191 Why the deception regarding ‘Palm Sunday’?
(If you don’t think historical realities are important, read no farther.)
In tens of thousand churches, today is Palm Sunday, with visions of children waving branches and celebrating a time of peace and joy. Reality check: there were/are no palms in Jerusalem, and most of the chants heard in that crowd would have been “Death to the Romans!” Let’s do a bit of review.
All agree that non-violence was a basic tenant of Jesus’ Kingdom of God. Sadly, he lived among a conquered people whose basic instinct and religious imperative was toward liberation. Because so much of Jesus’ message meshed with the Zealot’s, the party dedicated to overthrowing the Romans, they assumed he was on their side. We know at least four of his disciples were Zealots. Again and again they asked and begged him to be their messiah, to accept the crown of the people and lead them in revolt. Again and again he rejected the temptation. None of even his closest followers understood his calling and vision. When his disciples were arguing over who would sit next to Jesus in the new Kingdom, they were talking in real terms. Who would be the King’s right-hand man?
Finally, in despair, knowing that his words and actions hadn’t made his message clear, he chose to do one last drastic act that just might show them that violence was not God’s Way. He chose to accept the power and authority to do ultimate violence, the role of Messiah. (Just imagine the joy of the people when the news was spread. They knew he would. He was only waiting until the right time!)
He was duly installed in the office in a village just outside the city and made the official procession to his place of reign. At that time of Passover, the population of the city and area had grown from the usual 20,000 to more than 200,000. The Romans, knowing what was happening, couldn’t have stopped it and just stayed in the safety of their Fortress Antonia.
In, they marched, thousands strong, a sword under every third cloak, hailing their new Messiah, cursing the Romans, and wondering when King Jesus would give the order to attack the fortress and the homes and mansions of the many wealthy who had supported the hated Roman oppressors.
In, they marched, past the walls of the fortress and right into the focal point of Jerusalem, the Temple. This, the greatest enterprise of the city, Jesus simply shut down by overturning the moneychangers. The Temple Guards were, like the Romans, hiding. He declared the High Priest and cult to be thieves, which was true enough. The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, ‘gave’ the lucrative position to whoever would pay him the most.
King Jesus ruled. The city was his. All awaited his bidding.
He had a meal with his followers, and left the city, abandoning the power, refusing to use the ability to force and kill, knowing fully that to do so would mean his imminent death. He did this hoping that at last, people would understand that his Way, his Way-of-God, could not support the evil of violence.
As we know, he was wrong. They didn’t understand it then and Christians won’t accept it any more than they did.. We make it into something else, water it down into a holiday. And we’ve made Jesus into a God so all we have to do is believe and worship. It’s certainly a lot easier than following his open, sharing and non-violent Way. But isn’t it a shame that we’ve never really heard the whole story in church? We’d rather wave palm branches.
Anthony, needing a lot of help in trying to be non-violent in this increasingly violent world.–
