Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Mark 11:1-11

Palm Sunday has a long history.  Its roots reach back to the Sunday when Jesus walked triumphantly into Jerusalem and the crowds crushed in around him with excitement.  The people were in a festive, celebrative mood and they focused much of that energy on Jesus.  He had become a popular teacher.  
           
When Jesus entered Jerusalem on what has become known as the first Palm Sunday, the mixture of responses became polarized.  The general population seemed to flock to him and hail him as their friend and savior.  Those in the mainstream of the religious establishment saw him as foe and anarchist.  Jesus' disciples perceived this polarity before he went to Jerusalem although they had been so obtuse to much that he had said in their presence.  Some of them urged him not to go to Jerusalem.  They were convinced that it would be suicide to go to Jerusalem, but Jesus would not be dissuaded.  The Gospel accounts of Jesus' arrival in the city clearly portray what a day and week of conflict this was.  
           
This week continues to represent the dramatic conflict in the responses of people to the presence of God demonstrated in the life of Jesus.  While the day and the week began in revelry and celebration, it ended in denial, betrayal, and crucifixion.  Selfishness which is unmitigated pride was at the root of this destructive response and reaction to Jesus.  It was sin that crucified Jesus then and it is the sin that crucifies the presence of God in the world today.  In a sense all sins are branches of selfishness.  
    
The point where we step over the line from a healthy self esteem and into selfishness is when we think and act as if we know better than God.  This approach is an old solution people have taken toward situations in life.  This approach is as old as the story of Adam and Eve at the beginning of the human enterprise.   

The height of selfishness is depicted in the term the self‑made person.  The primary problem with the self‑made people is they worship their creators.  We want to be as gods.  We are anxious about what is going to happen.  We are not confident that God has our best interests in mind and out of our anxiety we decide to go it alone on our own.  The result is that we develop an idolatry of ourselves.  All of life is viewed revolving around us.  We establish a new universe with ourselves at the center.  One person has observed that people wrapped in themselves make very small packages.
           
A variety of characteristics demonstrate selfishness.  Selfishness most often is understood as the attitude that a person wants things only for himself.  While that is true, selfishness is not limited to materialism or the collecting of possessions.  Selfishness also is revealed when a person wants to call attention to herself or seeks to gain the attention of others.  This spirit of vanity is probably best described in that line of a song by Carly Simon many years ago.  The song is about her boyfriend and the main line is:  "You're so vain; you probably think this song is about you."  Other characteristics of selfishness include the need to win arguments, forcing others to admit their mistakes usually over and over again, being certain of who is right and who is wrong, and expressing a false humility like saying, "Oh, it was nothing."
           
These and other characteristics of selfishness which we might identify clearly portray that selfishness is both blind and cold.  Selfishness is blind to its own presence.  It is cold because it is lonely at the top.  The effort of selfishness is to have something all to oneself which includes attention or a singular accomplishment.  Often the result of our selfishness is to point out to others our uniqueness.  We may even enjoy emphasizing for others the uniqueness of our suffering or hardship.  Such an approach moves us toward aloneness.  The theme song of the selfish person is "I did it my way." 
           
All of this discussion about selfishness is contrary to and a contrast of the sharp demands of discipleship that Jesus gave.   The Gospels record that Jesus identified three demands of his disciples: self‑denial, daily cross bearing, and followship.  All three of these raise questions and concerns for those who would seek to be disciples. 
           
Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me he must deny himself." The word “deny” is sharp and clear and demands our attention.  Often there has been confusion of denying self with denying things to oneself.  Yet, this approach may be only selfishness expressed to a higher degree.  A person may deny himself certain luxuries such as new clothes or a new car so he can have more of his money invested to earn a higher yield.  This is hardly the denial of self that Jesus was requiring.  We may deny certain things to ourselves and induce a type of self‑assertion by applauding our self‑control.  Then we make ourselves into spiritual Little Jack Horners whispering, "What a good person am I!"
           
What Jesus was suggesting in calling for self‑denial was for us to direct our lives toward God.  We are to make ourselves a means rather than an end in the realm of God.  When we are clamoring for attention or when our motivation for what we have done is to draw some recognition for ourselves, then we have become the end or purpose of our efforts.  Jesus said of the Pharisees who did things to be seen of others that they received their reward immediately. They were seen of others. 
           
To deny ourselves in response to Jesus' invitation to discipleship requires that we pay in advance.  It requires that we give ourselves to the task of following Christ without knowing what, if any, benefit or payoff there will be.  This approach is so different from what culture tells us.  Our culture says buy now and pay later.  Otherwise our standard of living will be reduced.  And no self wants that! 
           
We want to do that with discipleship, buy now and pay later.  We want to see if we are going to like discipleship before we commit to it.  We want to know what is in it for us. The best answer to that concern is to look to Jesus.  What was in it for him was a cross.   That was his next statement about discipleship.  We are to deny ourselves and take up our crosses daily.  Self‑denial is not self‑abnegation but a choice we make to direct our lives toward God and commit ourselves to that relationship regardless of what the odds are or the sacrifices we have to make to remain faithful to that commitment.
           
Matthew, Mark, and Luke record Jesus' instruction for self‑denial, cross‑bearing, and followship.  However, only Luke (9:22‑27) adds the word daily to cross‑bearing.  That addition takes the cross out of the past and places it squarely in the midst of contemporary living.  It also reminds us that discipleship calls for a daily renewal of our commitment and covenant as followers of Christ.  Daily we are to offer ourselves to the direction and instruction of God. 
           
Cross‑bearing is a daily, conscious, voluntary act.  Many erroneous claims have been made about cross‑bearing because people have mistakenly identified some burden or difficulty in life as a cross to bear.  Nothing is further from the truth.  A burden or difficulty comes to us and is forced upon us.  It may be a disease, a disability, prejudice, or injustice.  We have no choice in the matter.  It is a part of what is dealt to us by life.  There is nothing about bearing a cross in any of it because it is involuntary.    
Cross‑bearing is a conscious, voluntary decision to take up something we are under no compulsion to take up except the compulsion of love for God and for fellow human beings.  Cross‑bearing involves taking upon ourselves the struggles of another although we could have avoided and evaded the struggle.  Cross‑bearing may get us destroyed but it will be the result of what others do to us rather than what we do to ourselves.  It is more likely that we will destroy ourselves because of selfishness which is a self‑inflicted wound. We are called to selfless rather than selfish living.   
           
The polarized reaction to Jesus is clearly illustrated in the Gospel accounts of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday.  As Jesus entered the city the crowds gathered and cheered him on.  Jesus went to the Temple later in the day and confronted the religious establishment because they were making worship extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the average person.  That solidified the religious leaders against him.  Although he had been a champion of the common people, when Jesus went on trial and did not begin to act like they expected their hero to act, even many of the common people turned on him and joined in the call for his crucifixion.  Their selfishness blinded them.  When Jesus would not be what they wanted him to be, they did not want him.   
           
Judas is the biblical character who illustrates the ultimate destructiveness of selfishness.  Jesus chose Judas as an apostle because he saw in him the potential gifts to be the kind of servant that he wanted and needed.  Judas heard and saw in Jesus the hope he had for Israel.  At least partially Judas saw and heard in Jesus what he wanted to see and hear.  That has happened to all of us on more occasions that we wish to enumerate. 
           
Judas was a Zealot which meant he had aligned himself with a party of people who had a strong zeal to rid Israel of the Roman occupation forces and Roman dominion of the land.  Judas perceived Jesus to be the leader who could bring about the freedom that he desired.  Judas was a devoutly religious man who wanted his people to be free and was willing to give himself to the cause that was necessary to bring about such freedom.  Judas accepted Jesus' invitation to become a follower and learner of his. 
           
Judas wanted a strong military leader who would overthrow the Roman rule in Jerusalem and all of Israel.  After being with Jesus for nearly three years and not seeing events develop in the direction that he thought they ought to be going, Judas decided to take matters into his own hands by forcing the issue with Jesus.  The way he did that was to betray Jesus by turning him over to his opposition.  He had heard Jesus' stinging indictments of the scribes and Pharisees.  Judas concluded that if Jesus were put in a corner with them he would have to come out swinging.  Judas wanted something done, he wanted it done right away, and he wanted it done his way.  What he wanted done was a cause that would benefit all of his people and not just himself.  Yet, what he desired was selfish because he concluded how the cause had to be accomplished. 
           
Because Judas was so wrapped up in his own agenda he was blind to any possibilities for Jesus except what he, Judas, had concluded in his mind would be Jesus' action.  Judas had never imagined that Jesus would be crucified.  He was convinced that Jesus would be victorious in ridding Israel of Roman rule.   Selfishness is blind and Judas is an example of the totality of the blindness that selfishness inflicts.  When Judas realized that Jesus was not going to fight back after his arrest and trial, Judas committed suicide.  He attempted to handle everything completely by himself.  That is true of suicide victims today.  Any variety of pressures and problems may precipitate in a person committing suicide.  Beneath it all the person's perception is that there are no resources and no people to help.  She concludes she must handle the situation completely and only by herself.  In that sense she is blind to any alternatives other than her own solution. 
           
Whether it is the first Palm Sunday or this Palm Sunday, or any other day, selfishness destroys.  Selfishness comes early and stays late in our lives.  It blinds us to any way of doing things except our way.  We quickly and smugly conclude what Jesus was like and what he expects of us. We refuse to reexamine his call to discipleship.  We continue to live selfish rather than selfless lives.  We put people on crosses rather than bear crosses.  We are more like Judas than we are like Jesus.  This makes Palm Sunday have a strange, eerie, disturbing, and foreboding mood to it.  If we give the slightest consideration to our self system, epitomized by Palm Sunday, we are forced, blinded as we are by our selfishness, to be confronted by what blinds us, our selfishness.
    
Will we hear, will we see, will we receive the grace that Judas would not?  Our selfishness has destroyed enough.  It need not destroy any others.  If we do not offer our selfishness to God for cleansing and forgiveness, then we will continue our destructive patterns.  If we stay in those patterns long enough we will continue to destroy the meaning and message of Jesus’ life, destroy others, and eventually destroy ourselves.  Now is the time for us to begin being more like Jesus and less like Judas.  The decision is yours and mine.  Will we let the love of God heal the blindness caused by our selfishness?  Will we invite God to turn our selfish system into a selfless system?  Well, will we?