Blogesphere Confessional: Palm Sunday creeps me out.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that the whole thing has a lot going for it. In the Gospels, Jesus orchestrates the whole thing, sends in the disciples for the donkey, arranges his royal entry, and depending on which gospel you’re reading even rebukes the would-be-rebukers.
So what’s the problem?
I’m not so sure about the crowds and their cry. This seems to be one of those quintessential moments of dramatic irony that Mark is so skillful with. The people are praising Jesus as the coming king, but nobody has been able to hear what kind of kingdom Jesus has come to establish.
I am all for enacting the stories of the gospel, especially as they are moments that should deeply inform our own sense of self-understanding. But I wonder how profitable it is to place ourselves into this moment of dramatic irony, where the people whose voice and march we emulate really didn’t know what they were saying.
Do we realize this as we process into our churches waving our own palm branches?
Do we remember that the next thing Jesus did after “triumphantly entering” Jerusalem was to turn around and go to bed?
More later, perhaps. I need to go cut a branch off our palm tree…
(picture credit: http://jesusmafa.com)
Dear Dr. Kirk,
Thought provoking blog! Well done! Please don’t keep us hanging . . . would love to hear more of your thoughts on Mark, Jesus, palm trees, Holy Week, etc. I imagine you’ll be busy cheering on the Blue Devils for the next few hours (as will I) but I do hope you’ll write more.
Shalom,
Mary Koepke Fields
Don’t just stick with Mark. Luke has no palms, and disciples only doing the content of the praise. And this is – in the liturgical churches – the year when Luke is read. What he does with the story, as I blogged earlier today, is very different, and, of course, Matthew and Luke alike edit that rather prosaic ending in Mark to end with the rather more dramatic cleansing of the temple.
I don’t know if this is the irony your talking about, but the church I attended this sunday had us begin by processing in with palms and by the end of the service during the dramatic reading of Luke’s passion had the congregation say two lines…”Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” and “Crucify, Crucify him!”
Daniel,
I find that when I read anything your write, my head is shaking. Could be agreement, agreement combined with laughter, or disagreement with surprise. Surprised at a cause or idea that you champion that seems a wee bit liberal for my liking. But, I always find that my head is shaking. Today it was agreement with laughter right off the bat, “Palm Sunday creeps me out.” Still laughing an hour later as I have a slow nod going as I ponder your great insight that has given words to an undefined uncomfortableness I’ve had for a long time. Thanks for having the blog up and running on all cylinders again. My wife wants to know why I am laughing.
Actually, that’s what the palm procession should be about. We hail Jesus as the King but we are reminded of how fickle that hailing is. That’s part of how we interpret it for the palm waving crowd in our corner of (post)Christendom.
…Or only certain people from the crowd that were looking out, yearning for the kingdom had had eyes to see that he was/is indeed a king. For example, all four gospels unmistakably depict a woman rising up from the crowd and anointing Jesus (which BTW was a critique on the temple by the woman herself, as only officials of the temple could anoint). It seems the officials, busy as they were for festivities and such, didn’t notice that he needed anointing — but the fringe did, and did.
I would have loved the opening line as a blog in itself.
Thanks for the comments, all. Sorry I wasn’t online yesterday to approve comments made throughout the day.
Squeak & Steve: that sounds right to me. There’s something wonderful about being reminded that we, too, like to acclaim Jesus Lord and King but that according to our own terms. I guess my fear is something like: most of us don’t get it.
Most Anglican churches read the entire Passion narrative on Palm Sunday and have the congregation read the crowd portions (“Crucify Him.”) It has always been powerful to me that in the course of a service I go from hailing Him as King to calling for His crucifixion. It is one of the most poignant times of Lent, re-enacting those two parts of the story and identifying my own fickle, sinful nature with those of the people of Jerusalem.
Also, I think there is something else going on in that processional. It is a chance for the church to reinterpret that story in light of the true nature of the Kingdom, to hail Jesus as the King that He is and not as the king that people want(ed) Him to be.
Funny that it creeps you out. It is one of my favorite services of the year and always prepares me to enter Holy Week in a correct frame of mind.