The Irony of Palm Sunday

The liturgy for Palm Sunday begins up beat as Jesus makes his triumphant entry into the holy city of Jerusalem. The crowd gathers and wave palms, they lay their cloaks on the ground for him to ride over. Surely this must be the One sent by God to deliver his people. He rides in from the east as the prophets foretold. This man may not resemble David, but the Davidic Messiah he surely must be! His angelic army will follow him and overthrow the oppressive Romans.  Zion will be restored and God will reign over his Chosen People. All other nations will falter and fall in front of them as they will be restored to power and might.

The crowd shouts Hosanna in the Highest Heaven, and Jesus is exalted as their liberator and savior. Yet we all know that this same crowd of people in just a few days will be screaming Crucify him, Crucify him! What happened to change their tone? Why did they give up on Jesus and turn their hostility towards him? Even worse, what made Judas betray his master?

Jesus was not the military leader that they expected. He was not the Davidic Messiah come to restore Zion. In the face of the Roman leadership he was humble and he refused to call down his army of angels.

Judas we are told was a thief. He stole from the common purse all the time. Judas was probably a Zealot (Jewish Extremist). He wanted Jesus more than ever to crush the Romans and set up the Kingdom of God in Jerusalem. Judas was a radical extremist ready to do anything to return the Kingdom of Zion and defeat the Romans. When Jesus didn’t turn out to be that kind of Messiah he was not only disappointed but also distraught.

Perhaps the Jewish people who so lovingly welcomed Jesus into the city felt the same way. We have all been let down in our lives. We have all had great expectations of something, only to be let down and disappointed. We have all had delusions of grandeur, only to face reality. This happened to the Jews in Jerusalem and it happens to us.

There is the story of a young man who grew up with the world at his fingertips. Given everything he had ever asked for, he expected the same from the world. But once he got out in the world he was met with bitter disappointment and despair. The world didn’t care about him, just as it doesn’t care about any one. He thought it would be easy to find fame and fortune only to have his dreams stomped on and crushed. Angrily, he turned to alcohol for his escape. There he could dream about his grandeur and live out his delusions. Yet the alcohol turned on him too and robbed him even further of his dignity, self-worth and dreams. Betrayed and lost he cursed God and ended his own life.

While we chose not to identify with Judas, there are times that we certainly can identify with him. We probably can’t count the number of times that we have prayed to God for help, assistance or assurance only to be met by silence. The problem(s) may even have become worse than ever before, so where was God? Like Judas perhaps we have tried to provoke God into action by doing something to stimulate a response. Yet still no response only more hurt and pain.

It is important that we not so easily dismiss Judas and the Jews. In many ways we can identify with them whether we like it or not. There is a little Judas in each one of us. When we fall into sin and wickedness we sell out Jesus. We reject his commandments and choose to take our lives and wills into our own hands. Why? Because we think we know what is best for us and how to handle any situation. We couldn’t be more wrong.

God loves and cares for each and every one of us no matter how far off the path we have strayed. God has compassion on the Judas’ in each of us. God knows we were born into sin and that we will always struggle with its effect. God knows that we are selfish creatures that “want what we want when we want it!” God knows that throughout our lives we will consistently fall in and out of relationship with God.

Don’t be so quick to write Judas off. We can identify with him whether we like it or not. That is the reality of this life. But remember, we can always turn back to Christ and he will forgive us our sins. Too bad the young man in the story never gave this any consideration.

Jesus came into this world with compassionate love for the lost sheep. He is our loving Shepherd who will continue to meet us where we are in life. He is our Lord who died for our sins. He is our Great High Priest who will lift us up out of the bog of self-will run riot.