Palm Sunday's location at the beginning of Holy Week has always troubled me. The Hosannas and joyful welcome of Christ as he rides into Jerusalem are in sharp contrast to the sadness and tragic events of the week ahead. If I could rewrite the script, my verbal omnipotence would put Palm Sunday after Easter. Christ rises from the dead, gets on the donkey, and does his victorious ride into Jerusalem delighting the masses who wildly greet his arrival and celebrate his resurrection. His fans get rewarded for their allegiance. Such a perfect picture: a Tony Award winning sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1970 rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar. This fictitious rewrite of life includes world peace, a cure for cancer, and relief for all suffering.
The reality is that Jesus's ride today is fufilling the prophecy of Zechariah, "Rejoice greatly...Lo your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he on a colt, the foal of an ass." Jesus needs to be in Jerusalem where the rest of Holy Week unfolds. My perfect picture is not the reality of life; there is suffering everywhere. How do we cope? We have faith and know there are Hosannas everywhere as well.
A few Lents ago, Rich recommended a Lenten discipline: the memorization of Psalm 103 by adding one verse to memory each day. Dutifully I did this and as a result, I am barraged with Hosannas even as I struggle with the sadness and tragedies that occur in life. He forgives our sins, HOSANNA. He heals us, HOSANNA. He is merciful and loving, HOSANNA. He provides us with good things, HOSANNA. He teaches us righteousness, HOSANNA. His anger with us is brief, HOSANNA. He loves us like a father, HOSANNA. "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and forget not all His benefits." Christ rides triumphantly in our lives not merely on Palm Sunday or Easter but always if we let Him. HOSANNA
Jan Moran
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