Palm Sunday - that’s what we celebrate today. If you think about it, its an ironic celebration:
We celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into
Wow! What a welcome.
At the same time we look forward to a week of remembering the worst that humanity can do… The saddest week in Christian tradition, to Christians, possibly the saddest week in the history of humanity:
It opens our eyes to the human condition:
The cruelty of betrayal by a close and trusted friend.
The violence of torture and punishment inflicted on the innocent and disempowered by the cruel and powerful.
A blood thirsty mob; worked up; excited; calling for the liberation of a murderer, and the murder of a liberator.
It brings to mind images of the holocaust, the abuse of human rights associated with apartheid, the murder of children in war - and every evil that humanity has ever brought to this earth.
And the most terrifying thing - the most disturbing thing is this - THE SWITCH - from crying “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” To that terrifying cry - “Crucify him.”
It is in each of us: hands that can touch, caress, bring healing, can also cause pain.
Our mouths which can produce songs, words of love, poetry, can be used to build each other up - and just as quickly, almost more easily tear each other down…
* * *
We live in tension between Good and Evil and in Holy Week Good and evil come face to face.
Evil is confronted by the best that God can give, Jesus Christ, God’s own son.
And it seems for a terrifying moment that the evil of humanity will triumph.
* * *
Think of Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. For 30 pieces of silver he told the Jewish leaders where Jesus was… leading to his arrest, and ultimately to his suffering and execution.
The scripture tells us that when Judas realised what he had done, when he heard that Jesus had been condemned: he gave up. Unable to live with himself - he hanged himself.
The sad thing about Judas is that he didn’t get to see how the story ended…
He got caught in that moment when it seemed like evil had triumphed. In himself, in the world, in what was about to happen to Jesus.
* * *
What terrifies me is this. We’re not that different from the angry mob. We’re not that different from the disciples who run away from Jesus at his time of need. We’re not that different from Judas. We’re not that different from those who viciously punished Jesus.
We are in so many ways the same as them… yet we don’t want to admit it:
We could just as easily shout “Hosanna!” on Sunday and “Crucify!” on Friday.
Holy Week; Palm Sunday; remind us of this uncomfortable reality, an uncomfortable tension between:
The best that humanity can do.
And the worst.
Living right here, next door to each other.
* * *
The end of the story, the part that Judas never got to see is the victory that we celebrate next Sunday - we call it Easter… God can take the worst that humanity can offer. Betrayal, torture, cruelty, abuse of power… God can take all that we can give and turn it into something of beauty.
The cross, an instrument of torture, an instrument of shame -because of Jesus, becomes a thing of beauty -something we hang around our necks to remind us just how much God loves us in spite of the evil that we have the capacity to do.
* * *
We celebrate, we worship, because we have got the magnificent gift of 20 20 vision.
Hindsight
We’ve read ahead - we know how the story ends and that that is where our hope comes from.
* * *
We come together, to celebrate and sing because we have seen how God deals with all the horror in our world… God has experienced it and come out victorious.
We celebrate a very different victory to the one the crowds anticipated as they sang and shouted: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
We celebrate and anticipate today God’s ability to take the very worst that humanity can do to God.
The abuse, The insult, The humiliation, The torture.
And still emerge victorious and loving all the same.
God can take the worst that we can do, and the worst that we can do can not destroy God’s love for us.
* * *
For me; Palm Sunday, Holy Week, Easter teach us among other things two important, simple things:
1. As human beings we are all capable of a lot of evil. As we reflect on the Easter story we are exposed to the sort of evil that we are capable of.
2. (As I have said before) God’s Love is enough to overcome the worst that humanity is capable of.
* * *
This Easter I want to invite us to go on a journey with Jesus, a healing journey, and sometimes a painful journey.
What is it that is wrong in our lives?
How have we suffered at the hands of this world, at the hands of the evil people are capable of?
Is it abuse?
Is it broken relationships?
Is it betrayal?
Is it injustice?
Then Holy Week and Easter is a time for us to journey with Jesus through the pain that he experiences with us, a time for us to lay it at the foot of the cross.
Perhaps we are people who damage others with the words we say, the actions we do?
Easter is the time for us to journey with Jesus through the worst that humanity can do to us, the worst that we can do (as Jesus takes the same journey) - and emerge victorious - with Jesus.
* * *
God can take the worst that we can do - that can be done to us, and turn it into resurrection - in the hands of Jesus - death, becomes life.
* * *
In the gospel passage for today the people shout praises to Jesus because of all the wonders that they had seen him do. Jesus’ ministry made the power of God real in the world - he used his hands, in partnership with God to bring healing, to restore sanity.
He used his voice - to proclaim a miraculous message of grace and reconciliation.
A challenge to us - to do the same.
In contradiction to Jesus ministry of healing and restoration, the crowds will later cry out for punishment, revenge, and destruction - a crucifixion.
* * *
If we take stock of our lives this week, if we examine the things we do, the attitudes we hold - the words that we use… the way we run our business, the way we treat our families - our attitude to those around us: are we imitators of Jesus: through grace bringing healing and wholeness to the world?
Or are we imitators of the blood thirsty crowd? Bringing destruction.
The line between good and evil runs directly through us. With Jesus help we are able to bring both sides of ourselves to God - and hopefully learn to live on the side of the good.
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