In this culmination of Lent, we enter into Holy Week and we begin with Palm Sunday. For us and many sister congregations, we will celebrate with joy and process into our sanctuary as a way to remember the parade of acclaim that accompanied Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Yet, we also cannot forget (and neither could Jesus) that He was coming into this city one last time in His life. He was about to experience the worst that humanity could do. Many churches also see this day as Passion Sunday; as the first footsteps on the harrowing journey to the cross. As we follow the Narrative Lectionary’s prescribed journey through scripture, Jesus’ trial is finished in John 19. He has been handed over to be crucified, and the inscription on His cross reads “King of the Jews”. Judea’s ruler Pilate has ordered that to be so, much to the chagrin of the religious leaders who consider this blasphemy. Yet we believe it to be true. How does the horror of the cross show who Jesus really is? How do our own struggles and suffering show who we really are? Don’t skip ahead too quickly to Easter. There is something for us right here in this hard and Holy Week.

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This morning’s worship is the last Sunday of Lent before what we call Holy Week. As we journey through the Gospel of John, we have really slowed our pace. It is uncomfortable and even excruciating at times to linger on all these details of Jesus’ journey to the cross, but we believe that in His struggles, we find guidance and solidarity for our own. So as Jesus continues to stand trial this morning before Pilate, perhaps we can ask what we do when we feel put on trial; put to the test; questioned about the core of who we claim to be? Is our response fight or flight or something else entirely? What might it look like to truly surrender to God in these struggles?

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Jesus is the truth about God. Perhaps, it has happened throughout history. But in the world of 2022 and the years leading up to now, it seems as if no two people can concur with what is truth and what is not truth.  It’s confusing and exhausting. So, why is it important to ask the question, “What is truth?” 

We, like Peter, do and will again turn our backs on Jesus.  God, however, does not walk away from us. Jesus tells Peter that a time will come when Peter will deny that he knows Jesus. “Jesus who?” Peter, of course, can’t believe that he would ever deny Jesus. Search your memory and your heart and think of a time when your response could have easily been “Jesus who?” 

Jesus chooses to exercise his power with an extraordinary demonstration of love and humility. Who comes to mind when you think of the word “power.” Does this say anything about how you perceive power? Who are the people who hold power in the world, and how did they become powerful?  For the disciples, Jesus was their leader, a powerful person in their eyes. Yet, Jesus grabs a basin of water, a towel, and makes his rounds to wash the feet of the disciples.   What is Jesus’s perception of power and why is he so interested in feet?   

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