(1 april 2012, palm sunday)
a man being proclaimed as 'Messiah' and 'Saviour' by throngs of people who didn't even know him...
the King who would drive out all the 'bad guys' so that the 'good guys' could finally win the power and prestige they had long thought was rightly theirs as the 'chosen people' of the one 'true' God...
the Wise One who would outsmart all of the megalomaniacs (read: Romans) who were making a mockery of magistration and a joke of justice...
the One who would come and set right all that was wrong...
...and they couldn't have been more wrong.
little did they know that the joke was on them.
their 'Saviour's Day Parade' was actually a death march.
their 'Messianic Mardi Gras' was a farcical funeral wake.
the faithful followers as well as the bandwagon believers were as clueless as a gaggle of geese flying north for the winter, thinking it was the 'new' way their world was headed.
their shouts of 'hosanna!' ('save us now!') were about as appropriate as yelling out cheers like 'burn baby burn' to joan of arc as she was headed to the stake.
if they had even a clue as to where Jesus was headed, they would have replaced those shouts of 'hosanna!' with 'holy shit...save yourself!'
instead, many of them, either in their vocal presence (the bandwagon believers) or silent absence (the faithful followers), changed their tune within a couple of days from 'save us now!' to 'crucify him now!'
and thus, the great irony of Palm Sunday.
and the greater irony of Palm Sunday happening on April Fool's Day.
but then again, perhaps Palm Sunday should be celebrated every year on April 1st.
because when you stop to think about it, there really isn't a more fitting day to celebrate the 'coronation celebration' of the 'King of Fools'.
the 'Fool' whose wisdom is dismissed by most of us as 'foolishness'.
the 'King' whose 'crown' is seen by most as a jester's cap.
the 'Saviour' who saved all of humanity by not saving himself.
the 'Love' that gives everything by taking nothing and rejecting no one.
the 'Irony' of finding life by losing life...embodying hope by embracing despair.
and the corollating irony of this 'song' being played by a musician without an audience...
these words being written by a preacher without a congregation...
these 'notes for the journey' being shared by a sojourner traveling the road of Passion week without a community.
'hosanna' indeed.
your congregation has no walls and many listeners.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anonymous above me. With the Internet as your publishing platform it's difficult to think of you as "traveling the road of Passion week *without a community*". You may not be able to see us, but we're out here.
ReplyDeletethanks for the encouragement...the online community is really powerful, a gift for which i'm truly grateful...but the experience of it is tangibly different than a face-to-face, in-person community...this is the first year of my 47 on this earth where i traveled through that season of life not being in an in-person community of faith...and it's a loss that i am grieving...but i'm also recognizing the great gift of community online that i'm growing to experience...thanks to both of you (and the others who may be reading these thoughts) for extending that community to include me :)
ReplyDeleteWe're out here, Brian, and we're listening. What a joy to hear your voice again. Journeys aren't always along the paths we might choose, but you're not traveling alone. Peace to you, my brother.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading more.
ReplyDelete