A "Borrowed" Week

"Christ Entering Jerusalem" by Giotto di Bondone

Click here to listen to this sermon.

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified (John 12:23).

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

My cousin likes to tag me on social media with some of his religious humor. Just last week, he offered this one:

Pontius Pilate says to Joseph of Arimathea, “Joseph, I really don’t understand. You’re one of the richest men in the region, and you’ve spent a small fortune on a new tomb for you and your family and you want to give it to this man, Jesus?"

Joseph replies: “It’s just for the weekend.”

It’s a joke, of course, but it’s true. Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb. But it was just borrowed for the weekend. He was checked in before 6:00 pm on Friday and checked Himself out early Sunday morning. However, the tomb was not the only thing Jesus “borrowed” during Holy Week. For you, Jesus goes from borrowed donkey to borrowed room to borrowed cross to borrowed tomb.

Holy Week provides the opportunity to dwell at length on the various accounts of the Passion. Although it is understood that not all of you will be able to attend or participate in all the services, we will mark and observe each of the days of this week to sanctify this time with the Word of God and prayer (Ephesians 5:16; 1 Timothy 4:4-5). Those of you who do attend these Holy Week services will not only be served by your participation but will also serve the Church and the world by doing so since it is the public reading of the Holy Scriptures and the public prayers of the Church that make these days and this week “holy among us also” (Small Catechism, First Petition).

The reading of the Passion accounts from all four Gospels during Holy Week is a practice going back to ancient times. We continue that tradition in our parish, allowing us to hear the whole story from four perspectives. At Matins on Monday at St. John’s, we will listen to the Passion story from Matthew (26:1-27:66). At Matins on Tuesday at Trinity, we will hear the Passion story from Mark (14:1-15:47). Wednesday, we will listen to Luke (22:1-23:56) during Matins

at Our Saviour’s. On Good Friday at Trinity, we will hear John’s account (18:1-19:42). As you hear the Passion history of our Lord and meet the participants as the story unfolds, can you see yourselves in them?

This history starts on Palm Sunday when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, as long foretold. Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead. The chief priests make plans to put both men to death. Mary anoints Jesus’ body for His burial. Jesus sends two of His disciples to borrow a donkey. When questioned why they are untying the donkey, they answer as Jesus had told them: “The Lord needs them,” and true to Jesus’ word, the owner sends them away at once. They saddle the borrowed donkey with their cloaks, and Jesus sits on them. The multitude of witnesses cover the road with their cloaks. As Jesus heads into Jerusalem, the voices raise, the palms wave, and the shouts go up: “Hosanna! Lord, save us!”

What a prayer! What a cry! And how many of those same voices shouted “crucify” later in the week?

How could they, you might ask? How could they get so swept up in mob mentality they go from joyously welcoming the long-expected King to calling for His death as a traitor of the state and a blasphemer of their religion? How could you? How could you go from certainty of what you have been taught to being “tossed to and from by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” like flotsam and jetsam in the sea?

On Thursday, Jesus instructs His disciples to go into the city. They are to find a certain man and say to him, “The Teacher says, ‘My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.’” Jesus borrows the man’s upper room for the evening. Jesus washes His disciples’ feet as an example of humble service even as His disciples jostle for the highest positions in His kingdom. Jesus institutes the new covenant of His body and blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus foretells Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial.   

How could they, you might ask? How could the disciples argue about who was the greatest while their Master does the servant’s work? How could Judas betray His Friend? And Peter disown His Master? How could you? Whether on the playground, in the workplace, or at home, we’ve all sought to be recognized as the greatest. We have all betrayed Christ for far less than thirty pieces of silver. We have all denied Christ in far less intimidating situations.

Good Friday starts with words and actions that seem to be everything but “good.” Jesus is arrested in Gethsemane and ratted out by one whom He calls a friend. He’s brought to the high priest’s house before the Sanhedrin. The trial is a farce. The witnesses tell one lie after another. Herod, it seems, is more interested in the show than the truth. And Pilate, Annas, and Caiaphas, too, all prove themselves not worthy of their office of high trust. The spit, the mockery, the crown with thorns, the cruel blows, and cutting whip lashes; it’s all too much. Jesus is hung on a borrowed cross between two thieves—a cross that should bear my name or your name with the charge “Sinner” on the sign nailed to it rather than “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The afternoon sky is darker than night as the Father turns His back on His Son and pours out the righteous wrath for sin that you, I, and the world have deserved. Jesus cries out and yields up His Spirit.

A rich man from Arimathea named Joseph goes to Pilate and asks for Jesus’ body. Granted permission, Joseph takes the body, wraps it in a clean linen shroud, and lays it in His own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. Then Joseph rolls a great stone to the entrance of the borrowed tomb and goes away. The chief priests and Pharisees seal the stone and set a guard to prevent His disciples from stealing His body. They need not worry; the shell-shocked disciples hide behind closed doors for fear of the Jews.

How could they? How could you? We’ve all proven ourselves unworthy of the authority entrusted to us. We’ve all ducked away rather than face opposition for our faith. We’ve all faced circumstances where we didn’t know what to do next.

That’s the Passion story. Every year I hear it, it’s still hard to believe: the Lord of life… dead and buried. How is that glory? We need to see how this thing ends.

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

Early Sunday morning, the women who had followed Jesus make their way to the borrowed tomb, expecting to anoint Jesus’ body. Arriving at the tomb, they see that the stone has been rolled back. Entering the tomb, they see a young man dressed in a white robe, and they are alarmed. “Do not be alarmed,” he says. “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here.” The women run back to tell these things to the apostles, “but these words [seem] to them an idle tale, and they [do] not believe them.”

How could they? How could you? How could you harbor doubts when you have the eyewitness testimony recorded in God’s Holy Word?  

Palm Sunday begins Holy Week.   

The glory hour for Jesus has come. To be the Christ, He goes all the way, too, not just for those who shout “Hosanna” and those who shout “Crucify,” but also for you.

The glory of this week is this: Jesus’ hour has come for you, for Jesus goes from borrowed donkey to borrowed upper room to borrowed cross and borrowed tomb for you. You wouldn’t go this way; you couldn’t go this way. But He goes. The Christ. This is His glory—your salvation.

From the beginning, we see how this week ends. Our sin that separates us from our righteous God, our inability to climb our way to God is answered. This is why Jesus came. This is His glory. He becomes our sin to put that sin to death. He takes our sentence of death to give us life, His life, His abundant life!

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

And so we follow on, painful as it is. For first there is suffering and then comes glory. The Father loves the world so much that He sends His Son to redeem the world. The Son obeys His Father’s will perfectly—His whole life, His atoning death, His victorious resurrection, He exchanges all for our sin and disobedience. The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit, who calls us, invites us, sustains us in the faith, and gathers us together to hear the great Good News of Christ crucified and risen for a world of sinners.

Whomever you are, this week is for you. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” The hour has come for you. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Amen

This Holy Week, many will grab a palm branch and wave it. Hosannas will be sung—loud hosannas. The history of the Passion will be told. The Lord Jesus gives you a new covenant, a meal of His body and blood, to forgive your sins and strengthen your faith. Alleluias will be shouted and sung. Christ crucified and risen for the redemption of sinners will be proclaimed. And through that story, Jesus loves you. Jesus gives you life and salvation. Jesus forgives all your sins.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

This sermon draws from an article by John Bortulin, “Palm Sunday: This Week is For You” on www.1517.org.