Holy Week Devotional | Palm Sunday

Singing Hosannas of Hope

Jesus wept.

This is not the phrase we anticipate hearing when we attend services on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is more often associated with children waving palm branches and people offering shouts of hosanna.

But hosannas are not how the Palm Sunday story ends.

What begins as a day of celebration and anticipation, ends with Jesus driving thieves out of the temple – a confusing passage because it seems so different from how Jesus normally operates. And in between these two passages we have this: Jesus wept. Jesus weeps over the city and its people saying: “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!”

Palm Sunday is a profoundly complex day, mingling together hope for a transformed future with action against those who turn houses of worship into “dens” of thievery – and in between these two extremes, deep and profound lament.

Over these last weeks of tumult related to managing the ongoing pandemic and its related restrictions, I have heard people longing for the good old days – those early days of the pandemic when everybody seemed to be “in this together” and where people seemed to go out of their way to express kindness to friends and strangers alike.

Now, most people are simply tired. Unfortunately, it is when we are tired and overwhelmed that we fall easily into dangerous forms of polarization. This was true in first century Palestine. It is also true today.

Here in Canada, over these last weeks and years, I have felt palpable fear among fellow citizens. Who are we, really, as a country? “If only you had recognized the things that make for peace.” These words of Jesus are as true today as they were when they were first spoken. Do we know the things that make for peace? There is no malice in Jesus’ voice, no ill will. Instead, what we see is a deep and profound compassion for the people, so unschooled in peace and so willing to be polarized.

I wonder what it would be like to join Jesus in his compassion-filled lament. What would it be like, on this Palm Sunday, to engage the divisions around us with a compassion-filled sorrow even as we sing hosannas of hope for a different future?

Dr. Betty Pries

Co-Founder and CEO,
Credence & Co

Prayer

Father God, help us as we traverse these times of lament and hopelessness. Allow us to be reminded of your peace, love and comfort, today and every day – irrespective of what the day holds for us.

Application

Commit your moments of worry, anxiety and hopelessness to the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding. Mindfully allow the peace of Christ to rule in your hearts.