?Do you have a Palm Cross – every year I rather hope that we will run out. We buy hundreds of them and then give them away to schools and things and so I always want to say that if you’re a regular to Palm Sunday and if you didn’t get one then you should be glad! Because it means we’ve given loads away!
The Palm cross is great for three reasons – its made of Palm and reminds us of Palm Sunday, it’s a cross, it reminds of us Good Friday, it’s an empty cross it reminds us of Easter Day.
So someone said to me – Look Palm Sunday, its no big deal really is it? And the trouble is you’re sort of right – especially when placed alongside Maundy Thursday, Good Friday , Easter Day.
But it is an excellent day for preparing ourselves for Holy Week – we start with the challenge hearing the cry of Hosanna – God save us! Hosanna! – its both a prayer and an exclamation of praise! Hosanna Yes! And Hosanna Please!
So what sort of Hero, Messiah am I looking for?
What do you see when you see Jesus riding in on a donkey – is it: Ah here comes Trouble, here comes a prophet, a preacher, some say a miracle worker, others the Messiah – but what sort of messiah might that be?
So we find ourselves playing a sort of What If game – What if this messiah is a military messiah, a political messiah, an economic messiah – what sort of Messiah do you think we need, Do you think you need?
SO IF ONLY my messiah was a winning lottery ticket, a genie’s lamp granting me three wishes, And so we ask ourselves, what would I do with all that money, what would I do with my three wishes,
What would I do if only I had the money, or if only I didn’t have this diagnosis, or if only I could be freed from this – addiction?
It is a fun game to play, the IF Only – especially if you follow it through and say Well then this is what I would do: this is the life I would live – and as you play that game be aware that it will leave you feeling more disturbed.
If I won the lottery I would give so much of it away! – well good for you – but the evidence is that all a lottery win does is exacerbate your character – if you’re a mean person then winning the lottery will not cure you, it will make it worse, if you’re a generous person then winning the lottery wont make that much difference as you’re already a generous person. So playing this what if game invites you to say – Maybe even now, I could start now to be generous
Oh if only I had more time, If only I didn’t have this diagnosis – well yes we understand that and do keep praying – nonetheless – follow it through: What would you do with more time? Would you forgive people, would you live a better life, would you hug people more – yes you get more years, perhaps, but what would you do with those years? And what’s stopping you from right now living that life of kindness and love, letting go of any left over bitterness because life is too short – and it is too short for all of us – diagnosis or not.
So maybe you should take as a prayer this word Hosanna – God save us – so that when you see some good news whisper a strong confident thank you – Hosanna!
And when you hear of someone who needs prayer then whisper it as a prayer – Hosanna! God save us!
So, Here comes the King, gentle and riding on a donkey. But what kind of King do you think you need, and what kind of King actually is Jesus – and frankly it’s the difference between the two that gets Jesus killed.
When we first go through Holy Week, perhaps as an adult, we sort of know what’s going to happen, but for some reason or other we happen to be sharp and awake this year and suddenly we’re there in the crowd and it’s a shock, the catastrophe, we knew there was some tension and hate brewing but surely it wouldn’t go this far – the haters wouldn’t take it this far – Jesus wouldn’t let it get this far – and so it’s a shock, a catastrophe.
Its right up there with Romeo and Juliet or Titanic – so that each time you watch it there’s this unavoidable growing sense of foreboding and you know what happens next and you cant watch. I get that.
But how does this week look from Jesus’ perspective. Our Gospels spend about a third of their pages in the last week of Jesus’ life. There’s so much teaching going on. Its as if Jesus is thinking – ?Have I said enough, left them with enough.
Did Jesus call it Good Friday? I think actually maybe he did. I think he could see beyond Friday and yet that didn’t seem to make things much easier. We see him visit the tomb of Lazarus and even though he knows what’s happening next he doesn’t give Mary and Martha a wry smile and crack his knuckles with a Stand back now and watch this! He weeps. Jesus wept.
So even now as Jesus approached the cross, I think he was able to see beyond it. Hebrews 12v2 – if I slightly rearrange the words says that Jesus fixed his eyes on the Joy of what Good Friday was going to achieve, on what Sunday would bring – Jesus saw that joy and so endured the cross and its shame.
We see catastrophe, – a sudden disaster – but Jesus saw what Tolkien called – Eucatastrophe – a sudden uplifting turn, a moment of salvation.
I find it difficult to read the Bible in Holy Week from that angle. I find it much easier to read it from the perspective of the fickle crowd, or the scattered disciples, even from Peter. You have got to love Peter – you might see a coward in him as he comes to deny Jesus three times – but I don’t see any of the other disciples around the fire – he got this close and panicked.
So, Jesus knows what is happening this week. In this small sense perhaps we are a little like Him, we know how this will pan out – so we do not need to panic. And that leads me to ask ?What did Jesus need from His Disciples that week, what does Jesus need from us this week?.
We have seen Jesus bring healing to people – physically cleansed from leprosy – we’ve seen the power of forgiveness – so that a woman is not killed by mob stoning, we’ve read of the woman with internal bleeding healed in body and restored in person – and in that moment where their faith is what suddenly makes the difference between hanging on in there and utterly giving up, their faith in Jesus has changed their attitude and perspective on life. They now know that they are loved and are filled with hope.
Now in Jesus in this Holy Week, the same opportunity is given to us, a moment to re-evaluate our lives, re-adjust our perspective, our point of view and see it through the lens of faith – so we see not catastrophe but eucatastrophe.
What does Jesus need of us – in the Garden of Gethsemane, he just needs us to be there, keep watch with him, to be present to Jesus, not to do anything, just to be a present – because we know that when we are in our own similar garden – we know that Jesus is watching with us. Jesus is with us.
Jesus needs us to be obedient in simple ways – Go into the next village and get a donkey. It sounds bonkers but clearly the owner is okay about it – what does Jesus need from the Donkey Owner – just a little kindness – and from the disciples – a little obedience even though it makes no sense to them.
Just being there for Jesus, open to his nudges, to his call.
I know that the correct answer to Why did Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey? Is to do with the prophecy – this is Jesus showing us that He is the King – but I also half wonder if Jesus needed the donkey because his own legs were struggling – he knew the pain and sorrow – physical pain, emotional, spiritual pain of what this week would bring – and if it was me I don’t think my legs would carry me, I would need to be carried in.
What does Jesus need from us? He needs us to be with Him, to do what we can – like the donkey owner providing the donkey – Do what you can do to the glory of God – whether that’s cutting down palm leaves, or sweeping up after the donkey, whether its putting out toys for toddler group or visiting someone in a care home to be with them, even to pray with them. Pausing after a service to say Hi to someone who you don’t know.
I think Jesus did know that this would be Good Friday – Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross and its shame because he saw the joy that lay beyond it. And the bit just before that Heb 12 – says So we should fix our eyes on Jesus.
Hold your Palm Cross this week – and remember its not a catastrophe, it’s a eucatastrophe, fix your eyes on Jesus knowing that He knows what He’s doing, and be there, be present to Jesus, who knows what acts of kindness and prayers he will nudge us to. Amen. //