Sermon - Christian Identity: Cross Shaped Lives

 Luke 19:28-40; Philippians 2:5-11
Christian Identity: Cross Shaped Lives
James Sledge                                               April 10, 2022, Passion/Palm Sunday

      Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

What might it mean to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus when we are talking about Palm Sunday? What do you think was on Jesus’ mind as he paraded into Jerusalem with his disciples shouting, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"

Jesus had to be thinking very different thoughts than those of his disciples. Jesus had been clear for a long time about the fate that awaited him in Jerusalem. But he also knew that his disciples had never really understood what he had told them, and at that moment they were still hoping for a conquering Messiah, a new king to ride in and take over the throne of David. But Jesus knew that his throne was a cross.

The Pharisees don’t understand any better than the disciples, but they do want the disciples to be quiet. These Pharisees seem to think that Jesus would agree with them, would object to what the disciples were shouting. Perhaps they think it sacrilegious to speak of Jesus this way or perhaps that are simply worried about how dangerous this would sound if the Romans heard of it.

But Jesus insists that the shouts of “Blessed is the king,” must be made. Jesus is the king arriving for his coronation. That must be announced, even if the disciples don’t understand the odd sort of king that Jesus is.

It is easy to join in the disciples’ confusion. When I was a child, Palm Sunday was a day of unbridled celebration. We would wave palms and shout Hosannas with nary of thought about a cross. Oh, we knew about the cross, but it was little more than an unfortunate detour on the way to the glory of Easter. We rushed from Palm Sunday parade to Easter parade with only a quick glimpse of the cross.

My childhood memories include Palm Sunday and Easter celebrations, but I don’t recall anything about Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. Perhaps my church didn’t do anything on those days. Perhaps my family didn’t attend. Perhaps I just don’t remember, but my childhood memories go from one celebration to the next.

I doubt that I’m alone. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services were never all that well attended at the churches where I’ve been the pastor. Maundy Thursday was often a little larger, perhaps because it featured a sit-down meal. But Good Friday attendance was often woeful. If Easter competed for the service with the largest attendance of the year, Good Friday vied for the smallest. Perhaps that’s just because it’s on a Friday, or perhaps it’s because it is so focused on the cross.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

Have you ever thought about the things that prompt a parade? We’re all familiar with parades on holidays, but beyond those, we tend to throw parades for heroes, for winners, for people we wish we could be like. The first astronauts got ticker tape parades in New York City. A few years ago, the US Women’s Soccer Team had their own NYC ticker tape parade after winning the World Cup. We had parades in DC for the Nats and the Caps when they won their championships. And every four years, there’s an inauguration parade.

The Palm Sunday parades of my childhood felt like these sorts of parades. And I suppose Jesus is a hero, someone we would want to emulate and be like. But sometimes I would like Jesus to be a more conventional hero, one more like the disciples were expecting. I’m a little less enamored with a parade that leads to a cross.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

When Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, his mind is set on the cross. What is more, he has told those who would be his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Jesus calls us to have the same mind that was in him and so to live cross shaped lives.

During the Sundays in Lent, I’ve been reflecting on some of the various facets that make for a Christian identity, and the most important and perhaps most difficult may be this call to have the mind of Jesus, to live cross shaped lives.

With cross shaped lives, what makes someone great and impressive isn’t having lots of money or success or power. It isn’t having the fanciest car, the finest home, or the nicest clothes. It isn’t getting into the most prestigious college or having the most impeccable résumé. What makes someone great and impressive is what they are doing for others, especially when it is personally costly.

There is one area of life where we often recognize this sort of greatness. Good parents are expected to give up things, to incur costs that they otherwise wouldn’t for the sake of their children. There was a news report recently from the war in Ukraine about a mother who threw herself over her six-week-old baby when Russian shells struck her apartment. She was seriously wounded but the baby received no injuries. Most of us can’t imagine the terror this mother must have felt, but most of us who are parents like to think that we would have done the same thing for our young child. When it comes to children, many parents understand and embrace the idea of cross shaped lives.

But Jesus extends the call for costly love well beyond children and family. He calls us to love our enemies, and he goes to the cross as an act of love toward all humanity, including those who execute him. “Father for give them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

You often hear America described as a “Christian nation,” but if cross shaped lives are a big part of a Christian identity, I’m not sure that is so. But imagine if it were. Imagine if most people would actively seek to help their neighbors even if doing so cost them dearly. And I’m including neighbors they don’t like, don’t agree with politically, and so on. Imagine what a different world it would be if everyone put the needs of others ahead of or equal to their own.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

What about you? How cross shaped is your life? What would need to change to make it a little more cross shaped? As I mentioned, this may well be some of the more difficult work of discipleship. But if Jesus is to be trusted, it is also what leads to resurrection life.