today is palm sunday.
all over christendom people will be remembering the day jesus entered jerusalem.
it feels wrong to celebrate palm sunday, because to do so is to celebrate along with the nation of israel at the coming king of miracles, without understanding that he was coming to jerusalem to die.
jesus death ended the disciples hopes that he had come to bring freedom to israel. palm sunday is the last hurrah of the clueless mobs as they anticipate a salvation that was never offered to them.
i wonder what went through jesus' mind as he entered and heard the cheering crowds? in one jesus movie, he seems detached and distracted as he rides through the crowds, and in another he is reaching out to interact, smiling like a politician in a fourth of july parade. i wonder if instead jesus was weeping? maybe he wanted to be the king they were proclaiming him to be, maybe he hoped for the same conquering role the crowds envisioned for him, and the ride, hoping for one thing and knowing it would end up very differently, was like being sliced in two.
this is the day we should wonder how our hopes, which are good, are placed in the wrong things. and how we allow these hopes to live, when they are seemingly crushed.
Can't believe I never read this before. This has to be a Palm Sunday sermon. Dude.
Posted by: Dave Maddalena | Friday, October 17, 2008 at 08:32 AM