“So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A massive crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed were shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”” (Matthew 21:6-9)
Hi Fighter,
I find it more difficult to celebrate Palm Sunday now than I once did. Growing up, it was always a time of pageantry, something akin to Christmas. The regular boring weekly church service would be spiced up with the kids dressed up, singing and waving palm branches. This was a tradition I tried to maintain over my 30 years as Parish Priest in Dulwich Hill. The more dancing, singing, and waving of branches, the better!
Now I find I can’t read this story of crazy celebration without thinking about the crucifixion that happened five days later. Five days! Is that really all it took for the cheering crowds to transition from ‘Hosanna’ to ‘Crucify Him’? At least, in my case, it was more like five years.
You’ll forgive me for reading my own story into the passion narrative. I don’t see myself as a Christ-figure but think we should all be interpreting our lives through the lens of the Gospel narratives. Indeed, for all of us whose ‘lives are hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3) we find ourselves caught up in the death and resurrection cycle of our Lord. We walk the path of sorrows, we pray till our sweat falls like drops of blood (Luke 22:44), and, ultimately, we experience healing and resurrection.
“For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” (Romans 6:4)
Palm Sunday was a day of great celebration. People cheered, danced, and partied loudly. I don’t suppose that every one of those cheering people turned on Jesus over the coming few days. Even so, it had to be essentially the same group, as the key issue was the way Jesus failed to live up to their expectations.
The people were waiting for someone to liberate them from the brutal and murderous Roman Occupation. Of course they were. They were looking for a ‘Son of David’ – another unbeatable warrior king, who would lead them to a bloody victory over their oppressors. Who could blame them? The question that always puzzles me is, ‘Why did Jesus play into those expectations if He didn’t intend to fulfil them?’
I’ve never been able to come up with a satisfactory answer to that question, but it’s clear that Jesus knew that the people would turn on him. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is remembered as weeping on His way into Jerusalem because the people did not know “the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:42). Clearly, the crowd were ready for a violent Jihad. Jesus was not going to lead it. Nonetheless, he seems to invite the people to celebrate His arrival as a warrior king!
In my story, I didn’t see the crash coming. Five years earlier, on my 25th anniversary as Parish Priest, the church hung an enormous picture-poster of me from the church steeple and, at roughly the same time, the ANZ Bank sponsored a five-metre-high mural of me that was painted on the wall of their main office building in Martin Place, at the centre of Sydney’s CBD. It was a great honour. I still feel humbled by it. Even so, they repainted the wall in Martin Place at about the same time I was evicted from the parish. The timing wasn’t intentional, but it was painful.
All glory is fleeting. That’s the obvious lesson I get from both Palm Sunday and from my own experience. Even so, there has to be more to learn here. Why did Jesus let the celebration happen when He knew how things were going to end? How could he revel in the moment when he knew that these people would soon turn on him? How did Jesus (here as elsewhere) manage to party in the midst of the impending pain and violence that he knew was coming? I suspect that this is another example of our Lord’s wonderful ability to live in the moment.
It is difficult to live in the moment. We are constantly pulled back into the past by guilt, and forward into the future by fear. We spend so much time thinking about all the things we wish we had done differently, and we spend even more time worrying about all the things that might soon go wrong. Jesus seemed to be able to live in the moment and appreciate all the good things that were going on around him without being pulled into the past or future. Yes, He’d experienced pain in the past and knew that more pain lay ahead. Even so, Jesus could laugh and drink and sing and celebrate in the here and now.
I want to be more like Jesus. I want to be able to celebrate all the wonderful moments that God has given to me without allowing them to be discoloured by subsequent experiences of pain. I want to be able to look forward to the future with hope, despite the further pain that I know lies ahead. I want to be able to live in the now, not ignoring all the ambiguities but not being bound by them either. I want to celebrate, with Jesus, the day God has given me!
Our Sunday Eucharist
As ever, we celebrated a wonderful Sunday Eucharist last weekend. I was joined on the panel by both David Baldwin and our Muslim brother, Tom Toby. As ever, Tom taught me about something that connects Christianity and Islam that I didn’t know about. It’s perfume! I’ve pasted the relevant short below along with one other. You can, of course, see all our shorts on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page, and watch the entire replay of last Sunday via our YouTube channel.
This Sunday I do not expect to join you live for the broadcast at all. I’m currently in Japan, and I’ll be on a high-speed train at the time of the broadcast, heading back to Tokyo for the trip home. Father Mark and Rob Gilland will lead us and will, no doubt, have it all well in hand. If I can connect from the train, I will, but most likely I’ll just enjoy the replay later.
Sunday’s broadcast will begin at noon (Sydney time) @ TheSundayEucharist.com and Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard.
Let me work your corner
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What’s On?
- Sunday, April 13th – Our Eucharist from midday via thesundayeucharist.com or Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard).
- Tuesday, April 15th – Boxing at the The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm.
- Thursday, April 17th – Boxing at the The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
- Friday to Monday, April 18 to 21 – Easter@Binacrombi. Please join me
Yes, it’s back to work for me next week though I still have some good times ahead of me over the next few days in Japan. Tomorrow, we catch the high-speed train down to Hiroshima where I hope to visit a peace museum. Even so, our main reason for going there is to visit a place I had promised my youngest daughter we would get to one day – namely, Okunoshima, better known as ‘Bunny Island’.
Apparently, It all started in 1971 when an elementary school released eight rabbits on the island. The rest is history. After 50+ years of rabbits doing what rabbits do, no one is sure exactly how many bunnies there are there now. The last official count was in 2013 when there were 700. There could be double that number now, or more! Expect some great photos from me in next week’s newsletter. 😊
Interestingly, long before bunnies took over the island, in 1927, Ōkunoshima was where the Japanese government manufactured its chemical weapons! It’s hard to imagine a more a bizarre evolution – from weapons of mass destruction to an island full of fluffy bunnies! It sounds almost Biblical, doesn’t it?
Incidentally, one of the collective nouns for a group of bunnies is a ‘fluffle’. I would have mentioned that in the last paragraph, but it made it sound a bit less Biblical.
Anyway, it’s been a wonderful trip so far, as you can see from the pics. Spending a day in Tokyo Disneyland with my darling daughters was a dream come true. I had promised Fran since she was tiny that one day I would take her to Disneyland, yet it was looking impossible. Not only couldn’t I afford it, but the USA isn’t going to let me in at the moment due to the time I’ve spent in Syria and Iran. Tokyo Disneyland, on the other hand, turned out to be both affordable (via a small loan) and accessible!
Yes, I’ve accrued more debts, which some people would consider irresponsible, but I’m going to ‘let tomorrow’s worries take care of themselves’ (Matthew 6:34). I’m celebrating the moment God has given me – a moment of good health and good fun with my children. It’s a moment that may never come again, and it’s one for which I am deeply thankful.
Your brother in the Good Fight,
www.christianswithdepression.com
P.S. Two other very significant events took place over this last week that I didn’t want to mix in with the banter above. One was the party for my son, Soren’s, Engagement to his partner, Lydia. The other was the death of one of this world’s great women – Marilyn Mulhall. The images below will speak more loudly than anything I can say.
About Father Dave Smith
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
