PALM SUNDAY
(The Sunday of the Passion)
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
Php. 2:8: “Being found in human form, [Christ Jesus] humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.”
John 12:14, 16: “Jesus, having found a donkey, say on it… His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him.”
Reflection
Our Lenten journey concludes with what is probably the most dramatic week of our Christian faith: “Holy Week”, the final week of Jesus’ earthly life. This week runs the full gamut of emotion: from ebullient joy at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, anger and rage at (or alongside?) those who yell for his crucifixion, to grief and pain at Jesus’ last moments, betrayed and abandoned.
As if that weren’t hard enough, the Church manages to squeeze all of this into one Sunday. Today, most services will begin with the Procession of the Palms, in which we, with joy, song, and even palm branches, welcome Jesus as King, just like the crowds did so long ago. Afterwards, we will hear the story of Christ’s Passion, often as a dramatic performance where we, the congregation, shout: “Crucify him!”, as did those same crowds, something I’ve always found moving. Finally, as on every Sunday, we gather around the altar to celebrate Christ’s resurrection with Communion. Now, of course, there’s a practical reason behind this setup. In a Sunday lectionary, there’s simply no other Sunday on which to reflect on all of this material chronologically, since next week is the Sunday of the Resurrection. The result, though, is a bittersweet service, where triumph is muted by the knowledge of the agony soon to unfold—and it also becomes a surprising opportunity for spiritual lessons.
What I learn is something about human nature. I always found it odd and somewhat disturbing that, if you pay attention to the chronology in the Gospels, people cheer for Jesus one day, and just a few days later, they’re gathered against him, crying out for his death. The Palm Sunday liturgy contracts these days into a mere hour, so the shift in mood is even more noticeable. Are we really so superficial, so easily swayed and fickle? Were they just cheering for their own idea of what a Messiah should be—turning away in anger and disappointment when Jesus proved to be someone they didn’t expect?
To answer those questions, I need look no closer than at our collective modern life. I think of the entertainment industry: Lady Gaga—probably the only blog that will reference her on Palm Sunday—can be hailed one year as “the next Madonna”, and another year considered a “flop”. I think of the fashion industry: this season’s trendy styles are forgotten in the next, and with even more time are likely to be viewed as dated or even cheap. I think of the tech industry: the latest gadget is marketed as the solution to problems we didn’t even know we had, only to become obsolete in the next cycle, when we’ve moved on to newer concerns. I'm sure you can come up with your own examples.
“Out with the old, in with the new” goes the refrain. When something fails to meet our expectations, or we tire of it, we generally toss it aside, moving on to “bigger and better things”. Holy Week challenges that attitude, forcing us not to throw Jesus away like his contemporaries did, just because his type of salvation wasn’t exactly what we wanted, or because his story is 2,000 years old. Holy Week also reminds us that God doesn’t go by our concepts of old and new. God never tires from working through new ways in order to achieve his ancient purpose: to be in relationship with his creation.
Prayer of the Day
Almighty and everlasting God,
in your tender love for the human race,
you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ,
to take upon him our flesh,
and to suffer death upon the cross,
that all humanity should follow
the example of his great humility.
Mercifully grant that we
may both walk in the model of his patience,
and also worthily be made
partakers of his resurrection;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God forever and ever.
Amen.
—Collect for Palm Sunday, adapted from the 5th century Gelasian Sacramentary, and the Book of Common Prayer, 1662 and 1979.
O God,
it is meet and right to love you devotedly.
Multiply within us
the gifts of your ineffable grace,
that, as you have caused us
to hope and trust in the death of your Son,
so too, with his resurrection,
you may bring us to our heavenly goal;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
—Collect #2 for Palm Sunday, translated and adapted by Joseph A. Soltero from the 5th century Gelasian Sacramentary.
Hymn 1: “All glory, laud, and honor”
(Words: ‘Gloria, laus, et honor’, Theodulph of Orleans, 9th century; translated to English by John Mason Neale, 1818-1866; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015
Tune: ‘Valet will ich dir geben’, melody by Melchior Teschner, 1584-1635; harmonized by William Henry Monk, 1823-1889)
Refrain:
All glory, laud, and honor
To you, Redeemer, King!
To you the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.
You are the King of Israel,
Great David’s greater Son,
And in the Lord’s Name coming,
The King and blessed One!
Refrain
The company of angels
Is praising you on high,
And we, with all creation,
In chorus make reply.
Refrain
The people of the Hebrews
With palms before you went;
Our praise and prayers and anthems
Before you we present.
Refrain
To you, before your Passion,
They sang their hymns of praise.
To you, now high exalted,
Our melody we raise.
Refrain
You once received their praises,
Receive the prayers we bring,
For you delight in goodness,
O good and gracious King.
Refrain
Hymn 2: “My song is love unknown”
(Words: Samuel Crossman, 1624-1683; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015
Tune: ‘Love Unknown’, by John Ireland, 1879-1962)
My song is love unknown,
My Savior’s love to me,
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I,
That for my sake,
My Lord should take
Frail flesh and die?
He came from his blest throne
Salvation to bestow,
But some withdrew, and none
The longed-for Christ would know.
But O my friend,
My friend indeed,
Who at my need
His life did spend.
Sometimes they strew his way,
And his song praises sing,
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King.
Then “Crucify!”
Is all their breath,
And for his death
They thirst and cry.
Why? What has my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
He gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries!
Yet they at these
Themselves displease
And ‘gainst him rise.
They rise, and needs will have
My dear Lord made away.
A murderer they save,
The Prince of life they slay.
Yet steadfast he
To suff’ring goes,
That he his foes
From there might free.
In life no house, no home
My Lord on earth might have.
In death no friendly tomb
But what a stranger gave.
For heav’n, I say,
Was my Lord’s home,
But mine the tomb
Wherein he lay.
Here might I stay and sing
No holier tale than this.
Never was suffering
Nor love nor grief like his.
This is my friend
In whose sweet praise,
I all my days
Could gladly spend.
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