On Parade

This Sunday marks Palm Sunday and Jesus joining the procession behind the High Priest who was bringing the perfect lamb from Bethlehem to the temple in Jerusalem for the annual Passover sacrifice. Jesus riding a humble donkey fulfilled scripture and showed that He came in peace.

I wonder how He felt that day, sitting on a donkey that He had to arrange for and surrounded by disciples who would later abandon and betray Him, with crowds of people who showed up to see the tiny lamb being brought and not Him. Many would make the connection and start shouting their hosannas and praising Him, realizing that He was their perfect Passover lamb. I wonder how it felt to go from the high of all of that excitement to the realities of the business enterprise that the temple had become, the sacred place turned into a store. And I wonder just how much He knew of the next and last chapter of His life before it happened.

Church leaders, especially right now, may feel similarly on display and surrounded with people who can be equally as fickle as the crowds that day. We are the ones up at the front, charged with saying things that we hope will challenge and inspire. The “crowds” may applaud or speak thanks and encouragement, or they may turn, deciding that this (and you) aren’t what they want or need and God hasn’t shown up for them lately so what’s the point?

While many churches will have children marching in a parade at kids’ time, the leadership is definitely on parade each week and especially at Holy Week. There is pressure to look the part and to be impressive in what we say and creative in taking the Passion and Easter events and making them new and exciting somehow - both interesting and accessible to those who attend only twice a year and also stimulating to those who have journeyed throughout Lent with us. Extra things are asked and needed of us and the expectations can feel overwhelming.

I know that I need to ground myself and be reminded that this isn’t my story, but God’s story. And that story is life-giving and intact and enough. That doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t seek inspiration or try to explain it for our current context, but it doesn’t fall to me to make Holy Week and Easter seem important. It already is and our witness and faithful sharing of the story are enough. Because it is Jesus they need to see, not us. It is God’s love that needs to be on display, not our cleverness or wisdom.

A dear friend gave me a slew of picture books recently, including many for Holy Week and Easter. As I read them, I realized how times have changed. Many of the stories were huge extrapolations of scripture or added character perspectives not mentioned in the text. This works fine when people already know the story, but in our mostly biblically illiterate society they just add confusion. The Easter story itself is the miracle and the reality and the truth we need. It doesn’t need fluffing up. We just need to confront the events of Passion Week with courage and to perhaps understand at least a bit how like the disciples we are.

Holy Week is nearly here. Breathe. The story is enough. We can rest in it together, listening for what God has for us through it to help and guide us in 2023. Soak it in. Don’t be afraid but allow it to be your story. As we find our own testimony in it, we become God’s story as well. You are not parading, you are merely pointing to the One who is worth shouting Hosanna! to, the One who changed your life. May you have a blessed Holy Week.