Sermon
Palm/Passion Weekend
March 15 and 16, 2008
Psalm 31 and Philippians 2:5-11
During this Lenten season,
we have been talking about prayer.
On the weekends,
particularly looking at the Psalms.
Remember a couple weeks ago,
I suggested a breath prayer.
Do you remember the words?
“Not my will, but thine be done.”
For this week,
I have another phrase for you to use
as a breath prayer.
“Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
As you breathe in: “Into your hands…”
As you breathe out: “I commit my spirit.”
Does those words sound familiar?
Jesus.
On the cross.
As he was nearing death.
He said:
“Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.”
He says them on the cross,
but I think Jesus has been living them all along.
Through the good times and the bad.
Through the Palm Sunday parade
and the betrayal, suffering and death.
Through it all,
Jesus says:
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
He’s saying:
“Father, I trust you.
Father, I turn my life over to you.
Father, I will do what you want,
even though it’s hard.
Even though I’d rather have this cup taken from me.
Father God, you’re in charge.
Lead me to do what you want me to do.
Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
As you breathe in say: “Into your hands…”
As you breathe out say: “I commit my spirit.”
Jesus didn’t make up those words.
Do you know where they’re from?
They’re from Psalm 31.
Actually, Jesus adds the address—the word “Father”.
But he’s quoting a Psalm.
It’s not the only time he quotes a Psalm
while he’s on the cross.
When he says: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”,
he’s quoting from Psalm 22.
The Hebrew Scriptures,
the word of God,
were so close to Jesus’ heart,
that in his time of pain, near death,
he turns to those words
to express his feeling, his pain,
his commitment to follow.
Some think that Psalm 31
might have been taught as a bedtime prayer.
When I was a kid,
we’d often say “Now I lay me down to sleep…”
Perhaps when Jesus was young,
he was taught to say,
before he went to sleep….
“Into your hands I commit my Spirit.”
And now Jesus was closing his eyes
for the sleep of death.
And he said those words again.
“Father, into your hands…”
And Jesus died,
like a child falling asleep,
resting in his father’s arms.
In life and in death,
Jesus lived the words:
“Father, into your hands, I commit my Spirit.”
Our mission statement begins with the words:
Following Christ.
As we follow,
we will probably not have Palm Sunday parades,
or the Good Friday cross.
Most of the time following Christ
doesn’t lead us into such extreme situations.
But there are times everyday
in our lives together
when we can be guided
by thinking and saying:
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
At home.
At work.
At school.
At church.
With friends
and coworkers
and others at church
and family members.
If we truly live our lives saying:
“Into your hands I commit my spirit”,
it’s going to make a difference.
And yet,
we’re going to fall short.
We’re going to mess up.
And we continue to need a Savior.
And that’s why Jesus came.
To live and to die for you and for me.
So that, even in our failure,
we know God’s never ending love.
We don’t fully understand
why Jesus needed to die on the cross.
But we know that in his life and death,
he reconciles us with God.
He draws us close.
He welcomes us in.
He gives us forgiveness.
He gives us life.
And then he sends us out
to follow.
To serve.
Did you hear the words of our reading from Philippians?
Would you read verses 5 through 8 with me?
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
--even death on the cross.
Jesus had all power.
And yet, he humbled himself.
Emptied himself.
Became like a slave.
And died on a cross.
He didn’t exploit his power,
but gave himself up.
For you and for me.
And what are the first words in that reading:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…
That’s how we follow Christ,
by being like that.
Humble.
Not insisting on our own way,
but living instead for one another.
Giving for one another.
Sacrificing for one another.
Do you know why Paul included these words
in his letter to the Philippians?
Professor Walter Taylor says that:
“One of Paul’s major concerns
is the lack of unity in the congregation.
And so in the introduction to our passage
he calls on the Philippians to be of the same mind
and have the same love,
doing nothing from selfish ambition
but looking to the interests of others.
Paul’s chief example of how to love is Christ Jesus,
who, being in the form of God…”
Listen to those words again,
directly from the letter to the Philippians,
beginning with verse 3:
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.
Let each of you look not to your own interests,
but to the interests of others.
And then into our passage…
Let the same mind be in you
that was in Christ Jesus…
As you breathe in, pray: Into your hands.
As you breathe out, pray: I commit my spirit.
And we still fall short.
And that’s why we need a Savior.
I heard a speaker say some words about sin
that could be my words, too.
He said:
If you knew me as I know me,
you wouldn’t sit there and listen to me right now.
But then he continued:
But before you get up and leave,
may I remind you
that if I knew you as you know you,
I wouldn’t talk to you right now.
We are all sinners,
through and through.
We all sin and fall short of the glory of God.
Again and again.
And that’s why Jesus died.
Now, what would you expect God’s response would be
to all this sin.
I wouldn’t be surprised by a response of anger,
or revenge,
or condemnation.
And such a response would be appropriate.
But the God who has the perfect right to condemn you
is the one with the passionate desire to save you.
The God with the perfect right to condemn you
is the one with a passionate desire to save you.
God loves you so much,
that our sin cannot change that.
Our failure cannot change that.
Our self-absorption cannot change that.
Our struggle to love one another cannot change that.
Our return to sin again and again cannot change that.
Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
And because of that love,
Jesus went from the parade of Palm Sunday
to the cross of Good Friday—
--for you.
For you.
In response to that amazing,
never-ending love—
--it’s my prayer that we might live each day saying and praying:
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
