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HOLY WEEK 2013
photo courtesy
franciscan CyberSpot Dominus Flevit
PALM SUNDAY
As we approach one of the most sacred
seasons of our year,
we celebrate His entry into Jerusalem.
Hosanna to the Son of David,
Blessed is He who cometh in the Name of the Lord!
We have listened to this story so many times, replayed
the events, taken the images to our hearts !
This entry into Jerusalem, the city of peace, would
have presented an extraordinary temptation to any
mortal man. He fulfilled the prophecies, He entered
riding a donkey, the symbol and symptom of peace and
the rule of God. Yet the city itself was ready for a
more violent, if less profound, revolution. The city
leaders knew this and spoke with him about it. Right
there, he could have taken over the city - and perhaps
the world, for all we know. No agony in the garden, no
bloody sweat, no crucifixion.
What a dilemma !
The people shouting, calling out, dancing in the
streets, recalling the glory days of King David, and
our Lord, knowing himself Lord, Lord even in the sense
in which they meant it, knowing that if the people
said nothing the very stones themselves would cry out.
And yet, and yet, the sense in which they meant it
meant death, blood in the streets, one person lording
it over another, one people murdering another.
For he was fulfilling the inner meaning, not just of
the prophecies, but of their heart. The Kingdom of God
is not just show. The King riding the donkey was not
just a symbol to provoke an uprising, but the inner
message of Kingship itself. Royalty, wisdom, healing,
- and - later in the Temple, the violence of purging.
This is a message about government, and about
government of self.
Jesus journey begins with his weeping over Jerusalem
and his foretelling of terrible grief to come.
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and
wept over it,
Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in
this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy
peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
This is the physical fulfillment of his Temptation in
the wilderness, when he was offered the Kingdoms of
this World.
His people welcome him with open hearts and arms, and
wild cries of joy, but his rejection of that
temptation to become the Earthly King will lead to
betrayal, scourging and a crown of thorns.
This is the real Kingdom, the real Power, and the real
Glory. It is a choice that will also lead to the
Resurrection and Ascension, and to the presence of his
inexorable gentleness in our lives near two thousand
years later.
If we are lucky he will change our minds, our hearts,
our souls and our expectations as He once purged the
Temple.
As we are transformed into a House of Prayer,
instead of a house of commerce, so we become powerful
agents of change, and even of a deeper revolution, a
deeper freedom in the world about us.
With His Blessing, let us too cry,
Come Lord Jesus !
Hosanna to the Son of David,
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord !
llustration found
by Brenda Philips: provided by the generosity of
Lady Oh:
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