Palm Sunday today and as Church traditions and celebrations go, it has to be one of the more confusing. First off, you got Jesus making a triumphant entry into Jerusalem and being welcomed and greeted as the Messiah and the King of Israel. In fulfillment of some Old Testament prophecy, the mode of transportation is a donkey. (I recall some joke about this with the punch line “He rode in on an ass and then got his handed to him.”)
Jesus had been doing pretty good bopping around the countryside doing miracles, preaching and teaching folks how to be better people. Him however, rolling into Jerusalem, may not have been such a good idea given that life, and in this case death, can sometimes merely be a matter of timing both good and bad. On Palm Sunday Jesus was greeted as a King, but four days later crucified. Go figure. Like the commercial said – life comes at you fast. What the commercial didn’t say, is that death comes at you faster.
Mass on Palm Sunday usually starts off recognizing Jesus’ triumphant and kingly entry with the blessing of the palms and a procession into Church (click here for a good article on this background.)
However, once the triumphant, bonhomie business is celebrated accordingly, things go south very quickly as the “Passion of Our Lord” Gospel gets recited. Usually a reader tells the overall story as the priest says Jesus’ lines and we, the ugly crowd, get all the crummy things to say like “Give us Barabbas” and “Crucify Him.”
What I often wondered about in all this, is how people who were good with the Kingship thing on Sunday, only a few days later on Friday were so done with it that they wanted Jesus hung out to dry – literally! Think they were just hungover from all that partying and Passover celebrating going on at that time of the season?
Note – when I broached this issue with my Cousin Father John, he explained that these weren’t the same people in that at Jesus’ trial, the bad guys had packed the crowd with the “Kill him” folks. The “He-is-king” people were given the cheap seats in the back of the crowd and couldn’t be heard.
I’m still not sure about all that however. Too bad Jesus couldn’t have delayed that trial some or at least continually appealed Pilate’s decision. Those strategies seem to be effective for some folks.
Whatever the reason(s) for Jesus’ rise and fall, you know how it all ended. Let’s just say that Jesus’ Palm Sunday start as King was somewhat short lived. Lesson learned is that one day you’re up and the next day you’re not. Enjoy it while you can when you’re up.
No palms, no Gospels and no regrets at Buzzy’s Country Store. Plenty of cold beer and good cheer for you though, so swing by.
Tom’s take on being king and how to deal with it.