Palm Monday Hangover?

Palm Monday. The donkey awakened, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and pride. He walked into town and found a group of people by the well. “I’ll show myself to them,” he thought.

But they didn’t notice him. They went on drawing their water and paid him no mind. “Throw your garments down,” he said crossly. “Don’t you know who I am?” They just looked at him as nothing more than a wandering mule. Then to add insult to injury, someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move. “Miserable heathens!” the donkey muttered to himself. “I’ll just go to the market. The good people there will remember me for sure!” But when the little donkey arrived in the busy Jerusalem market the same thing happened - no one (not a single person) paid him any attention. Then the donkey thought, “Oh yes, the palm branches! Where are the palm branches?! Yesterday, these people raised, waved and threw palm branches!” Hurt, baffled and confused, the donkey sulked and returned home to his mother. When she heard what had happened, she compassionately whispered to the little donkey, “Foolish child, don’t you realize that without Jesus, you are just an ordinary donkey?”

Today we are reminded that without Jesus to accompany us in this life, we are like the donkey in this (made up) metaphor; we too are simply misguided creatures, full of false hope and lofty expectations. We end up living superficial lives that seek nothing more than to live in moments of self-centered glory.

The people who crowded into the streets of Jerusalem in order to welcome Jesus into the city had worked themselves up into a frenzy; a frenzy driven by false hope and unrealistic, lofty expectations. Jesus was the Messiah. This was a triumphant military entry into the most holy city in the universe. The Christ would liberate these people from the burden of Roman oppression; the Christ would raise Israel up above her enemies in triumph; the Christ would bring down the reign of God, and Zion would flourish. Yet, as we shall see the Jewish leaders and people of Jerusalem set themselves up for a major disappointment.

Like our little donkey, Holy Monday (Palm Monday as the story called it) brought a completely different tone. Where were the mighty acts of this Messiah? Where were the angel and heavenly hosts? Where was their “self” prophesied liberation? Why were the Roman soldiers still occupying the city? Nothing had changed! Disappointment, discouragement and ultimately anger must have festered in the city streets of Jerusalem. I imagine each time a discarded palm branch came into view; it only served to stoke and ignite the angry disappointment of the Jewish people. To make matters worse, not only did Jesus not call down a heavenly army of liberators, Mark tells us that as quickly as he entered the city, he left. Jesus didn’t even make a sacrifice in the temple, address the people or challenge the Roman authorities. Jesus and his disciples go back outside the city to Bethany and retire for the night. Is Mark joking? All the hype and energetic build up and then – nothing? Ironically the very moment the crowds seem at last to recognize Jesus and eager to affirm his identity, Jesus decides to emphasize that he is not the kind of Davidic and liberating Messiah they expect. So Jesus and the twelve disciples simply left Jerusalem leaving nothing more than a (disillusioned) donkey to show he had been present.

Palm Sunday is a subtle reminder to each of us that it is often our own expectations (spoken or not) that get us into trouble and cut us off from God. Our perceptions of what we want God to do in this life often become the stumbling blocks that trip us up as we journey through this life. If only God would have saved that person from death; if only God had not allowed that criminal to commit such a heinous act; if only God had allowed me to avoid those painful experiences….(the list goes on and on).

We have all stood in the street and waived our palms at Jesus, expecting him to do for us those things that we desire or project on him. And we have all felt the bitter disappointment when those expectations go unmet. Yet God is not manipulated by our actions, nor tricked by our careful plans. Instead, God loves us despite the isolating and divisive nature of sin. God longs to be in communion with each and every one of us, and looks beyond our human shortsightedness to the eternal truth. And just what is that eternal truth? It is the fact that God’s nature is to draw all things to him. While sin ran amok in this world, unchecked and ramped, God’s task was not possible. But in Christ Jesus, that would change!

Like the label on the back of a bottle of salad dressing that says, Shake well before using - shaking is a part of God’s divine nature. God doesn't forewarn, he doesn't explain, sometimes he just shakes.God shook Job -- he lost everything.God shook Jonah -- the bottom dropped out of his plans.God shook the apostles -- the vibrations didn't stop until they reached heaven.Left unshaken, a bottle of salad dressing creates sour sediment like that at the bottom of a wine vat. The world had become stale, flat and sour because she was sedimentary, calcified, hardened. Through out the history of the world we witness God restore his people and nations by shaking them up. God doesn't shake just for the sake of shaking. There is a reason. The stuff of life is being rearranged, and people are going to be affected.

Therefore on the day we call Palm Sunday, God decided to radically shake things up in this world. God did the most unexpected and selfless act by sending Jesus as the living sacrifice that would restore the world to freedom. Through this jarring action - sin and death are defeated and the hope for all creation is restored. The eternal truth is - that our hope (yours and mine) is restored, and nothing (Absolutely Nothing) will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

As we move forward into Holy Week and journey with Jesus to the cross, I ask each of us to prayerfully reflect:

What selfish expectations do we wave like palms in the air as we seek Christ?
What parts of our lives need to be shaken and jarred?
Are we like the donkey on “Palm Monday” blindly caught up in our own life needs and wants?

The journey that lies before us as we enter Holy Week is one that will take us ever deeper into the mystery of God. This is a journey that will shake our lives to their very core, shaking loose the sediments and calcified deposits of sin that weigh us down; the hardened film that cuts us off from God. Holy Week has begun; darkness falls; the light is dimmed; Christ has triumphantly entered Jerusalem (only) to quietly leave and prepare for the earth shattering darkness to come.