Palm Sunday Year C

Palm Sunday

Isaiah 50.4–9a
Philippians 2.5–11
Luke 23.1–49

Luke’s account of the trial and death of Jesus revolves around images of judgement, and images of truth and falsehood. At the start of the chapter, one trial – the trial conducted by the chief priests and scribes of Israel – has already taken place. It has found Jesus guilty, because the assembled judges desperately wanted him to be guilty. But they are aware that the ‘evidence’ that they have used to condemn Jesus will not stand up in a trial before Pilate. So they accuse Jesus of leading a revolt against Roman taxes – a clear lie. Just before the Last Supper, Luke shows us that the chief priests and scribes had intended to trap Jesus on just this issue (see Luke 20.19ff.), and that Jesus had avoided the trap...