What I’m Thinking: Palms and Passion

This week, I think that if we let ourselves avoid the sorrow and painful memories of Holy Week, we do not fully appreciate the joy of Easter.

Here’s a transcript:

This coming Sunday is a big one in the Church: It’s Palm Sunday. It’s a great celebration in and of itself as we remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, met by a great crowd who spread branches on the ground in front of him, who cheered him, and who cried out, “Hosannah!” “Save us!”

So we’re to do some marching; we’re going to do some singing. There’s going to be palm branches, and we’re going to have a great celebration.

But Holy Week does not end with that story, and I think there’s a risk if we go directly from the celebration of the palms to the celebration of the resurrection. We do need to explore the depths of loss and of tragedy, of human sin and of human sorrow that we find in the rest of Holy Week.

And so we’re going to shift this coming Sunday from Palm to Passion. And we’re simply going to read the words that Matthew wrote about what happened to Jesus, what he said, and what he did, from the time that he sat at a table with his disciples for a Passover meal until the moment that he died upon the cross.

It should be a very, very deep and precious time.

That’s what I’m thinking. What are you thinking? Leave your ideas in the comment section below!