Loving God, in expressing your love without limits, Jesus did not shrink back, even from the cross.  We give you thanks this day for the gift of his life and ask that you would help us to continue to grow in your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

    There is a big difference, it seems, between being humble and being humiliated, and yet the words are very closely related.  Both words come from the Latin root (humilis) that means low, or lowly, or base.  However, normally we would think of humility as a good quality – one that is often associated with Jesus.  He was humble and riding on a donkey (Mt. 21:5).  “He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death” (Phil. 2:8).  We think of humility as a quality that is to be emulated.

    However, humiliation is an entirely different story.  Humiliation is something that others do to you, as opposed to a quality that is within you.  Humiliation is understood by adolescents everywhere, as bullies seek to make themselves feel more powerful by bringing others down.  Humiliation is something along the lines of being tied to the flagpole in your underwear and then having the pictures show up all over social media sites.  Humiliation is never a good feeling.

    In Jesus’ case, he was humble, but he also experienced humiliation.  He was betrayed by one of his own inner circle of disciples, and left all by himself to face false charges as the others ran away.  He was spat upon, beaten, mocked, and had the hair pulled out of his beard.  He was nailed to the cross in his underwear and displayed for all to see, even as those who passed by continued to hurl insults and to mock him.  And when he was feeling as if even God had abandoned him, some offered him sour wine, while others wanted to wait and see if Elijah would come and save him.

    And so, no matter how humiliated any of us might have ever felt, Jesus absolutely knows what we feel like.  However, with Jesus, all of these attempts to humiliate him did not have their desired effect.  Most of us, if faced with even a mildly similar situation, would start to doubt our own self-worth and feel as if our whole life is worthless.  However, Jesus always and only responds in love, and never loses sight of his mission here on this earth.  It is only at the very end that he feels utterly abandoned, and even then, that is not the end of the story.

    In spite of all human attempts to humiliate Jesus, God responds by exalting him.  As in Isaiah, the intended shame and disgrace is not received, for God helps him and vindicates him (Isa. 50:7).  In fact, already in today’s Passion Narrative from Matthew, the signs of hope are there.  In spite of disciples who have run away and followers who seem to have disappeared, at the hour of Jesus’ death some of the first Gentiles come to believe.  It is a Roman centurion and some soldiers with him who witness the afternoon darkness and the death of Jesus and the earthquake.  Seeing these things, they become the first to proclaim, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” (Mt. 27:54).

    For Jesus came to share our life, and our pain, and our death, in order that we might share his life, and his healing, and his resurrection.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Sunday of the Passion / Palm Sunday                Matthew 26:14 - 27:66
April 13, 2014                            Matthew 21:1-11
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church                    Philippians 2:5-11
Pastor Lynne Hutchison                        Isaiah 50:4-9a

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