Palm Sunday: a day to step beyond the barrier

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.

Stepping out of time and into the past

I love sunrises and sunsets. It's the time of day when the sun weakens and becomes vulnerable, so that we see what we could not see in the bright light of day. As the sun's rays shatters, they break open, revealing a myriad of brilliant colors. Those same shattered rays stretch far across the horizon, as though they must touch land and sea, clouds and stars and moon before being put out. Amazing. We actually see the most glorious part of the sun when it is at its weakest point.

Holy Week is like that. It's the time when Jesus' life went on display, and the words of Jesus were stretched for all to see: shadows and darkness, brilliant colors of blood and bruising, bread and wine, palms and thorns, cross and garments. It is the time the weakness of Jesus appears, Jesus being vulnerable, being wounded, dying. It is the sunset of Jesus' life.

If you would see the glory of God, find a way to step out of time and into the past, I encourage you to find a place that celebrates the many ceremonies that commemorate Holy Week. Start with Palm Sunday, a day that begins with a triumphal procession and ends with the reading of the Passion. 

Better yet, take time to sit with the Gospels and read the Passion account for yourself. Let the sunset of Jesus bring rays of hope to your life. Let the life of Jesus be broken open for you, so that you may see the glory of God, and find God's healing rays.