Still in the middle of the COVID-19 world-wide shut down. Life moves ahead, and not. What a strange time to be alive!
Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week in the traditional, Christian calendar. Palm Sunday - a day steeped in Christian History, a detailed story about this day in the life of Jesus.
I was reading about the historical context, about what was going on in Jerusalem at this time. The Roman control, the temple politics, the leaders and the oppression of the people. How they had lost their land, how they were - for centries, a displaced people. I get how angry and frustrated they must have been. I get that they were ready for someone connected to their historical King David, a wonderful, prosperous time, to bring it back again. Kind of reminds me of the people from the USA - how they heard someone hoping for leadership who said, "I will make this country great again!" That's what these people wanted, that's what they longed for.
So, when this man came in from the east on a donkey, like was predicted, at the same time that the Roman rule came in from the west, they thought this was the moment, the time they had been waiting for! Praying for! This man was going to return their land to them! He was going to make it all right again! He was going to make their country great again! Their expectations were that he was going to put those horrible Romans in their place! and kick them ouut of the land! He was going to take back the temple! He was going to return the Kingdom to the wonderful days of King David!
Finally, after all the persecution, after all the slavery, things were going to be great again!
Hosannah! Free us! Make this land great again! Make our people great again!
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Boy, did they have that wrong.
Today, we, too, have all sorts of expectations - on how our government is supposed to help us, on how friends are supposed to treat us, on how family is supposed to be there, on what our life is supposed to be like. Where is the life I've expected to be mine? Where is the house? the husband? the family? the job?
Hosannah! Free me! Make my life great again!
But that's not how it is. Right now, with this COVID-19, we have no idea where we are going. Sure, the government is saying they will help, but there are no guarantees. We want them to rescue us, we want to be saved, we want things to return to what they were before ... before the virus, before the gas prices bottomed out, before the economy started to crumble, before Trudeau was PM, before ... before ... before ...
Lent is a time of sacrifice. It leads to Jerusalem. It's a path where there is no doubt what the end will bring. It leads to the cross. And to death. "Pick up your cross and follow me." The destination is sure.
Jesus' desire wasn't to return the Jewish nation to what was ... it was about entering into a whole new way of doing things. Not about going back, but about moving forward. This path was taking them to a whole new way of living, of connecting, of being. "His protest was against the domination system legitimated in the name of God, a domination system radically different from what the already present and coming Kingdom of God, the dream of God, would be like ... HIs voice was a Jewish voice about what loyalty to the God of Judaeism truly meant.
"Two processions entered Jerusalem on that day. The same question, the same alternative, faces those who would be faithful to Jesus today. Which procession are you in? Which procession do we want to be in? This is the question of Palm Sunday." (Borg and Crossan)
It's not about going back, but about the way forward. It's not about making life great again, but about death to self from the resurrection that is coming.
But before it comes, it's going to first get much, much harder.
Especially if you pick a certain procession, a certain way to join.
It will lead to the cross.
And to death.
Death to self is the cost.
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