Henrietta United Church of Christ

Rev. David Inglis Matthew 21:1-11

Palm/Passion Sunday March 20, 2005

“Why Did Jesus Die?–a New Look at an Old Question”

It was the kind of scene that stirs your blood, rouses your hope and kindles your passion. For too long, Rome had held Palestine in its iron grip and bled its people to death with taxes. For too long the rich landowners had confiscated the people’s ancestral land and left them destitute. For too long the religious leaders had kissed up to Rome instead of standing up to Rome. The world was out of joint, with no hope in sight. But here came Jesus, the wonder-worker, the God-man, the friend of the left out and shut out, riding into Jerusalem at Passover time like a king coming to claim his throne. “Hosanna!” God saves! “Hosanna!”

If I had had a chance, I probably would have been a part of that crowd. But would I have put down any money on Jesus being able to triumph over the high priest and Rome? I don’t know. There wasn’t a horse or chariot or even a sword and shield in this group. But there was the God factor, and that just might be the trump. Jesus definitely seemed to have God on his side. If God was going to give them a messiah to free them, who else but Jesus? If God was ever going to act, when else but now? Everyone could sense that things were coming to a head. It was now. . .or never. “Hosanna to the son of David, whose reign of justice is about to dawn!”

And so Jesus rode into Jersusalem on a donkey–the symbol of a king coming in peace yet in power. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, his jaw was resolute.

“Who is this?” people asked as they saw him enter the city.

“This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

And sure enough, that week there was a show-down, a struggle to the death, and a triumph. But it wasn’t at all like Jesus’ followers hoped for. There was no pitched battle, no army of angels, and no golden crown. There was something very different–something that makes us stop and pause two millennia after the dust has settled and the blood has dried and the players have gone away. Jesus triumphed, not by killing his enemies, but by giving his life for them.

Why? Why did Jesus die? That question has two sides. The first side is, Why was he killed? After all, he never raised a sword, preached insurrection, or sought to take anyone’s throne or position. Why would anyone want to torture to death someone who loved everyone, healed the sick, and blessed the children? It’s like saying why would anyone want to lynch Mr. Rogers? The idea doesn’t make sense.

But Jesus wasn’t just a miracle-working Mr. Rogers. In a way, Jesus’ enemies were right to fear and hate him. He rode into Jerusalem armed with just one thing, but it was enough to shake them to the foundation. As he told Pilate at the trial that sent him to his death, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” And Jesus would not compromise the truth one iota. The truth that Jesus embodied is the ultimate truth about reality. The other gospel writers call it the good news, and rightly so, because this truth is the good news for all who receive it. I would explain it this way. The truth and good news that Jesus taught and lived is that God created all things, God loves all things, and God is continually seeking to reconcile all things to each other and to God. God cherishes you, and God cherishes the people you love, and God cherishes the people you can’t stand. God cherishes the parts of creation that we enjoy, and God cherishes the parts of creation that we destroy. The deepest truth is that in God, all is united, whole, in a state of shalom. The divisions, distinctions and hierarchies that we erect to exert our power or establish our privilege or justify our prejudice or excuse our exploitation violate the very spirit of God, and they violate the deepest truth about ourselves.

If you look at Jesus’ ministry, you see him embodying this radically uniting love and blowing through the barriers over and over again. He proclaimed that the foundation of all the Jewish laws and prophets was, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is how we live in harmony with that good-news truth and find ourselves in the kingdom of God. So somebody asked him, “Well, who is my neighbor (that I should love as myself)?” And he told the story about a Jewish traveler who was beaten and robbed and left for dead. The only person who stopped to help him was a despised Samaritan, a half Jew by ancestry and a heretic by beliefs. But this Samaritan treated his wounds, carried him to safety, and paid for his care. And Jesus asked his questioner, “So who would you say was the neighbor to this victim in the road? That’s who you should emulate.” Do you see the punch that story packed?

In a time when women were deemed not to have souls like men do, Jesus welcomed women among his closest followers, and engaged a Samaritan woman in a discussion about worshiping God, wherever you worship, in spirit and in truth. Jesus refused to be bound by gender barriers.

He ate and mingled with prostitutes and tax collectors and sinners, and told them the story about the father who ran to meet his wayward son who was coming home in rags, and who covered him with hugs and kisses. Scandalous!

The people he most often commended for their faith were pagans gentiles.

Over and over again, Jesus shone the penetrating light of the truth through the lie that some people are more worthy in God’s eyes, and that others can be excluded, exploited, abused or oppressed. The truth Jesus consistently embodied and proclaimed is that God’s kingdom is open to anyone and everyone who will turn from their pride, their shame or their self centeredness, and receive God’s unconditional love for them and for all.

This truth was a direct threat to the chief priests, Pontius Pilate, the greedy landowners, and the self righteous religious people, and everyone whose power and privilege were based on the lie that some people are worthy and others are not..

When Jesus lived and spread this good-news truth around the towns and villages of the countryside, it made the authorities nervous. But when he took it into Jerusalem, with people shouting “Hosanna to the son of David,” it panicked them. This truth was a direct assault on the very foundation on which their power was built and the people were starting to see that this foundation was a lie. That’s why they killed him.

But why did Jesus allow it? That’s the other side of the question of why he died. Why didn’t he avoid the confrontation, or evade arrest? Just at that moment when he’s arrested by the temple guard, and one of his followers pulls out a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s slave, Jesus says, “Put away your sword! Don’t you realize that I could appeal to my Father, and he would send me more than twelve legions of angels?”

Well, why doesn’t he? This is exactly the point in the story where the outnumbered good guys are supposed to pull a miracle and kill all the bad guys, so that good triumphs over evil. But no, Jesus deliberately allows them to spring their trap and take him directly to those very seats of power that want him eliminated. When they hurl accusations, he doesn’t duck or defend himself. When they taunt him, he doesn’t lash back. He silently accepts their crown of thorns as it’s pressed into his brow. He receives the blows of their rods. He bows his back to their barbed whips. He carries the cross on his shoulders. He holds out his hands to receive the nails driven through his flesh and bones. Instead of cursing them for their wicked foolishness, he cries out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!”

Even as he drinks the bitterest dregs of the cup of suffering, he is still bearing witness to that radical, earth shaking truth–the good news that anyone and everyone is invited to turn and receive God’s kingdom. There are no exclusions–even those who kill the Christ. The door will swing open even to them, if they repent, believe and receive. And one of the Roman centurions does just that. “Surely this was the Son of God,” he says after watching Jesus die.

Jesus could not have embodied that good-news truth if he had repelled or resisted or rallied angels against his enemies. God’s perfect love does not attack. It only blesses. And Jesus could not have revealed that the good news is offered to all, no exceptions, if he hadn’t carried it right into the hell of the worst that people could do to him. You see, by offering forgiving love to them, he offers it to each and every one of us, no matter what we have done to any of God’s sons or daughters. He died for his enemies sins, and he died for our sins. The door of forgiveness was open to them and it is open to us. The arms that he stretched out on the cross embrace everyone. No exceptions. They embrace us when we’re sure we don’t deserve it. And they embrace others we’re sure don’t deserve it.

The good news and the hard news of this ultimate truth is that it isn’t about deserving it. It’s not something that we can deserve and take pride in receiving. We can only receive it humbly. As Barbara Brown Taylor wrote,

In the presence of his integrity, our own pretense is exposed. In the presence of his constancy, our cowardice is brought to light. In the presence of his fierce love for God and for us, our own hardness of heart is revealed. Take him out of the room and all those things become relative. I am not that much worse than you are nor you than I, but leave him in the room and there is no room to hide. He is the light of the world. In his presence, people either fall down to worship him or do everything they can to extinguish his light.^[i]

Or as hymn writer Isaac Watts wrote, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” That amazing, all-embracing love is life-liberating, soul exhilarating good news to all who are humble enough to receive it. And it’s a direct threat to all who prefer to hold onto their pride and power and privilege.

So Jesus rode into Jerusalem then and he rides into our lives now. He offers himself fully, to us and to all, again and again, nothing held back. He offers no defense, and no attack. There is just his body broken for us and his blood shed for us and for all. That’s why he gave his life, so that we can have life through this boundless love.

So in the end, the important question is not, “Why did Jesus die?,” but “Did Jesus die in vain?” That’s a question that each of us answers with our own lives.

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