Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem after raising Lazarus from the dead. He is a hero for the masses, riding a lowly donkey amid the palms. But his journey does not end with the Triumphal Entry. Only Jesus knows that it will continue through enormous suffering—both physical pain and spiritual agony.
The Palm Sunday spectacle reminds me of Gandhi’s salt march to the sea during India’s struggle for independence and of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s March on Washington. The analogies are imperfect, of course, but in all of these scenes, a suffering-servant/hero ignites the masses that hope for liberation. They throng to follow a leader who courageously speaks the truth, practicing his teachings, however imperfectly.
Jesus’ journey and Jesus’ teachings, however, are cosmic in scope, reaching far beyond the political scene of India or the United States. Jesus gave up his access to divine power –something Gandhi and King, of course, never had. Jesus reveals the very nature of God, who is both suffering servant and cosmic victor over evil.
Like the Palm Sunday crowd, we long for a leader who is bold and wise, compassionate and visionary. Also like the Palm Sunday crowd, we find it difficult to pay the price that following such a leader will inevitably cost. We are reluctant to renounce power, privilege, money, pleasure – or whatever else may stand in the way, keeping us from loving God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength and our neighbor as ourselves.
We can sing “I want Jesus to walk with me,” but we must also sing, “I have decided to follow Jesus. ... The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back.
No turning back.”
God, we ask you for the courage and will to follow Jesus with our whole lives. Help us to hear your call. Help us to trust in you as we journey with Jesus through the triumphs and tragedies of Holy Week and of our lives.
