March 29, 2026 - Palm/Passion Sunday: The Story About Us

March 29, 2026 Palm/Passion Sunday
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Matthew 21:1-11Matthew 26:14-35
“A Story About Us”
Melissa K. Smith

Palm/Passion Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week and the sign that the season of Lent is ending. As we end one season, another begins and in a week’s time we will be in the season of Eastertide – a season of hope, of resurrection, of praise.

Another season began this last week…baseball season! On Thursday both the Cardinals and Dodgers opened their ball parks and are ready for action.

Imagine something with me. Imagine it’s the end of the season and the Cardinals have made it to the playoffs. You are decked out in red, you’ve got your favorite jersey on (of course you can still rep an Ozzy Smith jersey – there is no limit to his greatness), you’re excited and you are all in. You get to Busch Stadium early, you watch warmups, you cheer as the Cardinals run onto the field. At the beginning of the game, the energy is high, the excitement is palpable, and you’re ready. You hope for and expect a win – home field advantage, the fans cheering the team on – how could anything go wrong?

And then the game begins and around the fourth or fifth inning it starts to take a turn that you did not expect. The Cardinals can’t figure out their defense, the pitching is not consistent, and there is no run support. You start to get anxious, it’s getting hard to watch. So you turn away.

At first you start looking at your phone more, then suddenly the long line at the bathrooms or food stands don’t seem so bad. The game continues to not go your way and you find yourself slowly checking out and losing interest.

Or maybe you’re the fan who says “I will never leave – I am loyal no matter what!” But it’s the eighth inning and you’re down by five runs – not even a Grand Slam can solve your run problem. And you find yourself coming up with an excuse to leave – it’s not that you don’t love the Cardinals…you just have an early morning tomorrow or traffic will be awful, right?

Whether it’s the Cardinals or the Dodgers, whether it's baseball or our faith – we’ve all been there. We have cheered, we have drifted, and we have made promises that we are not able to keep.

We see this reality so clearly in the Palm/Passion narrative. Because this reality is not new – it’s the story about us, a story that has been true about us throughout human history.

The Triumphal Entry, Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey with shouts of “Hosana”, is an exciting, thrilling story. It’s always so special to watch the children process in, to wave our palm fronds, and to join in the tradition of shouting Hosana. But then we read the story and we cast our eyes toward the rest of the week to come. How could cheers of praise and shouting “Hosana, God save us” lead to the eventual cries of “crucify, crucify”?

The crowd welcomes Jesus in as a king. The way he was welcomed into the city signifies that the crowd is viewing Jesus as a conquering hero or king. He is the one who came to save. But their expectations of how he would save don’t quite match the ways Jesus actually saves. The crowd was expecting a king who will liberate them from Rome. They have been under the oppressive Roman occupation and are longing for liberation. And Jesus did come to save – but in a different way. He came to save Israel and the world from sin and death by experiencing death.

The crowd is like a character in the Gospel of Matthew. Earlier in his gospel, the crowd admires Jesus. They gather for healing and teaching and are astonished at his authority – but admiration is not the same as commitment to Jesus. Perhaps we are like the crowd – we appreciate Jesus’ words, we agree with parts of his teachings, we go to him when we need something like healing, but we stop short of real change and commitment to him.

And perhaps we are like the crowd after they welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. When the crowd realized that Jesus was not going to start a revolution, their cries of joy and excitement turned to cries of accusation and sentencing. Perhaps we too are like this when we are enthusiastic about our faith up until it becomes costly or confusing. And maybe we have turned away when reality does not match our expectations.

Five chapters later, we see Judas’ scheme to betray Jesus just before the Passover, Last Supper, is celebrated. Throughout Matthew’s depiction of Judas, we see that Judas is increasingly detached from Jesus. The disciples call Jesus “Lord,” but Judas calls him “Rabbi” and Judas acts like a disciple on the outside, but not inwardly. While the disciples are listening to Jesus and learning, Judas is listening to Jesus and plotting. Judas is motivated by greed and makes a series of choices throughout his discipleship journey that separate him from Christ.

The Gospels invite us to hold up a mirror and ask the question the disciples asked when Jesus said he would be betrayed, “Is it me?” Faith begins with honest examination.

But honest examination does mean the possibility that the person looking back at us in the mirror resembles Judas from time to time. Judas was outwardly close to Jesus but inwardly was distant. It’s possible to be around faith, the church, and community and yet still keep a part of ourselves guarded and not open to Christ. Judas chose self-interest over truth. He asks “what will you give me?” showing that he was willing to bend the truth for personal gain and played the bartering game of “what does this cost me?” We may not betray God in a dramatic way, but we do when we negotiate with our values and choose self-interest over Christ. Perhaps we misunderstand Jesus – Judas wanted a teacher, not a king and he was open to guidance but not Christ’s authority.

We do something similar when we accept only parts of truth that we like and when we resist the parts of Jesus that challenge us.

When we say “we are like Judas” we are not saying that we are the ultimate betrayer. What we are saying is that we, like Judas, might not be open to the transforming witness of the Gospel, we may pervert it for our own gain, and we may hold Christ at a distance as we subtly deny his authority.

After the Passover meal, Jesus said, “You all will fall away because of me this night…” Peter is quick to jump in and say “I will never fall away!” But he does. During Christ’s passion, Peter denies Jesus three times. He does fall away. Throughout the Gospels Peter is portrayed as brash and confident. He is ready to make sweeping statements about his faith, but in practice he shies away and hesitates, ultimately denying Christ and falling away.

We too can make big proclamations about our faith – we can be confident in the faith we have cultivated our whole lives and claim that we would never deny Christ. But then life happens and our large statements are tested. It’s not that Peter was lying. He meant every word he said. But he was not able to live up to the faith he believed he had. We too can be like Peter. We promise more than we can keep – our intentions are real but so are our failures.

We are the crowd.
We are Judas.
We are Peter.

The Palm/Passion narrative is a sobering story about us. We have cheered, we have drifted, and we have made promises that we are not able to keep.

That’s our story – one that we need to take seriously and recognize in our spiritual journeys as we venture toward the cross. But God’s story is bigger than ours. God’s story – which takes place in and through our story – is the story of Jesus staying. The crowds betrayed Jesus, yet he still entered the city. He rode the donkey toward his death – towards his saving death. Judas betrayed Jesus. And yet Jesus still sat at the table with him and broke bread with him. He shared communion with him. Peter denies Jesus. Yet Jesus still willingly offers himself on our behalf and forgives Peter.

Jesus is faithful even when we are not.
Jesus still chooses us.

Palm/Passion is a story about us and a story about a savior who meets us in every part of it. As we enter into Holy Week, may we be deliberate and honest in our self-examinations so that our faith can begin, can continue, and can be sustained through the story of the Triune God who loves us, stays with us, and saves us.
 
This is a story we must know deep in our bones. If we know God’s story, it will breathe life into our own. God’s story invites us into life, into salvation, into hope. Let us enter into this story about us and about God this week as we turn our eyes upon the cross and consider the sacrifice our Lord made for us.

Thanks be to God.
 
Amen.