29 March 2015 - lay it down

Jesus, as you enter the city we rejoice. We cry out Hosanna in the highest. We call you blessed and lay our leafy branches before you.

We hear the words of prophecy, "Fear no more, O daughter Zion; see, your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt." and we rejoice still more loudly."

Help us to rejoice even when the crowds turn away from you. When you reveal that you will not give us what we want in exactly the way we want it help us still not to turn away or rebel. You are not an earthly king. You do not come to perfect the earthly kingdoms we each build in our own lives. Once the crowds catch on to this they start to pluck your beard and assail you with buffets and spitting.

But you, Jesus, have a well trained tongue. You can help us to follow you into the city. As we walk toward Calvary we grow weary. Our initial enthusiasm quickly drains. But you yourself never rebel or turn back. You know how to keep us going, too. You know the words that will rouse us.

When the crowds take back their own garments from your path and even take your garments from you and cast lots give us the strength to lay down our very lives before you. You cleanse us and make our garments whiter than snow in baptism. In thanksgiving help us now to offer you all that we are along this path of suffering you trod.

So many abandon you LORD. So many surround you with mocking and persecution. We ourselves are not innocent. We too abandon you when we can no longer bear to endure the way of the cross. Even so, you do not turn back. You endure for our sake. You are still able to perceive the joy set before you (cf. Heb. 12:2), the joy of reconciling the world to yourself.

If we recognize that you give your life freely, that it is not taken from you (cf. Joh. 10:18), we love you more and follow you more closely. You are in the form of God but in obedience you accept even death on a cross for our sakes.

So help us to stay with you. Help us to follow you. Guide us even unto the cross with you. Somehow, amidst the suffering teach us who you truly are. 

that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those 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.

Teach us to recognize that you are the true king even as you die for us. With the good thief help us to say, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." Help us to anoint you for burial with the tears of contrition for our sins which made all of this necessary.

Help us not to deny you or abuse you or run away from your cross.

Teach us to embrace you and to kneel before you with profound silence. Our words fail to express the gratitude and love your cross inspire in us. True king, yet do you bear the cross for the sake of us all. The power of your love is perfectly displayed in this restraint of your power. May your Spirit, pouring out from your wounded side, fill us until we say:

Truly this man was the Son of God!