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I envision Jesus’ Palm Sunday parade like most gay pride parades. The crowd of people standing on both sides of the parade route. Everyone having a good time, drinking their favorite drinks, spending time with their family and friends.
The Gospel of Mark 11:1-10, tells us it is the festive season of Passover. The old city was filled with pilgrims, visitors, and travelers who had come from many countries to share in the feast. Rumor has it that “Jesus Christ is coming!” Jesus rides in on a donkey, and the people on the parade route kept throwing down their cloaks and screaming at the top of their lungs “Hosanna” blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”.
The Gospel mentions two groups of people. “Those that went before” were persons who had come out of Jerusalem because of their curiosity as a result of all the shouting, these must have been the locals, and then “Those who followed” and “cried out”, these were Jesus’ close friends and family that came with him from Galilee.
Later one of the crowds will be crying and the other would be shouting “crucify Him.”
With which crowd do you suppose you can relate to today?
On a daily basis, do you openly shame or do you praise?
Are you giving or are you taking?
Are you the resource that can make a difference in your local church, or in our denomination?
With which crowd do you identify?
Loving God,
We attend this parade with our hearts in our hands, just because we know what is to come. The knowing causes us to have half-hearted celebrations, but we know that we must experience the whole gambit of feelings before we can arrive at the resurrection.
Help us to be the people that shout Hosanna and sing your praises.
Help us to be the people that continue to spread the good news of your all-inclusive love around the world.
May it be so! Ashé, A’ho, and Amen!
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