We started the week last week filled with different emotions. We started last week with the waving of the palm leaves with Hosannas on our lips.
Yet, we also read that later, the same people were shouting, “Crucify him!”
And as we move on through the week, we read of the struggle of Jesus in Gethsemane, the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, and the suffering on the cross.
Even our celebration of Palm Sunday tells us of what is to come. Palm Sunday in our Christian calendar is referred to as Palm/Passion Sunday.
Two opposite subjects jammed up against each other. One Orthodox priest labeled it “a historical and liturgical mess!”
The story starts with elaborate preparations to secure a colt. And Jesus riding on the colt parades into Jerusalem with the crowd calling out, “Hosanna!”
Jesus is experiencing a groundswell of support as the crowd threw palm branches –the symbol of victory–in his path. Jesus would have garnered a great score on public opinion polls, if such a thing had existed in his day. The disciples probably thought, “Hey, this is great! We’re finally getting some respect around here. All our hard work and sacrifice are paying off.”
At this point, Jesus could have done most anything. However, he refused to use his power for wrong. Jesus knew who he was. That’s important for us to see: Jesus knew who he was.
I love the story told of the air passenger whose flight had been canceled. His patience was gone, so he shoved his way to the head of the ticket line, and angrily demanded a first class ticket on the next available flight. The ticket agent explained he’d be happy to help, and advised the passenger he’d just have to wait in line like everybody else.
That was more than the passenger could stand, so he told the agent, “Young man, do you have any idea who I am?”
Whereupon the ticket agent picked up his microphone, and said, “Attention, please. There’s a gentleman at the ticket counter who does not know who he is. If anyone can identify him, please come to the counter.”
Jesus knew who he was. He knew that the reign of God is established in the hearts of the people, that the reign of God is established with love not with might. He knew that the Palm Sunday parade and the “hosannas” of the crowd were prelude to Good Friday.
Many times in our celebration of Palm Sundays, we focus more on the Palms than we do the Passion. And that is understandable. Palms suggest triumph, and we love winners! The great children’s hymn ironically expresses this: “Tell me the stories of Jesus, I love to hear/things I would ask him to tell me, if he were here.”
But we know that the story of Jesus does not end with the Palms. Not all of them are good to hear. It goes through the Passion, with the death of the innocent Jesus. That is not a story of Jesus we love to hear; it’s too painful.
However, Palm Sunday’s meaning can only emerge as we observe what happens to Jesus during the rest of the week. Palm/Passion Sunday may be a historical and theological mess, it may be ecstasy and agony jammed up against each other, but it is a good historical and theological mess.
In fact, this can also be our story. This is the enigma of life.
Jim French and a friend stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The meal was delicious, and French asked the waiter if he could have the recipe. The waiter was quick to oblige. A few minutes later, the waiter returned from the kitchen with a piece of paper. All parties were satisfied. Until Jim French unfolded the paper. The recipe was written in Chinese. That was not what Jim expected.
In our lives often, what we expect is not what we get. Oftentimes, we sign up for one thing, and receive something entirely different.
However, the art in life is to have faith, even when that faith seems illogical, or even when we cannot comprehend it fully.
Or there are times in our lives when we are “on the top of the world/looking down on creation…” as how one song goes.
But then something happens that we do not expect, and it changes our world.
For those who just graduated, you are now on top of the world. Everyone is celebrating with you. You feel confident that you can face the world. You feel that what you dreamt is about to be accomplished. You have received your diploma that says you have the rights and privileges to face the world after four or five years of schooling. You send your application letters to different institutions.
Then a letter comes, “There is no vacancy right now and you will be informed if there is a need with your qualification.” The next day, you get another letter saying the same thing. And the next day, and the next…
Your world collapses, and you wait day in and day out, and no job yet. Then you start having some self doubt, “Do I really deserve a job?” “Having spent thousands of pesos, am I really good enough?”
Or you are on “top of the world” with a good family. You have a beautiful spouse, children, a job, a house, a car. It seems that the world is yours. Then a loved one dies, and somehow, you are left with emptiness which nothing can fill. Day in and day out, there is this sadness that never leaves. When you go out of the house, it would seem that people are looking at you, and you would not like to talk to them. It seems that there is that dark cloud hovering over you, and it never leaves.
The message of Holy Week for us who experience ecstasy and agony is that God loves this world enough to send his Son who experienced joy and celebration, but who also experienced pain, betrayal, failures.
Thus, God knows our frustrations, and the pain that we feel. But then, we know that life may not end in pain, nor may it end in failures.
If we continue on with the story, it ends in victory. If you are expecting one thing but get something else, that does not mean you are not in the center of God’s love. Hold on to your values. Go deeper into your faith. Look for God’s victory — for it will come.
Listen: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11) “No longer do I call you servants; but I have called you friends.” (John 15:15) “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10). “Come to me all who labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 12:28)
These are some of God’s promises that we can claim.
