Today, each of us received a palm to take home to remind usof the drama we just heard joining countless others in praising Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ when he entered Jerusalem, then just days later they scorned him. Why?
A young boy, named Drew, discovered that people could be easily persuaded by the influence of others. Serving as part of the crowd in a stage production of the Passion, he was instructed by the director to repeat whatever the men in red turbans shouted. “When you get on stage, watch the men in red turbans carefully! Shout everything they shout!” he said.
Drew could hardly wait for the Palm Sunday scene. When the curtain went up, the men in red turbans shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Waving their palms, he and the crowd shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Drew was so caught up in the shouting that he forgot about the audience. It was Palm Sunday and he was praising Jesus. But soon the scene was over and the crowd left the stage to await their next cue.
Before they went back on stage, the director again told them to imitate the men in red turbans. Soon the curtain went up and the audience could see Pilate in a gold robe standing alongside Jesus draped in a purple robe. He asked the crowd, “Which man do you want me to set free? Barabbas or Jesus?” The men in the red turbans shouted, “Barabbas!” The crowd, including Drew, shouted, “Barabbas
When the shouting died down, Pilate then asked, “What should I do with Jesus?” The men in red turbans shouted, “Crucify him!” The crowd then shouted, “Crucify him!” Once again Drew was so caught up in the shouting that he forgot the audience. Suddenly he found himself screaming, “No! No! Don’t crucify him! Please don’t!”
Drew later shared that he learned something that day he had never realized before. Those who shouted, “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday were the same people who shouted, “Crucify him!” on Good Friday. And the reason they did so was because the men in red turbans told them to do so.
Many people are like the actors who made up the crowd in the Passion drama that Drew participated in. They perform on cue. They don’t think for themselves. They simply mimic the men in the red turbans. They don’t see any need to fight the evil in the world around them. Instead, they are easily persuaded by the “in-crowd” to accept this or that even if what the “in crowd” believes in is not morally right.
Consequently, they don’t take a stand and speak up against the moral erosion in our society evidenced, for example, by a greater tolerance for cohabitation, abortion or any other actions that show a disregard for the sanctity of life. In short, they don’t stand up for Christ and the message of the gospel. As followers of Christ, we are called upon to challenge the popular whims of the “in crowd,” when they pose a danger to the moral well being of our society.
From the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, why have you abandoned me?” God hasn’t abandoned us but have we abandoned God by allowing ourselves to be duped by “men in red turbans” who seek to lead us astray from the gospel of his son, Jesus? Jesus, as Paul told us, became obedient to the point of death and for this, his father exalted him. Dare we also be obedient to the point of death?
For our sins, Jesus suffers and dies. In the passion and death of his beloved, God is rejected and humiliated.
The brokenness we both suffer and inflict can be healed by the love God has for us; love that is humble and sincere, love that is centered in gratitude and selflessness. In the broken body of Jesus, we are reconciled with God and our lives are transformed. In the broken body of Jesus, God’s spirit of humility and compassion becomes a force of hope and restoration for our hurting and desperate world.
Allow this palm branch to be a constant reminder of the depth of Jesus’ immense love for you. This branch is meant to be more than a memento of this day. This branch is also a reminder of what Jesus calls on us to do and be as his followers, doing our part to make his kingdom real, so that instead of chanting, “crucify him!” the world will echo our words of praise, “Hosanna! Blessings on the king!”