Palm Sunday C Irresistible Theology


 Palm Sunday C Irresistible Theology
March 19, 1989
By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell


The world seems to be caught up in a deadly argument. The greater the commitment to an idea, a cause, or a person; the greater the intensity of energy and power that gets mustered for battle.  A simple appeal for support becomes buglers call to make war.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he was in Rome… in prison. Reports had come to him that two women had quarreled in the church at Philippi. Their argument was endangering the peace. His letter is an appeal to maintain the unity of the church.

Not even the healthiest church is immune from the danger of evil’s energy unleashed. If the devil had his way, he would destroy all meaningful and nurturing relationships.

In writing to the church at Philippi, Paul identifies three great agents of disunity:

  • There is selfish ambition. Those who instead of trying to advance the work… advance themselves.
  • There is the desire for personal prestige. The desire to focus people’s eyes on ourselves, rather than on God.
  • There is concentration on self. Concentration on self inevitably means elimination of others and the object of life becomes not to help others… but to put them down. 

The tragic events of Passion Week give these agents of disunity names; Pharisees, Judas, Peter, Pilot, Herod, the fickle crowd; people just like you and me… made up to look like citizens of the day.

What does Paul say in the face of these agents of disunity? In reality… he says nothing… he simply points to the cross upon which Jesus – the almighty God of all things – sacrificed His life in the ultimate statement of love. To Paul the deed of the cross becomes the world’s most irresistible theology. What argument, in all the world, would stand against a man dying to love us?

To Paul, when he looked at the cross of Jesus, all arguments about God’s intent, would be silenced and every knee would bow.

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