My dear friends,
When the Lord Jesus met his first disciples in the Gospel of John, he asked them the question, “what are you looking for?”, the question that everyone who has met the Lord must ask himself or herself. What is it that we are truly looking for in our lives?
Today, as we hear the passion read anew, we know the answer the crowd gave. They were looking for a king. And they got a king beyond their wildest imagination. For they were looking for a military king, a king who would dislodge the Roman Empire that held them in brutal subjugation. They were looking for one who would come with legions and might and armament and shield. That is why they gave Jesus the great privilege of being greeted with palms and cloaks strewn on the road. For that, my friends, was an honor given only to Caesar and his leggetts. For they were considered too important to have their feet touch the ground.
But the true King came for a different purpose; to enter into the city of David to show them, us, and all who would believe in Him, that He has come as the King of love. And the crowd went from adulation to crucify Him in five days.
The apostles remained with the Lord after He entered Jerusalem. But even they began to doubt. Because the Lord was willing to exchange His life for 30 pieces of silver. My friends, that was exactly what it cost to buy a single slave in the Roman Empire. But how could this King be a slave?
And so we hear that in the moment, when He was revealed in all His glory, the apostles ran and only a few women and the youngest of the Apostles remained. When the King was enthroned, not in gold, not in jewels, but His throne was made of wood, and His jewels were nails that held Him as He extended His arms upon all creation, and revealed what the love that only matters is free, self-sacrifice for the good of those around Him. In this case, for you and me. And when we come here to our blessed cathedral and we will uncover this image of the Lord crucified on the day we call good – for our sakes, not for His – we will look upon the King of all creation.
So allow me to ask us all, what are you looking for? What are you really looking for in your life? Where will you and I find the peace and the courage to face the sufferings that inevitably come for anyone who truly loves. How can you and I in the moments when we are before those for whom we can no longer help, before the mystery of suffering and pain, or when we look upon the challenges that surround us in this world, who is going to give us the hope and the peace and the joy that our hearts truly are looking for? There is no king, government, constitution, or society in this world that can give them. Only One. The One whom we welcome with the same palms in the city of our hearts.
So my dear friends, I ask you, this week, this week that is the holiest of them all, will you have the courage? Will I have the courage to walk with Jesus? To rediscover His kingship over your heart and mine? And will we rediscover the power He gives us in His resurrection so that we can love as He loved and to go forth into the world. And to love the sick and the afflicted, the immigrant and the poor, the recently incarcerated, the lonely, the anxious, the ones who are despairing. To love the ones that the world says are not worth our love. To love in a way that makes us weak and vulnerable. To love until it hurts and beyond. For if we do that, we will have a place in glory and we will have a throne made for us. And because our Lord died for us and rose for us, our thrones in the heaven to come will not be made of wood or nails, but it would be made of everlasting life.
So my friends, what are you really looking for? Let us follow the Lord. Let us go and see.