Sunday is Palm Sunday, a day when we begin Holy Week. The church will be full of those seeking that cherished palm. And yet, it should be more. It should be a reminder of life, and how no one, not even Jesus, is exempt from suffering.
The week ahead will not be productive for us unless we find a way to remember it in light of grace and glory. And that light comes from remembering that Jesus' only crime was claiming a union, a oneness with God. This was unheard of by the people of his time. And yet, this is the main message of Jesus: you will be like gods (John 10:34).
Jesus tells us we can be so filled with the spirit of the Divine as to be transformed. And is that not the purpose and intent of Holy Week? To remember that no matter what we suffer, Jesus has in some way suffered the same with us? He was not content to "know" suffering intellectually. He accepted the kinds of suffering he knew we would experience: rejection, misunderstandings, loneliness, betrayal, mental anguish, physical pain. He wanted us to be able to look at him and say, "I can talk to Jesus about this. He will understand."
And just as Jesus accepted suffering such as we endure, he reminds us we can take on Divinity. "The Father and I are one." he exclaims in John 10:30. Why else would this upcoming week be called Holy, except to demonstrate how pain and sorrow do not have the last word, but we who know not to let it destroy us can take it one step further, to breaking the barrier of self and stepping into transformation.
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