Worship - 29 March 2026

Summary of this week's theme

Matthew’s gospel has the longest of the Passion narratives. Jesus’ words in this gospel passage are minimal, so who are we to add to them? We are better off placing ourselves in the role of the gospel observer, because that is what Matthew does: drawing us into the role of the observers, or even into the midst of a rabble shouting in cruelty. It leaves us with many questions, of course, many of which begin with, ‘Why?’ And at this point, there is no answer. We have to wait for that. 

There’s an expression used in marketing circles called ‘bait and switch,’ whereby a customer’s attention is gained by one thing, which at the point of sale turns out not to be available, just a substitute, usually inferior. 

In a way, Palm Sunday could be perceived as a sort of ‘bait and switch.’ We start out with a procession, one with a festival atmosphere. By the end we are forced to realise that it has actually been a funeral procession. 

We find ourselves moving from waving palms to the horror of thinking about Mary watching her son die, from hearing ourselves cry ‘Hosanna!’ to hearing ourselves call out ‘Crucify him!’ 

Amidst all those unanswered ‘why’ questions, amidst this horror where Jesus is reduced to a passive object, God joins us in our suffering. When we are reduced to objects, when our pain makes us feel less than human, when we are rattling our last breath, God is with us. Our God is not a dispassionate spectator watching our weakness like a mad scientist studying rats in a box to see what we’ll do under pressure. No, this God jumps into the box with us, even into the coffin with us. In spite of our attempts to find our hope in our own mastery and agency, God has already joined us in our greatest helplessness. 

For that’s where our true hope lies: the God who is life draws near to us even in our death, so that even death cannot take our hope away from us. When we are objectified and abused, when we are suffering and dying, Jesus does not merely watch. Our God suffers silently alongside us, never abandoning us, even in death. 

This is God’s bait-and-switch. We do go from Hosanna to Crucify. But there’s a twist to come, because this turns out to be bait and switch and then switch again - and the last switch is to something beyond our wildest expectations. But we have to wait a week for that. And, meanwhile, we can walk through this week with Jesus, observing carefully - and sadly - all that takes place. All of it.