What do "Hosanna to the Son of David!" and "Crucify him! Crucify him!" have to do with each other? Isn't Palm Sunday all about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the crucifixion just for Good Friday? Why wave palm fronds and read the account of our Lord's Passion in the same service. why palm and passion? Those questions have very likely been on most of our minds since we began worship this morning. Let me, briefly try to answer them.

Palm Sunday is about anticipation. What we remember today are the events which foreshadow the story of the week to come. We come at these events like people who have jumped to the back of a mystery novel, knowing full well what's going to happen as the story unfolds. Even though we know that the 'good guy' is going to win in the end, still we're caught-up in the action. I'm reminded of those wonderful Friday nights when my Dad would let me stay up and watch "Sammy Terry's Horror Theatre." We'd be watching Frankenstein or Dracula and even though I knew how it was going to come out, I'd jump off of the couch and run into the dining room, peeking around the corner as it happened. I knew good would triumph. I was just so caught up in it that I couldn't watch it full on. Palm Sunday, Holy Week is like that; we know what's going to happen, but the sheer magnitude of the story overwhelms us.

What is more, the story continues in the lives of people every day. The drama of triumph and tragedy is unfolding in the Middle East, in Haiti, Chile and in the cities and towns of America. As we worship triumph and tragedy is taking place in the lives of people just like you and me. We don't have to read too far in the daily paper, or listen to the news, or pick up a magazine, even talk to friends and loved ones to realize how true this is. That's why Palm and Passion, because the events in Jesus' life are in our lives. It's not just because it was the custom of the ancient Jerusalem church, recorded in the fourth century Travels of the widow Egeria. Nor do we because it's been the continuing custom of the Coptic liturgy to celebrate with long readings from the Scriptures for meditation. We do what we do today because there is no triumph without the tragedy of the Cross. The Passion and the Cross are central to understanding the life and ministry of Jesus, the message of the Christian faith itself, and even our own destiny.

On this Palm/Passion Sunday we see Jesus fulfilling the ancient prophecies of a "son of David" who will come to bring salvation to his people.

On this Palm/Passion Sunday we see Jesus as the "suffering servant" who willingly offers himself up for the sake of others.

On this Palm/Passion Sunday we see Jesus, especially through Luke's eyes, as the new Moses, who makes a new covenant between God and humanity. This new Moses who brings us through the waters of death and the grave brings a true 'Passover' to a new and abundant life. Luke, as liturgical scholar Kevin Irwin has pointed out, “portrays Jesus as praying at the most significant moments of his earthly life. Thus Luke implies that Jesus’ followers should be humble, obedient, and prayerful, imitating Jesus in acknowledging dependence on God. . . .One lesson that can drawn from Luke’s very realistic account of that passion is that prayer, especially liturgical prayer, must be offered by those who are truly committed to the Lord.”

On this Palm/Passion Sunday we see Jesus who, "though he was in the form of God" humbled himself, emptied himself and "became obedient ¬ even to death on a cross" all to identify completely with humanity ¬ in our joys and in our sorrows, even in our sense of alienation, loneliness and isolation.

As the noted liturgical scholar Adrian Nocent has written, "The Palm Sunday liturgy thus gives a complete and rounded theological vision of the mystery (i.e. the saving work) of Christ. It tells that this mystery is not a mystery of death alone but a mystery of life that triumphs over death. This vision is important for a proper conception of the spiritual life." Triumph turns to tragedy and back to triumph because the triumphant entry into Jerusalem leads from a cross to an empty tomb.

Thus, we can leave this celebration of Palm and Passion, of triumph and tragedy, with hearts rejoicing, overflowing with gratitude to a God who cares about us, knows us, loves us, and reaches out to us.

We can leave rejoicing because we are not only people of the new covenant in the Cross, but also of the new covenant in the Resurrection. We know how the story turns out, and we need to remember that we know as we face the triumphs and passions of our own lives. We are a people of triumph, of passion, and of resurrection. May we learn to live out that reality every day so that at the name that is above every other name, the name of Jesus, "every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."