Palms and Parades

This is one of those weeks when you sit and stare at the screen and think to yourself, "I don't have anything new to say." You know the Gospel, backwards and forwards. You have heard it yearly for what, nearly 50 years? We always seem to think about it terms of parades- triumphal parades- and those palm branches littering the road into the city.

On top of it I am in my second day of feeling under the weather. Not so sick that I am stuck in bed- but not so healthy that I feel like I can do much of anything. So I think of this passage, having missed church this morning, and have nothing new to say.

So I will give you the highlights, in bullet form.

• The week before Passover
• Jesus riding a donkey into the city
• Humility
• Yet forcefully stating his kingship
• People falling all over themselves to honor him
• The people's choice

So there is the parade. But we always point out the change in the fortunes in the next week. By this time next week the change in the world will be monumental. Yet only a few will know it. So what good is "The Parade" if no one is willing to keep on keeping on?

Here's the clip from the original Jesus Christ Superstar that catches that tension:



When you have reviewed that, pause for a moment. What is the Word for today coming out of that day? well, being in the state I am in today, I will let this video that uses the same pictures from above, with some others, and the music of U2- Peace on Earth. Ponder and pray for the Holy Week.