Palm Sunday contradicitons

I always find Palm Sunday to be a difficult day. It’s one of those days that no matter what you think it is, it's something else. It appears to be all about triumph and cheering. But what was it like for Jesus? Could he ignore what he knew in his heart was coming and enter into the festive moment? For Jesus this was not a ticker-tape parade after winning the Super Bowl or landing on the moon. It was a pre-funeral procession. I wonder if he didn’t have some sort of confusing disconnect between what he saw and what he felt.
Seated on that donkey people were shouting his name and reaching out their hands to him, hoping to catch a little bit of his power for themselves. Certainly he loved them but was he a little weary of their adulation and need for him. Did he know how hollow it would be in the days to come? It’s not that they were insincere. They were there for a festival. He was there to die.
So we have this day that begins in such frenzy and ends in such despair. We read the passion gospel and yet it is not quite time for it. Those days come later in this somber week. In my more cynical moments I wonder if the Passion Gospel was inserted here to accommodate those who will not come again until Easter Sunday. And that makes me sad. Can we not spare a few hours to stand in the presence of the cross at its most dangerous? It is after all more than wall decoration or jewelry. It is the statement of human brutality laid bare for all to see. In it we see every instance of cruelty, torture and violence. Do we not know that we have been saved from that? Have we not learned that violence leads to only one thing – more violence? This day violence comes into our church and it makes us appropriately uncomfortable.
How is it that Holy Week is too disturbing for us but violent movies and video games are always successful? Do we mean to be a people who enjoy violence? The entertainment industry has an ongoing competition to see who can fashion the most realistic gore in the most disturbing situations. The movies, television and video games enter our lives and desensitize us to cruelty. If you ask kids about their video games they will tell you “Oh yeah, it’s just fun, it’s not real.” The problem is that when we are faced with some examples of real violence, police caught on tape wielding their batons, the aftermath of suicide bombers or reports by the Red Cross that our country has approved and used torture; we have lost a bit of our ability to be outraged. We are used to our violence on a screen which we can turn off.
Palm Sunday – would that we might hear the tension between triumph and violence. It is important for us to understand the ordeal to which Jesus allowed himself to be led. Crucifixion is gruesome. It was meant to be – execution and example held high for all to see, a tacit warning to respect the power of the state. I imagine that if it were still the preferred method of execution, the debate on the death penalty would be short. It’s hard to wish that on your worst enemy. Oh my goodness, maybe that’s the point of it. What Jesus understood was that the only way to overcome violence is to shine a light on it and expose it for the sin that it is. If we are disturbed by what happened to Jesus, an innocent victim of powerful people and institutions, then we should be equally disturbed when it happens to anyone else around the world. He went to the cross so others might not have to.
This day gives us another contradiction – Jesus himself. This suffering and death is his most human moment. But he responds to it with superhuman grace. Who could minister to someone else when in such agony? “Take up your cross and follow me.” Darn, this Christianity stuff is hard. And there’s the contradiction for us. Most of the year we engage our faith around here as a response to God’s love and generosity. We talk about abundance and joy. Yet today’s we are face to face with the expectation that we will engage humanity’s violence with courage, compassion, and grace. If what was done to Jesus was horrible, then we should stand up for an end to violence across the board. The Quakers have managed to do so for hundreds of years. They are witnesses to harmony and a refusal to continue the cycle of violence. This sin against others, the breaking of their bodies and spirits as a tool of power in international relations, in our communities and in our lives is not necessary or healthy.
Jesus died for our sins – maybe the right way to say that is that Jesus died because we are sinful, violent and broken people. He did so willingly so that we might become otherwise. So this Palm Sunday, we hear and we sing Hosanna and we begin that long walk behind Jesus to Friday. Don’t close your eyes to it for only by facing the cross can we be healed by it.