Christ's Rights

 Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion/Palm Sunday in Lent

The sections listed in brackets [] are for the Extraordinary Form only
    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.].  In the United States we concentrate a lot on rights.  We talk about our rights as something to be guarded at all costs.  And some of them are very important.  Certainly at the top of the list is the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  But we also raise to the highest level lesser rights, things that are man-made laws.  Again, they may be important for a well-ordered society in some cases.  But we sometimes treat them as if they’re a sacred cow.
    Juxtaposed to this focus with rights is Christ in our readings.  All things belong to Christ.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  He created all things and sustains all things in being.  As He enters into Jerusalem, He enters into His City.  He is Son of David, entering into the City of David.  And the crowd feels it.  They sense that there is something more to Him than simply being an itinerant rabbi from Nazareth.  They wave their palms and lay their cloaks down, not unlike when David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem.  

    The Lord has the right of calling on His attendants, the angels, to wait on Him in His city.  He has the right to cast out all those who oppose Him, as He Himself referenced in a parable earlier in His ministry.  And He does cast out the money changers.  But He does not set-up His own government.  He does not expel the Romans, and call down fire from the heavens to burn them up, and James and John suggested He do when the Samaritans would not welcome Him because He and His Apostles journeyed to Jerusalem.  
    Christ has the right to confound the religious leaders of His day, who are intent on getting rid of the One they fail to acknowledge as the Messiah.  He does not give in to their traps, though He sees them, but He doesn’t demand that they profess Him as the Messiah in front of the crowds, who have some sense that Jesus could be the one for whom they have been waiting.  
    In sum, the Lord did not deem equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, He emptied Himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.  He even “humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Christ seems to give up every right that is His.  He could insist on so much, but insisted on nothing other than doing His Father’s will, no matter the cost.  His thought was not on right, but on responsibility.  
    As disciples who are supposed to pattern our life on Christ, is that the way that we live?  Do we cling to what we believe is ours, our rights, or do we humble ourselves in obedience to the Father’s will?  Are we and our desires the most important things in life, or is the Father?    Our Lord reminds us that whoever exalts himself and his desires will be humbled.  Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.  
    As we enter into this holiest of weeks, the Lord invites us to pattern our life on His, not on grasping on to our rights, but emptying ourselves in service to the Father’s will.  If we humble ourselves like Christ, then we will be exalted with Christ by the Father.  If we die with Christ, we will rise with Him in glory, [where He lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.  Amen].