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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Holy Week begins

Triumph and tragedy as Jesus enters Jerusalem and is obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:8).

Context

As I write there is no dominant news story. The war in Ukraine seems to be at a standstill. The USA has witnessed another school shooting. Scotland has a new SNP leader and First Minister after a contest in which faith issues played a part. Kate Forbes, the conservative Christian who came a close second, is now leaving the Scottish Government. As well as the attempt to eliminate refugees crossing the Channel in small boats (with no clear policy on new safe routes) we now watch a government threatening to make those who worked for us in Afghanistan homeless.

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

This Sunday begins Holy Week, the week when we recall in particular the passion of Christ. The week begins in triumph but quickly turns to tragedy. This is not a tragedy with an unexpectedly happy ending. Triumph and defeat are intimately interwoven in the passion. The one cannot exist without the other.

Our faith rests on an ultimate paradox – the paradox of the cross. Paul calls it a stumbling block to some and folly to others (1 Corinthians 1:23). The paradox is clear in many Passiontide hymns including modern ones such as ‘Who would ever have believed it?’ by John Bell and the late Graham Maule, Gareth Hill’s ‘The desolate Messiah dies’ and Brian Wren’s ‘Here hangs a man discarded’. Wren borrows words from a 17th century Passiontide hymn (O sacred head sore wounded) as the title for his fascinating book ‘What language shall I borrow?’.

God brings about victory in unlikely and unpromising ways as utter weakness overcomes all strength. God saves through despair and weakness. ‘Hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered (from ‘From heaven you came’ by Graham Kendrick)

I am not a fan of the violence and gore which permeated Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ. But it reminded me that the Holy Week events took place in circumstances not so very different from those which exist today in Syria, in Ukraine and in other places of conflict. First century Palestine was an occupied country with brutal rulers who cut down dissent violently. Crucifixions were commonplace. In the west we are often proud that our societies are no longer so violent; yet violence persists, especially where the rule of law breaks down or has ceased to exist.

Ecumenical Good Friday walks and processions are common but different places have different ways of marking Holy Week (including Maundy Thursday and Holy Saturday as well as Good Friday). As this most significant week in the Christian year begins, consider encouraging people both to attend any special services and to read (as I always do) at least one full Gospel account of the passion story. As you may have seen on your ROOTS lectionary wall planner, the lectionary includes Matthew 26:14–27:66 among the readings for today. Resources for this and other Gospel passion accounts can be found via our Search page.

 

Questions for discussion

• How might people react to Jesus in today’s world? Would they cheer him and then betray him? Or would he be ignored?
• Read again at least one older and one modern Passiontide hymn. Which expresses the meaning of the passion best for you today? What sort of language might we best use to expound the meaning of the passion in today’s broken world?

Dudley Coates is a local preacher in the Yeovil and Blackmore Vale Methodist Circuit and a former Vice President of the Methodist Conference.

 

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

We all have shared moments lodged in our memory bank where we know exactly where we were and what we were doing. Often those moments involve bringing us together with other people, whether that be to mourn, as Jesus’ disciples will do soon; or to celebrate together, as Jerusalem did all those years ago when Jesus rode into the city on that first Palm Sunday.

Imagine what it would have been like to have been part of the crowd on that first Palm Sunday. The joy and the celebration that something was happening that was bigger than yourself. The hope, expectation – and maybe the realisation for some – that the Messiah was here - Jesus, God’s Son.

This was an experience shared in community with countless other people. Not just any ordinary experience, but a celebration which Jerusalem had not seen the like of before.

So, as we celebrate Palm Sunday together today after a few quieter years of celebration due to the pandemic, how will you celebrate? Is it ‘just another Sunday’, or are we going to intentionally celebrate together?

By sharing together over this Easter period, may we find the joy that comes from knowing Jesus - the Messiah who rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey.

Jonathan Buckley is Youth Coordinator for Sheffield Methodist Circuit

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