sunday was just that - Palm Sunday - the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem and everyone waved palms and shouted "Hosanna." Nothing was mentioned about the events that were to come later in the week before Easter morning. Our family went to church on Palm Sunday and Easter. Whatever happened in-between was largely lost and forgotten.
As I got a little older I knew that my mother went to some kind of service on the Friday afternoon in-between, but she never took my sister and I with her. I recall asking her one time why she didn't take us - and she said that I was too little to understand and it would just upset me anyway.
In her own way, my mother was trying to protect my sister and I from the pain and suffering of the cross. Her intentions were loving and good. She'd been raised in a faith that emphasized pain and suffering, hell-fire and damnation. It took her years, until she was well into her 80's, before she was able to completely shake off those early years of religious training that left her so uncertain and frightened, so sure that she would never be good enough for God and that she would spend eternity in hell.
None of us want our children to suffer or be exposed to the pain and misery of this world. We all want to somehow protect them from the wretchedness of such things as war and violence and poverty. Most of us - as adults - want to distance ourselves from the sordid and seamy sides of life as well. We want to enjoy life, we want to find the 'good things' and the positive things that make us feel better. And what's wrong with that?
Who wants to sit through the eerie silence of watching the altar being stripped on Maundy Thursday, and then join Jesus on his miserable walk to Calvary? Who wants to be reminded of the brutality and savagery of the act of crucifixion?
Why do we need to include the Passion on Palm Sunday and ruin an otherwise delightful day? When I was a child, the custom was to wear last year's Easter outfit to church that day. We'd all be given palms and sing happy, hosanna songs, enjoying ourselves immensely. There was none of the awful story of Jesus' arrest, trial and execution. It was a happy day - just like Easter was a happy day. So for goodness sake, let's enjoy it and skip that icky stuff in-between..
My mother was raised in the world of Good Friday - for her Easter was largely missing. I was raised in the world of Palm Sunday and Easter - and Good Friday was mostly missing. For my mother it meant struggling to try to find some kind of hope and comfort in a world ruled by a vengeful God who would destroy God's very son because of how wretched and sinful we all are. She grew up feeling guilty, undeserving and responsible for the agony of our Lord.
On the other hand, I grew up on sugar-coated stories about a God who always made everything fair - and easy - and successful for good little girls and boys. Easter was as hollow as those chocolate bunnies that I got in my Easter basket. You know - the ones that look so inviting - until you take a bite and they crumble into pieces.
I grew up believing that if I was a good girl, then everything would be fair and life would be great. So when things weren't fair and life wasn't great, I found myself at a complete loss, feeling guilty and ashamed, believing that I was responsible for my own misery. After all, if I was a good girl then nothing bad should be happening to me - right?
I grew up believing that good people were entitled to the Resurrection without the cross. My mother grew up believing that a vengeful God would condemn most everyone to the cross, and only a very few would be invited to the Resurrection.
Pretty clearly there's something very wrong with both those pictures my mon and I grew up with. Good Friday without Easter leaves us living in a world where there is no hope, no promise, no Resurrection. People become crippled with fear and despair, or cynicism and violence.
Easter without Good Friday leaves us living in a shallow and frivolous world where we become fatalistic and bitter when the easy victories crumble, and all too many things just aren't fair.
Without both Good Friday and Easter; without filling in the middle between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, our lives become hollow and broken.
We fool ourselves when we try live in just one world or the other. We simply do not live in a world where Good Friday doesn't exist. We're confronted with Good Friday all the time: in the tragic events of 9/11; the senseless brutality that the people of the Darfur are suffering; the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor – there are countless examples of Good Friday in this world of ours.
But thanks be to God - we live in a world where the Resurrection also exists.
Good Friday is what assures us that God will continue to keep that promise of Resurrection made so long ago. We find the Resurrection right in the middle of our hurt and pain and brokenness. We see the Resurrection in the courageous behavior of hundreds of people who came to the aid of the victims of 9/11. We see it in the amazing bravery of the peacekeepers who travel to the Darfur and other regions in the world where violence threatens to prevail - peacekeepers who walk into the face of death on a daily basis, carrying absolutely nothing with them except a belief in a God of peace and love. We recognize the Resurrection in the swelling numbers of people who are joining a grassroots movement that's determined to keep the voices of the prophets alive by reminding us all that eliminating poverty and hunger is a moral issue.
Palm Sunday and Easter would be empty and hollow indeed without Maundy Thursday and Good Friday in-between. They would be as hollow and disappointing as this chocolate bunny - that looks so inviting until we bite into it - and watch it crumble.
(Hold up the Bunny and squeeze it - letting it crumble into the basket)