When I was a kid, Holy Week was always a busy week. We were getting the food ready for the Polish Easter Basket blessing next Saturday and planning for the big meal next Sunday. My mother would be cleaning the house for company. There were eggs to color and chocolate to look forward to.
For many of us, it can still be a time for planning. But before we get too wrapped up in next Sunday, we need to remember this Sunday.
- Remember that the crowd that cheered Jesus also condemned him.
- Remember that the voices praising him also called for his death.
- Remember that those who loved him and promised loyalty also denied him, betrayed him, and abandoned him.
And if we want to know who did all that, just look at the palm branches in our hands. We are all guilty!
While we may not want to admit it, Christ’s Passion goes on today. Our betrayal of Jesus continues.
- How often do we praise God on Sunday…and curse Him on Monday?
- How often do we shrug Him off when things become too difficult or the rules too hard or the demands of the Christian life too taxing?
- How often do we see suffering in the faces of those in need, and simply turn away?
Christ continues to bleed and weep and cry out, “Why have you abandoned me?”
We encounter him on the train, step over him on the sidewalk, and go out of our way to avoid him because he might make demands of our time.
Whether we realize it or not, we see Jesus every day, read about him in the papers, and hear about him in the news. He is everywhere there is someone who is neglected, disrespected, or discarded. He is with the unwanted and unloved, the bullied and abused.
“Why have you abandoned me?” Do we even hear him?
We find ways to justify our choices. But it can’t be denied. Whenever we choose death over life, sin over the gospel, and hate over love; whenever we have turned away from Christ – we’ve betrayed him. We have said in essence, “Give us Barabbas.” and, “Crucify him.” And we have done it with palms in our hands and the echoes of “Hosanna” in the air.
We need this Sunday to remember that; and we need these palms as a reminder and as a challenge. They remind us that we are called to be heralds of Christ – to celebrate him the way they did that day in Jerusalem.
And these palms challenge us to keep proclaiming the Good News – even when the world tempts us to do otherwise. And they challenge us not only to remember what we have done to Jesus; but more importantly, what Jesus has done for us. That is what Holy Week is all about.
Before we look ahead to next Sunday, and the big plans and the big meal, we first have to look back – and look within. Let us look at these palms to see what we are called to do and who we are called to be.
