The Sunday Next Before Easter

In the Thursday evening Lenten class we’ve explored some of the fine print in the Book of Common Prayer. A lot of interesting and often useful information can be gleaned from the fine print. One of the things the fine print teaches us is the proper name for each Sunday within the calendar of the church year. Today is an interesting case in point. We call this day Palm Sunday. But its formal name is more complex. It is The Sunday of the Passion—colon—Palm Sunday. Although in the earliest English Prayer Book of 1549 this day was perhaps more simply and descriptively titled "The Sunday Next before Easter." Palm Sunday. The Sunday of the Passion. The Sunday next before Easter. Each of those has a very different mood and emphasis.

Ultimately, all three elements are a part of our worship this morning. We began with the glory and triumph of Palm Sunday. It’s a wonderful parade, a procession filled with joy and eager anticipation. We raised our voices with countless voices over countless years: "All glory, laud and honor, to thee, Redeemer King! To whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring!" Palm Sunday.

But today’s service progresses, as did Jesus, from that mighty procession to the passion. The Sunday of the Passion. Luke tells the story, step by step, from the lonely desolation of Gethsemane to the bitter parody of a trial before the chief priests. From Peter’s cheap, cowardly denial to crucifixion on a hill they called the skull. Today’s gospel reading, today’s "good news" leaves us with death. With a horrible, bitter death upon a cross. We do not see the risen Christ today. And we should not think of him as "veiled"; he is gone. This day Jesus’ body is a cold, lifeless one. Palm Sunday has become the Sunday of the Passion.

Yet, even though it is not in the fine print of our current prayer book, this day does have that third title: The Sunday next before Easter.

There are many different ways that we can articulate our faith. The Nicene Creed we say each Sunday gives us a full, multifaceted picture of the Christian faith. Or other individuals would more readily encapsulate the faith in a simple affirmation of their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Here is another phrase that gives shape to what faith teaches us: Faith teaches us that the worst thing that can happen is never the last thing that happens. Hardly a polished creed or an evangelical cry of salvation, this phrase is nonetheless a powerful and significant statement of faith. The worst thing that can happen is never the end.

The worst thing. Not bad things, or inconvenient things, or difficult things, or even dark or sad things. The worst thing. Worst is an absolute term. The worst thing. Faith teaches us that the worst thing that can happen is never the last thing that happens. Never is also an absolute term. The worst thing that can happen is never the end of the story.

The worst thing happened on that day of the passion of our Lord. There could not possibly in any way or any time be anything worse. Jesus died. The Son of God died. And the world went black. This man who was God and who brought God to life in others. This man who offered God’s peace, God’s love, God’s healing… This man who embodied life-giving hope. Hope to the world and hope to all who lived in the world. And now the man and the hope hang dead upon a cross. The worst thing has happened.

There is only one worst thing. Nothing in our world can compare with Jesus’ death upon the cross. And yet, in our world, in our lives, we share in that awful, unimaginable event. Every time we sin, the crucifixion echoes in our hearts. We only need to look at the whole of the passion story to know that we cannot stand apart from that event. Everyone in that story was witness, participant and perpetrator of the crucifixion. In a prayer for Good Friday, William Barclay speaks of the very same temptations that beset us today: "The cowardice, which would disown Jesus when it is hard to be true to him; the disloyalty, which betrays him in the hour when he needs some one to stand by him; from fickleness, which blows hot and cold in its devotion; from the fair-weather friendship, which, when things are difficult or dangerous, makes us ashamed to show whose we are and whom we serve." The sins of the passion story are our sins.

Whenever we kill God within our hearts, we are witnesses and participants and perpetrators of the worst thing.

But.

By God’s grace... Only by God’s grace, the worst thing that did or can ever happen is never the last thing that happens. This is Palm Sunday. This is the Sunday of the Passion. But even in this day’s absolute darkness, the story does not end. The risen Lord will meet us at his table to guide and nourish us in our journey forward. This is the Sunday next before Easter.

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