Palm Sunday
MATERIAL FOR PALM SUNDAY/ PASSION SUNDAY
Material for Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday
Whether you observe this day as Palm Sunday or as Passion Sunday, the lessons from Isaiah and from Philippians are the same. The differences in the lessons between Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday are found in the Psalm and in the Gospel.
Palm & Passion Sunday: First Lesson for Years A, B, and C: Isaiah 50: 4 – 9a
saiah’s song about ‘the servant of the Lord’ was not a prediction about the sufferings of Jesus of Nazareth about six hundred years later, but an expression of the deep sense that, as the people of Israel, they had been called to be God’s servant. Having suffered defeat, humiliation and despair in exile in Babylon this faithful remnant still retained hope that God would use their service for good. The execution of Jesus forced his followers then and now to struggle to find meaning even in suffering. Today we have picked up these old words and associations from Jewish scripture as a vehicle of hope.
Palm Sunday Psalm for Years A, B, and C: Psalm 118: 1 - 2, 19 – 29
This Psalm was written for jubilant pilgrims entering Jerusalem with a song of thanksgiving for God’s “steadfast love” on their lips. Many years later the gospel editors were pleased to use the words of the Psalm to describe the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The words: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,” are traditionally used for Christian Palm Sunday celebrations. “The stone which the builders rejected” that has become the “cornerstone” is a reference not to Jesus but to the whole people of Israel. Early Jesus-followers recycled the analogy to describe Jesus.
Passion Sunday Psalm for Years A, B, and C: Psalm 31: 9 – 16
The unknown writer of this psalm was “in distress,” terrified that his enemies despised him and were scheming to take his life. He pleaded to God for deliverance. It is not surprising that Christians borrow these words to express their sense of identity with Jesus as he faced the terror and scheming that led to his execution by the Romans.
Palm & Passion Sunday: Second Lesson for Years A, B, and C: Philippians 2: 5 – 11
This probable early Christian hymn praises Christ’s self-emptying in the incarnation and crucifixion and looks forward in hope to a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus the Christ as Lord. After the amazing missionary expansion of the church in the nineteenth century, optimistic Christian leaders proclaimed that the twentieth century would be the Christian century for the whole world. How wrong they were! Now the twenty-first century has presented the church with the challenge of coming to terms with the reality that God is flexible enough to be working through Christians, Jews, Muslims and many other religious perspectives.
Gospel Lesson(s) for Year A as Palm Sunday Reading: Matthew 21: 1 – 11
The Passover festival in Jerusalem every year attracted huge numbers of pilgrims and other visitors drawn from all over the Mediterranean world. Though law and order was usually handled by Roman delegation to the temple authorities drawn from prominent and wealthy Jewish families, Passover crowds could be exceptionally troublesome. Each year Pilate, the Roman Governor, moved from his seaside residence at Caesaria Maritima to Jerusalem with an impressive array of cavalry and foot soldiers to reinforce the Roman garrison permanently in Fortress Antonia overlooking the Temple. This display of imperial power also underlined Roman theology that Tiberius was not just another emperor, but in fact ‘Son of God’, ‘Lord’, ‘Saviour’ and ‘source of peace on earth’. So when Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives and proclaimed the Kingdom of God to the adulation of a peasant crowd it could have been seen as a provocative act.
Matthew’s gospel freely uses passages from Hebrew scripture written in other contexts for other purposes. For example, this Palm Sunday passage includes a passage from Zechariah 9, while the acclamation of the crowd reflects the language of Psalm 118. The symbol of a donkey from Zechariah speaks of a leader coming in peace. Such borrowing has led many to wrongly assume that within Hebrew Scripture is material that predicts Jesus and his life and death. All that can be claimed is that through the life of Jesus, humanity has encountered the same living God of the Hebrews.
Gospel Lesson(s) for Year A as Passion Sunday Reading:
Matthew 26: 14 – 27: 66 (shorter version Matthew 27: 11 - 54)
The various gospel accounts of what was said in the trial of Jesus before Pilate and the chief priests all differ in detail as no disciples appear to be there to witness proceedings. Some accounts also fly in the face of known history. For example, Matthew presents Pilate as an impartial judge who declared Jesus innocent. Apparently, feeling helpless before an ill-defined crowd urged on by the chief priests, Pilate handed Jesus over for crucifixion. Matthew’s Pilate dramatically absolved himself from any responsibility by publicly washing his hands. Scholars of ancient history, however, know Pilate to be a scheming, brutal and sadistic tyrant who would, without hesitation, execute any Jew seen as a threat to his Roman control.
All the gospel editors, writing after the ruthless destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Roman army in 70 CE, knew it was not safe to blame Rome for the crucifixion. Instead they blamed the “chief priests and elders”, or “the crowd”. John, writing later when animosity between the Jesus movement and other Jews had emerged, simply referred to “the Jews”, meaning the Temple leadership. Importantly, Christians are left to ponder whether the cross was the purpose of the life of Jesus or the consequence of it.
Gospel Lesson(s) for Year B
Palm Sunday Reading Mark 11: 1 – 11; or John 12: 12 – 16
The Passover festival in Jerusalem every year attracted huge numbers of pilgrims and other visitors from all over the Mediterranean world. Though law and order was usually handled by Roman delegation to the temple authorities drawn from prominent and wealthy Jewish families, Passover crowds could be exceptionally troublesome. Each year Pilate, the Roman Governor, moved from his seaside residence at Caesaria Maritima to Jerusalem with an impressive array of cavalry and foot soldiers to reinforce the Roman garrison permanently in Fortress Antonia overlooking the Temple. This display of imperial power also underlined Roman theology that Tiberius was not just another emperor, but in fact ‘Son of God’, ‘Lord’, ‘Saviour’ and ‘source of peace on earth’. So when Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives and proclaimed the Kingdom of God to the adulation of a peasant crowd it could have been seen as a provocative act.
Mark’s/John’s gospel uses passages from Hebrew scripture written in other contexts for other purposes. For example, this Palm Sunday passage includes a passage from Zechariah 9, while the acclamation of the crowd reflects the language of Psalm 118. The symbol of a donkey from Zechariah speaks of a leader coming in peace. Such borrowing has led many to wrongly assume that within Hebrew scripture is material that predicts Jesus and his life and death. All that can be claimed is that through the life of Jesus, humanity has encountered the same living God of the Hebrews.
Gospel Lesson(s) for Year B
Passion Sunday Reading: Mark 14: 1 – 15:47
Shorter version Mark 15: 1 – 39 (40 – 47)
The long Passion Sunday reading begins with the story of a woman anointing the body of Jesus before his death. It then includes Mark’s account of what he termed the ‘Passover’ meal, which version is closely followed by Matthew. However, without reference to bitter herbs or a liturgy connected with the eating of the Passover lamb, the so-called ‘last supper’ appeared not to be a Passover celebration at all. Traditionally the Christian Church has referred to the account as the institution of the Eucharist by Jesus and has clung tenaciously to the words used as indispensable to later celebrations. However, chapter 11 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians presents an earlier written example of a Eucharistic celebration. It is suspected that the wording in the gospels is therefore not able to recover the words of Jesus but rather reflects the important cultic development of the Eucharist in the life of the early church.
In Mark it is Pilate, who having heard the accusations against Jesus, refuses to agree. Scholars of ancient history however know Pilate to be a scheming, brutal and sadistic tyrant who would, without hesitation, execute any Jew seen as a threat to his Roman control. The gospel editors, all writing after the ruthless destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Roman army in 70 CE, knew it was not safe to blame Rome for the crucifixion. Instead they blamed the “chief priests and elders”, or “the crowd”. John, writing later when animosity between the Jesus movement and other Jews had emerged, simply referred to “the Jews”, meaning the Temple leadership. Importantly, Christians are left to ponder whether the cross was the purpose of the life of Jesus or the consequence of it.
Gospel Lesson(s) for Year C
Palm Sunday Readings: Luke 19: 28 – 40 or John 12: 12 – 16
The Passover festival in Jerusalem every year attracted huge numbers of pilgrims and other visitors from all over the Mediterranean world. Though law and order was usually handled by Roman delegation to the temple authorities drawn from prominent and wealthy Jewish families, Passover crowds could be exceptionally troublesome. Each year Pilate, the Roman Governor, moved from his seaside residence at Caesaria Maritima to Jerusalem with an impressive array of cavalry and foot soldiers to reinforce the Roman garrison permanently in Fortress Antonia overlooking the Temple. This display of imperial power also underlined Roman theology that Tiberius was not just another emperor, but in fact ‘Son of God’, ‘Lord’, ‘Saviour’ and ‘source of peace on earth’. So when Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives and proclaimed the Kingdom of God to the adulation of a peasant crowd it could have been seen as a provocative act.
Mark’s/John’s gospel uses passages from Hebrew scripture written in other contexts for other purposes. For example, this Palm Sunday passage includes a passage from Zechariah 9, while the acclamation of the crowd reflects the language of Psalm 118. The symbol of a donkey from Zechariah speaks of a leader coming in peace. Such borrowing has led many to wrongly assume that within Hebrew Scripture is material that predicts Jesus and his life and death. All that can be claimed is that through the life of Jesus, humanity has encountered the same living God of the Hebrews.
Gospel Lesson(s) for Year C
Passion Sunday Reading: Luke 22: 14 - 23: 56 or Luke 23: 1 - 49
Luke’s version of the passion narrative includes a referral to Herod because Jesus was a Galilean. Both Herod and Pilate are presented by Luke as finding Jesus not guilty of the charges being brought against him, though without the public display of Matthew’s washing-the-hands episode. None of this seems credible given the secular historical evidence of Pilate’s brutality and lack of respect for justice. Herod’s reputation was hardly better, with Luke elsewhere referring to Herod as “a fox” and responsible for beheading John the Baptist. The ‘priests’ and the ill-defined ‘crowd’ are once again blamed for the call to crucify. This seems a political judgement-call of the editor not to stir up conflict with Rome. It is also interesting to reflect on how many people it takes to constitute a crowd. Because Luke’s account most significantly differs from that of Mark many scholars suggest he relied on an additional source.