Is it the passion or the palms?

When I started to use the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) occasionally for teaching, and then my preaching schedule I realised for the first time that there were 2 options for the Sunday before Easter. Before then I was only aware of Palm Sunday. I had heard or studied a number of things on what we call the Passion Week, but had little contact with Passion Sunday. Talking with a friend this week about this Sunday I noted how infrequently I have heard of worship gatherings focused on the Passion instead of the Palms.

So, is it the Passion or the Palms for you?

Looking at the news again this week, it feels like metaphorically we can take those 2 options as an approach to many things. They are both meaningful and serve as a call to what is coming next. The biblical witness gives numerous details that are packed with foreshadowing, connecting points that lead the reader to things spoken of in the Law and Prophets of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), and of course, things that could be pondered for centuries to come. We know the story from our place in history, can look at and imagine the turmoil of the ‘news’ at that time, and are left to discern how we view our times and place in history as a response.

The Passion and the Palms looked at the same week ahead with a different focus on where things were headed…

Palm Sunday

Some churches try to combine the passages from both reading lists, but it can also take away some of the emphasis from both themes. Palm Sunday is the most popular in most settings I have been in. It makes sense to me, from a story and flow perspective, because it sets the stage for the way we see Jesus received within Jerusalem prior to his arrest and trial. It represents a form of ‘hero’s journey’ for the reader, making for a great liturgical journey over the next 7 days.

“Hosanna! Hosanna!” The welcome for a king! A new era, a new government, a new hope, changing and overthrowing all the corruption of the current reign. Except of course, that was not coming at the end of the week.

Palm Sunday represents a hope for what could be, overthrowing what is.

Passion Sunday

If you look at the readings as the beginning of Passion Week it has a very different feel. Here you encounter the ‘suffering servant’ of Isaiah, and the Gospel reading goes directly to the arrest and trial of Jesus. It is not just a foreshadowing of what is to come — it leads the reader directly to the end of the week. As you may have already noticed, from my perspective, being focused on the next weekend at this point takes away from the view of the people in the moment. We miss the celebrants, the people who did not yet understand the what and why of what was to come.

Passion Sunday could be the way many view our times today. My own angst-ridden approach to world affairs. Not seeing the hopeful or what might be, instead seeing a forecast of only destruction on repeat.

So What?

That is the question I ask every time I prepare a sermon. It helps me stay on track, or maybe better, to get back on track. It is easy to get lost in the many perspectives, the history, the interesting research that I love to read, and of course, the many ways to approach the theme for others. But at the end of the day (or the morning) something needs to stick. Something people can walk with and chew on and hopefully digest with others. Otherwise, it is just an exercise in the performing arts on my part.

Palm Sunday leads into the Passion, and all events must follow. It reminds me of how some churches I visited would launch into a full on Resurrection celebration on Good Friday, almost as though each part of the Christ story was to be ignored. It gave me the impression that, as has been the accusation in some church circles in the past, we did not want to acknowledge the hurt, the disorientation, the feeling of loss that come with the Passion week. We only want the ‘happy ending’. In doing so, we do not see the Christ as one who lived into suffering, and try to avoid it for ourselves. If that is how we approach Palm Sunday, then we do miss something for perspective on life and the world around us.

Palm Sunday, leading into a week in and around Jerusalem, prepares us for the Passion leading up to the cross. It is a pilgrimage for each of us, giving a renewed perspective on how we live out life in the midst of the news and political climate. It forces us to acknowledge our own expectations, live with our doubts, and confess when we feel the let down of things not being…perfect. Walking with the Palms shows our own limited vision for going through disappointment with a hope. Even if we do not see it on the horizon.

Passion or Palms? Maybe both? But both without taking away from either, and not expecting things fully completely when we only have a small part in this present time. Both can teach us something about honestly being, walking in this world, walking with this world, and walking with the Christ.