| Rector’s
Meditation
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| How many of you coming to church this morning thought about or recalled what Palm Sunday was like when you were growing up? For me, it’s the recollection of forming a procession that went around the corner of the city block on which my church stood, out the transept door, down East Jersey Street, turn left by the park in front of City Hall, and then back into the front door of the church. The choir and the clergy and the congregation all carried palms that had been blessed, and I was very conscious of the public nature of the procession. It was meant to enact Christ’s triumphal riding into Jerusalem with adoring crowds waving palms and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” I don’t recall anyone on East Jersey Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey, pulling over to the side of the road in their cars to jump out and say, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” while we reenacted that event, but nonetheless I think I felt something of what Jesus felt: self conscious, a little excited at this Main Street parade, recognized as doing something fundamentally religious in character outside of the usual places reserved for religious observances, and perhaps some embarrassment in knowing that people did stop and stare. As we have heard the rest of the story of Holy Week in our Passion Gospel this morning, I’m struck by how very public the religious significance of Christ’s triumphal entry, his confrontation with the religious and civil authorities, his arrest, and his crucifixion were. This wasn’t a quiet, private drama taking place. It was during Passover when literally millions of Jews had crammed into Jerusalem for the annual pilgrimage, when Roman soldiers would have been in the streets just like riot police in London for the G-20 conference. So when we cry out, “Crucify him!” we’re taking the part of thousands who had first seen in Jesus a savior, but who then turn from their adulation when they sensed a lynching. How public do you and I want to be in our defense of and support for the Jesus of this week? What kind of significance do we think the Jesus of this week has—not just for our private piety as significant as that needs to be, but for principles and values and simply being counted among those who do put themselves on the line to do the right thing? Does what we do here have anything to do with what goes on out there? I believe it does, and whether embarrassing or inconvenient or dangerous, the gospel of Jesus counts for all of my life, not just one part. |
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