This day is surely the most paradoxical of any on the liturgical calendar. Is that a controversial statement? Perhaps, but it seems true. There is a paradox on this day. The obvious one is the juxtaposition of Palm and Passion on this day. How does one service contain the emotions present in the celebration that was the Palm Sunday parade and the painful solitary walk to the cross on Good Friday? It seems impossible, and we usually make a choice to observe one over the other. Maybe we focus on the parade and let the children dance around the sanctuary waving palm branches and shouting for Jesus. More rarely, today could become an extended Good Friday, as the attention to the Passion overwhelms the liturgy of the day. It is possible to begin with the parade and then transition later in the service – interestingly often after the offering is taken! Maybe this is a recognition of the sacrificial nature of giving our financial resources.

But there is a deeper paradox woven into this day that we could bring to light. The reality is on this day, those who lined the street and laid down their garments and waved their branches and shouted got it right. They shouted, as we know though the Luke text doesn’t record it, “Hosanna.” That had become, as Luke claims, a statement of praise, a celebration of the one who comes. But it also has a translation: “Save us.” That’s what the word “Hosanna” means. “Save us.” So, on that day, the crowd got it right. But they probably didn’t even know it. That’s an assumption, admittedly. We don’t know what was in their minds and hearts on that day. But reading on in the story, we recognize that if, even in the moment, they knew what they were saying, it certainly didn’t last long. To go from “Hosanna” to “Crucify him” seems a long journey.

But maybe it isn’t a long journey. Within each of us is the capacity to claim Christ and reject him almost at the same time. Palm/Passion Sunday is about the celebration and acknowledgement of the one who comes in the name of the Lord. It is a time for declaration of faith and reaffirmation and recommitment to discipleship as we follow Christ with our whole lives. But it is also a time of confession, of acknowledging that we don’t live up to the commitments we have made in the past and that our declarations with our lips seem far from the actions of our lives.

Through it all, however, is the theme that the one who comes will come. No matter how many times we mess up, the Savior still comes, riding into the heart of our city with an offer of redemption, a promise of salvation. And we can rejoice in that.

PLAYLIST SONG

“You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen

We have arrived at Holy Week. We followed Jesus into Jerusalem amidst joyful multitudes who hailed him as a king, yet we know Friday is coming. The triumphant multitudes will not stick around long. Yet, God’s steadfast love never fails. So, as we move into this holiest of weeks, listen to “You Will Be Found” from the musical Dear Evan Hansen and consider: “How does God’s steadfast love find you, even when you feel lost?”