4-18-11<\/p>\n
The Lenten Season draws to a close. Through 40 days and 40 nights, I have been trying to think of this traditional observance in non-traditional ways. We can do that \u2013 for instance by identifying with what Jesus \u201ctook up\u201d in His sacrifice, as well as what He \u201cgave up\u201d by His sacrifice \u2013 and be faithful to scripture.<\/p>\n
But on Palm Sunday, when I think of Jesus entering the gates of Jerusalem, I come, myself, to a dead end of this exercise. There are not too many fresh ways to see those events. We know that He entered in humble and even seemingly absurd ways, like riding a donkey, in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, verse after verse after verse. <\/p>\n
We know that one reason Jesus was hailed by crowds was because some people hoped he would be a revolutionary leader to overthrow the Romans. Frankly, He had been preaching for three and a half years, so most people would have known that Jesus was an unlikely guerilla fighter, few of whom storm a city on a donkey. No, the exuberant reception probably was due more to buzz about this man who walked on water; created wine and lunches from nothing; healed the blind, the deaf, and the crippled; and raised people from the dead. The grumblers in the crowd knew – and resented \u2013 that He also was wiser than they about the law, and that He claimed in fact to be the fulfillment of the Law.<\/p>\n
We know all that. And there are not many ways to bring new interpretations to the events of Palm Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u2026except if we try to imagine ourselves to be the people on the Jerusalem streets, waving palms and laying them before Jesus in honor. And if we can try to go BACK in time 2000 years, let us also imagine ourselves a few days later also, as this same Man we cheer is now in shackles, under sentence of death.<\/p>\n
Palms, and an old robe or two, whatever the local traditions of honor, were the cheapest things possible to lay down before Jesus. So were shouts, even hewing to the literal meaning of \u201cHosanna\u201d and references to the Messiah. \u201cTalk is cheap.\u201d If we really wanted to honor Jesus, if we really believed He was the promised Messiah, the proof was not showing up at a party-like parade, but acting like we believed it, later in the week. And we scattered. A few of us denied even knowing Him. Some of us even demanded that He be put to death. And enough of us joined in, laughing at Him, spitting on Him.<\/p>\n
Palm Sunday, in those lights, seem like a cruel joke. Must it not have seemed so to Jesus? It\u2019s not like the fans who were at the gates showed up at Pilate\u2019s, defending their Savior, losing the Barabbas-vote by a slim margin. Those former fans were not there; or if they were there, their real beliefs finally were on display. <\/p>\n
Are the people who were waving palms, and shouting for their Messiah \u2013 their \u201cpersonal savior\u201d \u2013 different than we are? What makes them different? What makes us different? It can\u2019t be that WE know how the story ended: prophetic details were clear enough to those people. And Jesus claimed, and repeatedly proved, who He was, right to their faces.<\/p>\n
No, Palm Sunday is one of the most difficult times of the year for believers. Not only for what was about to happen to Jesus, physically; but perhaps for what has NOT yet happened to our hearts, spiritually.<\/p>\n
+<\/p>\n