Where Are the Palms?
Palm Sunday is probably the most upsetting Sunday in the Christian calendar, beginning with a joyous celebration and ending with the Passion narrative, recounting the death of Jesus.
As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" - Luke 19:37-38
In Luke's account of the entrance of Jesus and his disciples into Jerusalem, we have cloaks being thrown on the ground, but the people are not waving palms.
Where are the palms?
Matthew's Gospel account has people waving palms in the tradition of Sukkoth, when people come into the streets waving a lulab, made of palms and leafy branches or willow and myrtle. As they parade, they recite Psalm 118, which includes the following:
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
This morning members of our church will join with members of the Lutheran church to bless the palms in public on a street corner in the Bronx, on Fordham Road. We will then process, waving our palms and singing our way to our respective churches.
It is a strange sight for modern times, so uncommon in fact that News 12 will be there.
I guess that was the point all along, to attract attention, to get people to notice that something unique was happening, something out of the ordinary, a harvest procession in the Spring, with no leafy branches available, only palms.
So, we continue to surprise and shock, to walk joyfully through the streets, where the Gospel needs to be heard. It is a symbol of our faith and a symbol of hope. We should do it more often.
This is the purpose of our movement, to bring hope into the streets where people who feel no love from each other need to hear that God loves them.
We can be that light in the darkness. We must be. So, today, wave your palm branches high as you process to your homes. And share them with those who have not found their way to church today.
Perhaps it will help them remember God's promise to be with them always.
More to come...