2024 Sun March 24

An article in the 2024 edition of Living Well Through Lentpiqued my interest. It is about the bystanders on Palm Sunday and written by Victoria Garvey.

Many of the characters in the Palm Sunday Liturgy we know well- Pilate, Jesus, Peter, Judas, Barabbas, Mary Magdalene. We don’t see any such leaders in the “crowd.” Garvey writes “Only after Jesus’ arrest does the tide turn, and the “crowd” moves from support to condemnation because they listened to loud voices muttering fake news, because they were afraid to be counted among the risk-takers, because they feared losing hold of their own tenuous grasp of what was deemed acceptable behavior by their contemporaries. Over and over, we are reminded that even those closest to Jesus during his ministry are capable of turning way, of betrayal and cowardice.”

This sounds like today. We listen to the loudest voices, not necessarily those who makes the most sense. We tend to be timid over confrontation. And then there is the issue of fake news. We don’t analyze what we hear and assume those who speak or write have facts and/or reality on their side.

Bishop Robert Wright of the Diocese of Atlanta in his message prior to Palm Sunday considers that we prefer a Jesus who looks at issues in particular ways, particularly those we on which we agree. Facts and logic may not have been applied.

“The rise of Christian nationalism in our nation is us crying out “crucify him” because Jesus chooses to be Messiah in a particular way: unbought by any political party and unbiased toward race, gender or country of origin. Biased only towards sharing and healing those in pain. It seems we prefer a Jesus who votes as we vote, lives where we live and who hates who we hate.