Sunday, April 01, 2012

Queasy among the palms

I think I have never felt good about Palm Sunday. Whether it was reading/hearing the whole of the Passion story, or concentrating on the events of the day itself, I was always so aware of the fickle nature of "the crowd" - and how convenient so to label them: people not like us, you know - we're better than that. Except that we're not, and the cheering, palm-waving crowds who welcomed Jesus on what was today described as a "hot-wired donkey" exemplify so much of what is wrong with us as we sway through life. Cheerful, fearful - and as we change our spots, someone else suffers. The friend we betray, the hurt we do by heedlessly altering an arrangement or blithely finding something else we want to do: all these resonances sound together with the hosannas and leave me with an unpleasant taste.

Was there even an echo of irony in the words of "All glory, laud and honour ..."?

2 comments:

  1. And it was for all of us fickle people that the Saviour, who knew from the foundations of the earth, would allow himself to be hung upon a cross. Just thinking about this breaks my heart...we become so full of ourselves, denying that we need a Saviour. Palm Sunday is a sobering day. I find myself questioning how we could betray Him, knowing full well just how easy it is to do.

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  2. When I was a child Palm Sunday was one of my favourite 'celebrations' in the Christian calendar -- in my eyes Jesus was being cheered and recognized. Until one year the priest giving the sermon explained that these people were really a 'mob' who would easily turn and end up demanding His crucifiction ... Now it is the beginning of Holy Week and a time of reflection and prayer and an ominous commemoration.

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