From Hosanna to the Cross, where do we stand?

Palm Sunday always begins with a contradiction.  

We start with joy, palms waving, voices raised, singing Hosanna.  

And then almost immediately, we are plunged into the passion.  

Praise turns into silence, and cheers become accusations. A welcome becomes a crucifixion.  

The church places these moments we read about in today's readings together, not because the story is only about what they did that time, long ago.  

It is also about where we stand today.  

The passion of Jesus Christ is not something that is locked in the past.  The passion continues wherever love is rejected, truth is ignored, and innocent people suffer.  The same forces that were at work in Jerusalem are still at work in our world, where fear, pressure, silence, and the desire to protect ourselves sometimes seem to overrule everything else.  

We have experienced some of these things play out in our own lives, be it in our families, places of work, in our parishes, between friends, where two people may argue, and words are said in that moment that hurt.  Voices are raised.  

And sometimes the easiest thing is to step away for those of us who are not involved in whatever is going on.

To go into another room, to pretend that what has taken place has nothing to do with us.

But in those moments, sometimes someone chooses a different way.  

A child might reach out and hug somebody who is crying.  

A parent might apologize to their child first.  

A member of the parish might step in and say, " Let's stop”.  We are part of the same body of Christ.  

These gestures, these words, these phrases do not erase the problem instantly, but they do change the moment.  

They change the moment because someone chooses love over pride, and someone chooses to carry a burden that is not entirely their own.  

And this is what it looks like, even today, for us, to carry the cross with Christ.  

Pilate did not hate Jesus.  Pilate knew Jesus was innocent.  But Pilate was afraid.  He was afraid of conflict.  He was afraid of being an unpopular leader. He was afraid of standing alone. He was afraid of consequences.  

So, what did Pilate do?  Pilate washed his hands.  

We resemble Pilate whenever we say, I do not want to get involved.  I'll just stay neutral.  It's safer to keep quiet. It's safer to pretend that never happened.  

And in those moments, the passion continues not only through cruelty, but through indifference.

Judas did not betray Jesus as an enemy.  Judas betrayed Jesus as a friend.  

The betrayals we witness in our own lives are not always dramatic.  What they are instead are quiet compromises.  When we choose acceptance over integrity, when we choose comfort over faithfulness.  And every time we choose silence over truth, the story moves forward.  

But we have to remember that not everyone walks away.  Simon of Cyrene helped carry the cross.  

Each time we choose to help someone carry a burden they did not choose, we stand in his place.  

The women stood at the cross.  They couldn't stop the suffering, but they refused to leave.  And sometimes this is the most powerful witness, when we choose to stay.  

St. Paul tells us and reminds us that Jesus did not cling to power but emptied himself.  And that is still the Christian path today.  It's a path of humility over dominance, a path of service instead of control, when we choose to love rather than fear.  The things that seem small, such as staying close, speaking gently, choosing compassion, is how the passion is transformed today.  Transformed from suffering and death into resurrection.

Palm Sunday asks us a question.  Will we follow Jesus only when it is popular?  Or also when it costs us something?  I love Palm Sunday.  I love the waving of palms.  It is easy to wave palms.  It is harder to carry a cross.  

During this Holy Week, we are not being asked to fix everything.  Actually, when we think about everything going on in our own lives and in the world, it is overwhelming.  

However, we are invited and asked to choose where we stand.  Do we stand with the crowd?  Do we stand with fear, or do we stand with Christ?  

The invitation this week is to move from being spectators to witnesses.  

We may move from waving palms to carrying the cross and from fear to love.  

Amen.