Today, on Palm Sunday, we remember the day Jesus entered Jerusalem, and it marks the beginning of Holy Week. The difficulty, from a preaching standpoint, is that an enormous amount happened during that week. If you were willing to come and listen to me preach every day during Holy Week—and if I were willing to preach every day, we just might be able to do justice to the material. As it is, we skip over a great deal. One Sunday, Jesus is coming into Jerusalem to the shouts and praises of the people. The next Sunday, we come and celebrate Easter, the day Jesus arose from the grave. In between, so much takes place. During that week, Jesus overturned the moneychangers’ tables in the temple; he celebrated he Last Supper with his disciples and washed their feet; Jesus prayed in the garden; Judas betrayed Jesus; Jesus was arrested and tried, Peter denied Jesus; Judas hung himself, and Jesus was crucified and buried. Then, on Easter morning, Jesus arose from the grave. Since I tend to follow the church calendar in my preaching, deciding what to include is a dilemma. Regardless of what I choose to cover, there is so much I leave out. That’s one reason I hope you are taking the time to keep reading your Bible regularly. What you hear on Sunday morning in a sermon is such a small part of what there is to know. All my life I’ve been in Sunday School and church and Bible studies; I’ve gone to seminary and then started preaching, and it seems like the more I study the more I realize how much I still have to learn. Don’t ever stop learning! So this morning I have chosen to take a giant step from the scripture passage which was read earlier in the service telling of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem—the traditional Palm Sunday passage, past all the events of Holy Week, and move to the moment when, after great suffering on the cross, Jesus died. Matthew tells us what happened at the moment of Jesus’ death and shortly after. Matthew 27:50-66 50And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. 54When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!" 55Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. 57As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. 62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first." 65"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. When Jesus died, there were witnesses and reactions. The first witness was God. It’s not often that God expresses himself through the earth’s atmosphere, but when Jesus died, God reacted in ways that were visible to everyone. Already, the sky had grown very dark before nightfall. Then, when Jesus took his last breath, the earth shook and the rocks cracked, and even the tombs broke open. This short statement about the tombs breaking open and the bodies of holy people being raised to life and appearing to many people is the only reference we have to this event. Who these people were or what happened to them, we do not know. What we can take from it is that something very different was happening in the world with the death of Jesus. This was not an ordinary event. For anyone who was watching, it was clear that something far beyond the ordinary was happening. That’s why the Roman centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus were terrified, and the centurion, who had watched the crucifixion of Jesus said, "Surely he was the Son of God!" None of them witnessed, however, the most amazing sign, which was the action of God in the temple. At the moment of Jesus’ death, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The most important part of the temple was the Holy of Holies, which was the dwelling place of God. The temple consisted of various courts, where only certain people were allowed. Gentiles were allowed only in the outer court—it was, after all, the Jewish temple. The first inner court was the Court of the Women, where all Jews, men and women—but not Gentiles, were allowed. The Court of the Israelites was open to all ritually pure Jewish men—not women. But the Holy of Holies was open to no one at all, except for the high priest who would very carefully enter the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement to make atonement for the sins of the people. When Jesus breathed his last breath, God, in a mighty action, split the temple curtain from top to bottom. That it split from top to bottom signified that no human action could have done such a thing. The temple curtain, or veil, was torn apart by God himself. In this action of tearing the curtain, God expressed his anger against the Jewish authorities who had rejected his Son. In this action, God ended the sacrifices and the priesthood that the Jews had depended upon for their salvation. By his death on the cross, Jesus became the sacrifice for the sins of all humanity. No longer would God dwell behind a curtain, separated from the people. Now, God was fully accessible to everyone, through his Son, Jesus. No longer was there a difference between Jews and Gentiles; between men and women; between priests and lay people. In God’s sight, everyone was equal. The death of Jesus makes possible the priesthood of all believers. All of us are now free to come into God’s holy presence by the blood of Jesus, which cleanses us from all sin and invites us into fellowship with God. That is what it means that God split the curtain apart when his Son, Jesus, died on the cross. Through Jesus, we have direct access to God. We don’t need a priest; we don’t need to offer sacrifices; we don’t need to do special works in order to receive God’s forgiveness. Jesus is our sacrifice and he is our priest. Through him we have access to God. It is significant that Matthew tells us about the women who were there watching. Women played an important part in Jesus’ ministry, and these faithful women were with him until the end. Most likely the reason Matthew included this information was that Jesus related to women in a way that was unusual in that time. His inclusion of women showed that God’s love was for everyone—women, men, children, Jews, Gentiles, rich and poor, the lame, the sick and the blind—there were no separate categories that made certain people superior or inferior. The last part of this passage tells about the burial of Jesus. A man named Joseph came and took care of the body of Jesus. Probably Jesus’ disciples would have been afraid to ask for Jesus’ body, but they must have been relieved that someone came forward to take care of the situation. Joseph was from the Jewish town of Arimathea, he was rich, he was a member of the council, and he was a good and righteous man who was respected. He had not consented to the crucifixion, but he had also kept quiet the fact that he believed in Jesus. Now, he came to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was probably more than glad to have the matter taken care of, because the Jews did not want bodies left hanging on crosses after sundown, when the Sabbath began. Joseph took the body and placed it in his own tomb. As he did this, the women watched to see where Jesus was buried. Pilate probably thought he was finally done with Jesus, but not quite yet. The very next morning after Jesus was crucified, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate with a concern. They told Pilate that Jesus had said, 'After three days I will rise again.' They recommended that Pilate give an order for the tomb to be made secure. They were concerned that Jesus’ disciples might come and steal the body and tell the people that he had been raised from the dead. So Pilate commanded that a guard be sent to make the tomb as secure as possible. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone posted guards. Why were all these details so important? Jesus’ death and resurrection is essential to our Christian faith. The gospel writers understood this, and they wanted to include some of the facts that helped them and others understand the reality of what had happened. That Jesus entered human history as an infant, grew up and lived and taught among his people, was crucified and buried was something they saw with their own eyes. And even for them, the resurrection was not all that easy to grasp. It was a God-sized event. So they wanted to record the facts, both for believers of their time and for all those to come in the future. When we read the gospel accounts, these details help us really take part in what happened, and see how the first Christians came to understand the meaning of salvation through Jesus Christ. Those early believers had to weigh the evidence and decide what to believe about Jesus. In the same way, each one of us needs to examine the evidence carefully so we can be convinced in our own minds and hearts that Jesus truly died on the cross and was raised to life on the third day and lives in heaven today. God loves each one of you. That’s why Jesus died. He did it for you and for me, because he loves us. When Jesus died, the curtain separating us from the holiness of God the Father was destroyed. Jesus invites us to be forgiven of all our sins. It’s not because we deserve it, but because of his sacrifice on the cross for us. He wants to cleanse us from our sins and bring us into the holy presence of God. If you know him as your Lord and Savior, rejoice in your salvation. What a wonderful gift we have received from our God and our King. If you don’t know him, I invite you today to pray and invite Jesus into your heart. He loves you with an infinite love. Prayer: Jesus, we are so humbled by all that you have done for us. Most of all, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins, and for rising on the third day triumphant over sin and death. Lord, if there are those here who do not know you as Lord and Savior, I pray that the Holy Spirit would simply overwhelm them with the need to come to you. Draw them to yourself. You are the Way and the Truth and the Life. We come to you, drawn by your love for us. Amen