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On the surface, Palm Sunday looks pretty simple. Recalling the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem, we wave the green branches and sing our "hosannas" just as the people in Bethphage and Bethany did so many years ago. The mood is happy because Spring is in the air, Easter is coming, and it feels right to be in church. This is Palm Sunday; we know the drill.
The spiritual foundations of Palm Sunday, however, are more complex than that. For centuries, the church has recognized that there are two somewhat conflicting sides to this celebration. The part that is most familiar to us is the triumphal side. This side accentuates the joyful welcome of a conquering hero. The gospel story says that Jesus has had his eyes set on Jerusalem for months, because the greatest and most wondrous works of his ministry would take place there (Luke 9:51-53). His followers, who have walked with him for much of this journey, are elated because they are finally arriving at the gates to the city, and the key moments are about to occur.
At the same time, there is a tragic side to this "triumphal entry." Jesus knows what others do not, even though he has repeated the prediction that the "Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22). Viewed through this lens, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the descent into the dark valley of Holy Week, when the One who is lauded on Sunday will soon be targeted, betrayed, condemned without due process, beaten, whipped, and eventually executed in gruesome fashion. As his followers watch it all, they will see in real time and in cold reality what Jesus meant when he said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).
Honestly, it is difficult to give full voice to both sides of this story in one worship service. So, this Sunday we will lift up the joy and triumph of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, for that is the primary spirit of the day in the gospels. But I do hope we will also hold onto the more tragic side of what is happening... that we will recognize our own faces in the crowd that will soon turn on Christ... that we will hear our own voices in the calls for his death that will soon come... and that we will ponder the crosses that we too are being called to bear in a dark world that desperately needs the light of Christ's faith, hope, and love.
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