Palm Sunday – Luke 23:1-49
First Trinity Lutheran Church, Indianapolis, IN

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What do we make of this? How did we get from a celebration with loud hosannas, to blood-thirsty cries for crucifixion? To the Son of God nailed to a cross? Perhaps because Jesus is so frustrating.

He frustrates the priests. He gets to Jerusalem and goes straight to the temple. He drives out the vendors and moneychangers. And he says, “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you made it a den of robbers.” They demand to know who gave him authority but he won’t say. Then he tells the people a parable that hints at murder in the priests’ hearts. But they can’t haul him off because of the crowd. So they send the scribes to trick him into saying something against Rome that makes him guilty of treason.

Then Jesus frustrates the scribes. He outsmarts them. They ask, “Is it lawful to pray taxes to the emperor?” He says, “Whose head is on this coin? The emperor? Then give the emperor’s things to the emperor, and God’s things to God.” Then a crowd shows up and Jesus speaks to his disciples in a really loud voice, “Beware the scribes, who devour widows’ houses but act innocent by their long prayers.” The scribes can’t touch him with witnesses around. At least until Judas leads them to a secluded garden where Jesus is praying.

Then Jesus frustrates Pilate. The priests drag in Jesus and accuse. “He perverts the nation. He forbids paying taxes. He calls himself a king.” Everything in the book to make him an enemy of the state. So Pilate asks, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answers, “You say so.” Pilate wants to release Jesus, but the mob raises such a ruckus that he’s desperate to make them go away. Then he realizes, “Wait, he’s Galilean! Ship him to Herod!”

Then Jesus frustrates Herod. Because Herod’s excited. He’s heard all about Jesus’ miracles, and now he’ll finally get to see for himself. But Jesus won’t play. He won’t answer questions. He won’t lift a finger. Herod feels cheated. He and his soldiers get angry. They mock Jesus until they can’t tolerate him anymore, and send him back to Pilate.

Then Jesus frustrates the people. When he got to Jerusalem, crowds cheered. They spread their cloaks on the road and shouted “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace and glory in heaven!” They remember what the prophet Zechariah said. “Your king comes, rising on a colt, to cut off the chariot and the warhorse and the battle bow. He shall command peace to the nations. His dominion shall be to the ends of the earth.” (Zec 9:9-10) They’ve been sick and tired of Rome’s iron fist and they’re sure Jesus will change things. Except Jesus just peters out. Big words no action. So when Pilate offers to release Jesus, they yell, “No, we want Barabbas.” Sure, Barabbas is a murderer, but he knows how to raise an insurrection. At least that’s something.

So they crucify Jesus on a cross alongside two criminals. But in spite of all that pain and agony, Jesus still manages to frustrate one of them, who ridicules him, saying, “Aren’t you supposed to be the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But Jesus doesn’t answer him. Or save him. Jesus only answers the other criminal, who pleads, “Remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” And then Jesus dies.

Jesus frustrates us too. He could have done something, but he just let everyone beat the life out of him. We don’t want a suffering Christ. Because there’s too much suffering in this world. 2000 years later, too many folks are still victimized by the same powers and principalities. They go by different names now, but it’s all the same. And you know, the cross wasn’t supposed to happen. It’s not some elaborate plan by God, or some victory like we want it to be. It’s just death. Our collective “no” to God.

Except something inside of us won’t let us turn away. We keep watching, like the women who followed him from Galilee. We refuse to let this be the end of the story. And God refuses to let this be the end of the story. Because our redeemer will be raised from this death. We will see him in glory, come to grab hold of us and not let go, even while we bear our own cross today and the next day. But we can be honest. It’s not Easter yet. We struggle with faith and our cross is heavy. But deep in our bones, we know that the cross is the only way to resurrection. And Easter is coming very soon.