I remember as a small child really enjoying palm Sunday. At a small church in the middle of nowhere, I have this memory of being given a palm cross and being told to wave it about. Waving things about was what I was normally told NOT to do, so perhaps this is why it stuck in my mind. The other thing I remember from church in childhood was being given lots of ladybird books about the life of Christ by a wonderful old lady who used to live in a grand house, but would come up to me and whisper "you can read this in the boring bits". I suspect that my memory is not quite accurate, but this memory is still very important to me.
When Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we, looking back and possibly knowing how the story ends since our childhood, we see the irony, a triumphal entry - then crucifixion, the praise of the masses soon to call for his death. But perhaps for a while we can leave aside our hindsight and think back to how the crowds might have felt. I cannot but believe that their hopes and expectations were genuine, at least for some of them. They did not live in an idyllic community, but in a land of oppression, with religious and political discord the likes of which we only know through our television. With little health provision, recovery from serious illness was rare, life was short and work was hard. Into this life, a prophet among many prophets seems to be living a charmed life, three years of ministry to people have not resulted in the death of Jesus son of Joseph, despite the clear threat he poses to the authorities. Perhaps we might imagine him wandering and preaching through one of the trouble spots in the world today. It was in just such a situation, with a huge demand for change, that Jesus came, a Jew with the confidence to teach openly and to break all the rules. And then, in full and public display, he rides into Jerusalem and accepts the praise of the people. I can imagine that the thought on everyone’s mind was something like ‘so what will he do next to change things?’.
We know what happens next, the expectation of revolution is met by the silence of Jesus in the face of the mob, acceptance of his suffering, and his death and abandonment by God. All those expectations were dashed. And rather than jump forward to next Sunday and our celebration of his resurrection at Easter, I would like us to think a little about where we are in this crowd celebrating the arrival of Jesus. Don’t we have expectations of God? I used to think the crowds in Jerusalem were foolish spectators, but now I tend to see them as people, just like we are, each of us in need of hope within our lives. I think they were quite right to expect something of Jesus, and in the same way, so are we.
Just because we think we know our future, or because we think we understand the Gospel, does not mean that we should skip to the end of the story, trusting in God for salvation but leaving the present untouched. We are right to have expectations of the risen Christ, even when, as our gospel readings today perhaps shows, we sometimes feel left in a crowd and unsure of how the Risen Christ can respond to our expectations. But if we dare to believe in the reality of God, and the mystery of Jesus’ resurrection, we have no justification in refusing to expect things of God. So we are right, however foolish it may seem to the world, to expect great things of our God, who has already done the greatest thing for us through his Son, sharing our human death for the forgiveness of our sins.
And so we pray... Dear lord, we have hopes, we have expectations, some known only to you. Give us the strength to acknowledge what we expect of you, and guide us in our prayer so our will may become yours. Hold our past, our present and our future in your hands, that we may expect a life filled with your presence.
Lord, we have hopes for the world around us, and wish now to bring before you the tragedies we are exposed to through the media or through our local communities. Ethiopia region
Lord, we also bring ourselves before you, recognizing that it is through your love and your love alone that life can find its fullness. Teach us to expect that fullness, and to seek you wherever you are to be found, in family, in friend, in stranger or in enemy. Be with those we know today to be in pain, suffering, or sorrow. Help us to walk beside them, as you walk beside us.
Lord we give you thanks for the richness within your creation and in the country, the people, the hospital around us. Teach us to seek wisdom before we seek knowledge, to seek love before we seek fairness, to seek a living place for your good news within our daily lives, wherever we find ourselves. Bless the relatives carrying so many hopes and fears in this place, the staff that work here, and the patients who seek healing and care.
We ask these things in expectation of your loving help, through the mystery of your death.
Lord, we take this cross as a sign of our expectant hope in your resurrection, as a symbol of our thanks for your death for us and as a promise to seek your will in the year ahead. Lord, you commanded us to take up our cross and follow you. Bless to us these Palms, that through them we may find comfort and strength to carry your cross in our lives day by day until we know your kingdom. AMEN
