I love a good party. And I fully subscribe to Rob Bell's thought that Christians have nothing to say until we learn to throw better parties. Just ask the 15 or 20 people we had over for dinner last night. We like a good party.
But today - on Palm Sunday - we need to discern and engage what is going on beneath and behind the party as Jesus enters Jerusalem.
I felt, as Father Matt said, whiplashed during the service. We started with much joy: an upbeat song, waving palm branches, shouting 'Hosanna!' Then later in the service, during the Gospel reading, we are shouting with the crowds, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!' It brought us all in touch with something fundamentally contradictory about the human experience. We are made in God's image, made to know and love God, and be known by and loved by God. But we are fallen and fragmented. We often live in both crowds - the 'Hosanna' crowd and the 'Crucify him' crowd.
But what was Jesus thinking during all the commotion during his palm-branched ride into Jerusalem on a donkey?
As Jesus approached the city, he was overcome with compassion. Jerusalem was a city of great need and little peace. He saw this and wept. The crowd was shouting. It was a scene to behold. But Jesus was looking with eyes of compassion.
As we enter Holy Week and are engaged and enchanted by the story of Christ's passion, may we look on those in need with eyes of compassion.
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