Palm Sunday: Triumph, Prophecy and Tragedy

Much of the Christian world observed Palm Sunday yesterday, which involved reenacting the emotionally wrenching Passion story, which outlines the events leading to Jesus’  crucifixion.  There are several parts to the story.  The first is the triumphal entry:  Jesus is welcomed into the city of Jerusalem;  palms are strewn and hosannas are declared.  They carry with them a high level of hope and expectation — that Jesus would come into the city, the Roman oppressors would be thrown out, and David’s royal line would be reestablished.

The third part of the story begins with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood ashe prepares for his death.  This is followed by his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. The transition from the first part to the third part leaves people – or it least has left me, with emotional and spiritual whiplash. How did we get from triumph to tragedy so quickly?

There is a second part of the story, not told in the Passion narrative, but needs to be addressed to fully understand how various dynamics were being played out.  After entering the city, Jesus hung around, which was unusual.  Would be messiahs were a dime a dozen every year at Passover.  The Roman and religious authorities were normally prepared for it.  Someone would ride in, get their fifteen minutes of fame, and then would be seized and roughed up a bit – and thrown  out of the city or into prison, with the admonishment not to do it again.  And that would be that.

But Jesus didn’t just hang around.  He went to the temple to teach, and when he saw corruption, he turned over the tables of the money changers.  His was a public act, which now meant that the authorities couldn’t just quietly usher him out of town.  They needed to do something just as public.  So they staged a sham trial, and a cruel crucifixion.

We aren’t the only ones to experience emotional whiplash in the story.  Those who were present that week experienced it as well.  The same crowd who cheered Jesus into the city were the ones who called for his head when he appeared before Pilate.  “Crucify him”, the demanded.  Because he didn’t deliver on their outsized expectations.

Crowds can be like that.  And we can as well – especially when have tables turned over, leaving us disoriented, confused and angry.  And especially when our expectations are not met.  Tables are turning over in our world faster than we can put them back up again:  there’s climate crisis, covid, Ukraine, polarization, more stockpiling of guns and shootings and suicides.  And that is just the list we have in common.  We each have our own overturned table stories of loss and disappointment and unrealized expectations.

And there are forces and voices all around telling us to be angry, to curse at the crusaders –those who are not living up to our expectations, or are threatening to dismiss our expectations.

Jesus wasn’t swayed by the adulation, nor was he cowed by Pilate.  He held to his commitment, and faithfully lived out the story – all of which he predicted.

It is an ugly story; a scary story.  For the authorities and for the crowd the story was about winning and losing, which often turns ugly.    Theirs was a zero-sum game, which is how much of the way the world works – and has worked.

And Jesus wouldn’t have it.  He gave up his life. He faced violence with love.  He had what it takes to lose – so that everybody could eventually win new life.  As Jesus is reported to have said earlier, “anyone who saves his life will lose it; and anyone who loses his life for my sake will save it. “  (Matthew 16:25)  He is out to win new life – not just for some, but for everyone.   It is necessary to give up some comfort, certainty and protection – which are really an illusion, because they are not abiding, and are often arrived at at someone else’s expense.

To give them up for true freedom, deeper faith and honest vulnerability, which can open us up to the glory of abundant life.

It is a hard road of losing to get there.  But that is the path Jesus took.  And invites others to follow.

 

 

Recent Posts

Intellectual Scrutiny vs. Religious Expression

Intellectual Scrutiny vs. Religious Expression

“While in college, his Jesuit formation did not stand up to intellectual scrutiny.”  So said the introduction to my college’s new president in the Alumni magazine published several decades ago.  Intellectual rigor won out over religious expression.  Again. By the time...

Survival of the Fittest and Silicon Valley Bank

Survival of the Fittest and Silicon Valley Bank

Survival of the fittest is an adage that has long been planted in our psyches.  The phrase emerged as a terse summary of Charles Darwin's findings that the strongest and fittest of a species have the best chance of passing their genes on to the next generation.  The...

The World As it Is vs. the World As it Should Be

The World As it Is vs. the World As it Should Be

It is a tension that has confounded people for centuries:  ‘the world as it is’ vs. ‘the world as it should be’.   Most people make some commitment to doing something that will help bring about the world as it should be, but their commitment may falter, or may even be...

Pride:  a Refusal to Accept our Limitations

Pride: a Refusal to Accept our Limitations

I have not been one who has subscribed to the notion of original sin, which is the legacy Christians have inherited from Adam and Eve, whom the Judeo-Christian tradition have identified as the first man and first woman.  We meet them in the Garden of Eden, which is...

The Journey From the Ego to the Soul

The Journey From the Ego to the Soul

The fear mongers and the anger entrepreneurs are ubiquitous. Their messages — on air, screen or in print, are intended to arouse the ego and trigger a reaction. Fill us with resentment, indignation or fear. Concepts and issues that had once invited conversation are...

Intellectual Scrutiny vs. Religious Expression

“While in college, his Jesuit formation did not stand up to intellectual scrutiny.”  So said the introduction to my college’s new president in the Alumni magazine published several decades ago.  Intellectual rigor won out over religious expression.  Again. By the time...

Survival of the Fittest and Silicon Valley Bank

Survival of the fittest is an adage that has long been planted in our psyches.  The phrase emerged as a terse summary of Charles Darwin's findings that the strongest and fittest of a species have the best chance of passing their genes on to the next generation.  The...

The World As it Is vs. the World As it Should Be

It is a tension that has confounded people for centuries:  ‘the world as it is’ vs. ‘the world as it should be’.   Most people make some commitment to doing something that will help bring about the world as it should be, but their commitment may falter, or may even be...

Pride: a Refusal to Accept our Limitations

I have not been one who has subscribed to the notion of original sin, which is the legacy Christians have inherited from Adam and Eve, whom the Judeo-Christian tradition have identified as the first man and first woman.  We meet them in the Garden of Eden, which is...

The Journey From the Ego to the Soul

The fear mongers and the anger entrepreneurs are ubiquitous. Their messages — on air, screen or in print, are intended to arouse the ego and trigger a reaction. Fill us with resentment, indignation or fear. Concepts and issues that had once invited conversation are...

The Fault Line of Woke

There are some serious, if not dangerous, fault lines in American discourse these days.  Some have been around for decades – notably attitudes toward guns and abortion;  and we take care to avoid these issues or tread lightly around them in conversation with people...

The Disabling Debate on Freedom of Speech

Free speech, which most people in America recognize as a fundamental right, is undergoing endless and painful scrutiny these days.  What opinions should be allowed – or prohibited, on Facebook or Twitter?  When do stated certain political or religious convictions...

The Killing of Tyre Nichols: An Eruption of Violence

If you haven’t seen the video, you certainly have heard about the savage beating of Tyre Nichols, which led to his death,  murder charges brought against five Memphis police offers who carried out the atrocity, and their subsequent firing. Brutal, horrific, evil.  And...

The Confounding Paradox of the Gun Divide

In the wake of 40 mass shootings so far this January, I am struck by – and stuck on, some paradoxical statements that have echoes in different parts of the country.  The first, from Shannon Watts, who is the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun violence prevention...

Dr. Martin Luther King: Joining Holiness and Justice

Our country pauses today to honor the memory and challenge of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  We remember him as a prophet for civil rights who, throughout his public ministry, dared to bend the arc of history toward justice. But it didn’t start out that way.  As...
Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join my mailing list to receive the latest blog updates.

You have Successfully Subscribed!