PALMS AND PASSION

Palms and Passion - triumph and humiliation.

The multitude singing Hosanna (which means God saves); the crowd shouting Crucify him! Crucify him! 

Betrayal, denial, abandonment; repentance, embracing and commissioning.

Light and darkness; darkness and light.

On this Palm Sunday, and during Holy Week, we have many questions to ponder. To begin, Why did it have to be this way? Why is it still this way - one moment entertaining sin, the next seeking to do good?

We know the story well. It's our story. It isn't just a question of With whom do we identify in the Passion drama? There is a part of the crowd and of the apostles in each of us.

We, too, fall to temptation, fear, sins of every stripe. What will it take for us so that as we enter this holiest of weeks, making time to walk with Christ, and reflecting on our Lord's passion, death and resurrection, we will be more faithful to our commitment...more loving to our neighbor?

Today we hold palms. In the coming days we will be invited to enter the drama even more deeply as we wash feet, kiss the wood of the cross, and keep vigil. All of this is to emphasize our presence in the story, to urge us to make the story our own. But no matter how we see ourselves in the drama unfolding this week, we cannot escape where the story leads...death and resurrection, which is probably the reason it is so treasured!

As we reflect on our part in the story, may we also ponder, Is Jesus really the Son of God who died for me? How different is my life because I know him?

This week, let us make time to reflect on the story, not just what happened, and what he did, but what we must do to be resurrected with him.