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As you know,  this Sunday is known as Palm Sunday and also, sometimes Passion Sunday... 

PALM  SUNDAY DIALOGUE   April 5, 2009

NARRATOR: (NANCY)      As you know,  this Sunday is known as Palm Sunday and also, sometimes Passion Sunday.  Today, we have chosen to focus on Palm Sunday only, since it is Communion Sunday.   When both are celebrated, there are scripture choices from both of those extremes.    I say "extremes"   because Palm Sunday is an occasion of joyful celebration when a people rejoice at the coming of the one who is going to save them from the oppression of the Romans.

 The Passion Sunday story focuses on Christ's crucifixion, and death . This year, the production of Godspell will tell that story for us.

And, of course, the days in between Palm Sunday and Easter make up the time frame we know as Holy Week.    So much happened that week.

And it all happened so fast.   It seems like only yesterday when Jesus came triumphantly into Jerusalem,  with all the people waving palm branches.     He came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey,  which he borrowed to fulfill the Hebrew scripture.   He could have walked, of course,  which he did most of the time . But Jesus was always attentive to fulfilling the prophecies.    He was a serious student of the sacred texts,  and he would have known the words of Zechariah, the prophet,  who said:

"Rejoice greatly oh daughter of Jerusalem.  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation,  gentle and riding on a donkey,  on a colt,  the foal of a donkey."

And that is why Jesus sent two of his disciples in search of just the right donkey.  He said to them:  "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden.   Untie it and bring it here.  If anyone asks you why you are untying it,  just say this:  The Lord needs it."

And, so,  when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey,  the Jewish people who were    gathered,  interpreted that to mean the fulfillment of the long awaited Messiah,  the continuation of the throne of David.

During this time,  in that city,  it was the season of Passover and there are many extra people in town.  Crowds are a concern to those in charge.

During this particular week long ago,  the crowded city is filled to overflowing with pilgrims who have come to celebrate their religious festival of Passover. Passover commemorates the Israelites release from slavery recorded in the book of Exodus.  It became Israel's freedom festival,  drawing thousands to the temple to make their sacrifice.

Hear now these words about the first Passover, as read by the High Priest Caiaphas.

SCRIPTURE READER  Exodus 12:  1-14.    (Jack)

NARRATOR:   Since it was the Passover Festival,  all the priests were pressed into service to help each family sacrifice their Passover lambs.  Managing the crowds would have been a challenge for both the Jewish authorities and the Roman authorities.

Caiaphas was the High Priest of the temple.   He was a man of far-reaching influence and power.  He ruled over all the chief priests,  the elders,  the scribes and the business community of the temple.  Caiaphas was at the very top of the power pyramid.

Maybe the best comparison we could come up with today would be the Pope and his role at the Vatican.  Everyone else in the Catholic church is accountable to the Pope,  just as all the temple officials were accountable to Caiaphas.  His word was law.

Caiaphas got his appointment to that post through his wealthy father in law,  the former high priest Annas.   Annas had given large amounts of money to certain Romans,  and since he was in a position to call in favors, he influenced the selection of the next High Priest,  his son in law,  Caiaphas.

This is not to suggest in any way that Caiaphas was weak.  In fact, he was very perceptive,  cunning,  independent and confident.

Caiaphas had a lot of power and a lot to lose.  If things got out of hand and there was any kind of religious upheaval in Israel, he could conceivably loose his great wealth and position and power,  so he was keenly interested in keeping things under control.

Jesus had showed up in Jerusalem for the Passover festival.  Caiaphas got word of what happened on Sunday...but what happened on Monday made matters much worse.  Jesus had gone into the temple area and started overturning the tables of the money changers,  and after that he wouldn't allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 

 Once again, he quoted Scripture:

   He said:  "My house will be called a house of prayer...but you have made it a den of robbers."

Caiaphas needed to make sure he could maintain his good relationship with
Rome.  There was a lot at stake.

CAIAPHAS:   I can well remember that it was my twelfth year of being High Priest that word came about that fiery preacher dressed in sackcloth and ashes.  He was calling the people to repentance.  But he said he was nothing more than a forerunner, one who had come to prepare the people.  

There's another one now...a carpenter's son out of Nazareth.  I've been keeping track of his whereabouts and he certainly has been stirring up considerable interest among the people.   I've had my scribes and Pharisees out there trying to expose him by asking him tricky questions.   So far,  their traps have never caught him.  In fact,  he has outwitted them every time.   He is a very clever fellow.

Then there is that nagging rumor about him bringing back his friend Lazarus from the dead.   Power that would raise someone from the dead would be enough trouble to cause a religious uprising,  and we've got to make sure there is no civil unrest.   I'm afraid it's not going to be long before Rome is inquiring about him.    Word has already spread quickly about the trouble he stirred up in the temple a few days ago.   This Galilean   seems to be very critical of the religion taught by our rabbis.

The last thing I need is a religious revolution to get in the way of my goals.   As the highest leader of God's chosen people,  I want to unite our divided nation.

I have tried to get the Pharisees,  the Essenes, and the Sadducees to forget their petty differences, and work together for the good of our nation.    The problem is, each one of those groups think they represent the ultimate truth,  so it is hard to make any progress.

Thankfully, the Essenes withdrew to the Dead Sea caves and ignored everybody else.   Apparently that fiery preacher John from the desert was one of them.

 My own party,  the Sadducees, control the Temple.

For a long time, the only group that really worried me was the Galilean freedom fighters.

  Then came word of the carpenter's son from Nazareth.    From what my informers have told me,  this man seems to be a new Moses or another Solomon.  Worst of all,  he has reportedly said that  through him,  the Rule of God has come to earth.    

 I smell a political upheaval in that kind of talk,  especially when the Passover crowd was calling him the Son of David and waving palm branches like they were greeting their king.

All the religious leaders in Jerusalem knew that something had to be done, and done quickly.   The other leaders were afraid to take a definite stand, and I finally told them,  it's either us or him,  if we want to save our beloved nation.

We cannot allow open rebellion in Jerusalem. That would risk the Romans coming in and destroying us all.  

I am going to send word to Pilate what needs to be done,  for the sake of all of us.

NARRATOR:   Pontius Pilate is the governor of Judea.  It is believed that Pilate underwent diplomatic training and climbed the administrative ladder in Rome until he

was assigned to be the Governor of Judea.  It wasn't the most plum assignment a diplomat might get.   He probably hopes for a better appointment one of these days,  other than being the governor of a desert wasteland far away from Rome.  So, he needs to make sure there are no more riots, especially in the Jewish quarter, lest he loose his job.

Three men converge in a crowded city that week, to fulfill their destinies.   A carpenter.  A high priest.   A governor.

As the week progresses,  they will each carry out their part in the sacred drama.    There will be a trial which really isn't a trial, and a prosecution based on trumped up charges.   Pilate will get a strange message from his wife Claudia.  And he will wash his hands symbolically, as if that will somehow keep his name from going down in infamy.

And Jesus would indeed prove to be the King of Kings.  The Lord of Lords.  The lamb.  The shepherd.  The Vine.  The Bread.

But it takes time for his disciples to understand all of that.    

On Thursday night,  they celebrate the Passover meal together.  And he tells them that one of them will betray him.   As midnight approaches,  each one protests,  ‘Surely, Lord, it is not I.'

It was at that meal that he tries again to tell his disciples who he really is.  He has already told them that he is the Light and the Way and the Truth.  

He had also said,  ‘I am the bread of life.   Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.  I have come down from heaven to do the will of the one who sent me.   I am the bread that came down from heaven.'

We know what Friday brings....his body broken,  his blood shed.   It was painful and humiliating.

And it remains something of a mystery to us that through that sacrifice,  that scene,  that sacred drama,  we are offered God's forgiveness and reconciliation.

On Friday afternoon,  when Jesus dies,  the curtain at the temple will be torn in two,  because the old covenant ended.  The new covenant begins.

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As an invitation to celebrate that ‘new covenant' today,  several of us would like to share a musical signing number based on a song written by Phillips, Craig and Dean, called Table of Grace.

            Even though the words will be projected, you are just asked to watch and listen,    as we share with you through music and movement this invitation to the Lord's Table..

The Table of Grace-You're always welcome at the table of grace.

COMMUNION LITURGY/         INVITATION all done BY Jack