Preparing for the Parade

Palm Sunday is nearly here, and as we tentatively emerge from Covid cocoons churches are actually having parades with palm branches for their kids. We’re going to attempt a version of this Sunday.

The story of Palm Sunday recorded in the gospels is just the fulfillment of this event held for centuries. The people lined the streets that day expecting to see the Chief Priest carrying the year’s sacrificial lamb to the temple. This time, however, Jesus rides in behind the religious procession on a donkey, fulfilling the words of Zechariah 9:9-13. He was the ultimate sacrificial lamb, the once and for all time Messiah. The majority of the people would have realized what was happening and no doubt the Chief Priest felt up-staged by their shouts of Hosanna and interest in the man on the donkey.

I’ve been thinking this week about returning to in person worship and how many things are different from what we expected. Many people hoped to go back to ‘normal’ and the familiar, to be reassured of the ritual and routine after the anxiety of separation and the losses we’ve experienced on many levels. Some may even be looking for someone or some aspect of worship to be a Messiah and to take away all that weighs us down, scares or worries us or has put us in a fog. We may be excited and celebratory but quickly realize that it’s not all as shiny as we had hoped it would be.

Jesus rode in on a donkey rather than on a horse, as one would expect a conquering king to ride. He was quiet and humble with no fanfare. Perhaps some people even missed seeing Him. But His presence spoke volumes about the lengths that God would go to save us and what God’s love is like. This event was a precursor to Jesus’ betrayal, trial and execution. He was slaughtered on the cross at the same time that the lamb the Chief Priest carried was sacrificed at the temple for Passover. He truly became, as John the Baptist first called Him at the Jordan River, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

In our Holy Week preparations, in continued concern for Covid protocols and safety, in the anxiety and excitement of people returning to worship and having diverse expectations of what that will offer them and be like, my prayer is that we don’t miss the key part of the parade, the Man rather than the event. I pray that despite our emotions and need for the ritual of the Chief Priest carrying that lamb that we see Jesus among us. I pray that we take in the seriousness and love of His presence and allow that realization to permeate all that we do.

Whether the music falls into place easily or not, whether there are hiccups with technology, whether certain people show up or don’t show up, may we create space that Jesus can be seen clearly and that what we do is in worship and service of Him. May our words and choices be like the palm branches to prepare the way for His coming. May us leaders, perhaps seen as being like Chief Priests, get out of the way with humility so that Jesus is the focus and honoured One. And may our Hosannas not just be loud but full of all that we carry in our hearts and need to turn over to the One who made the way for us.