St. Luke tells us, “And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes.” Start in Bethlehem with a tiny baby in the hands, the embrace, of his mother, swaddling him in soft cloth. The Word moving towards Jerusalem, slowly over thirty years through much mystery, miracles, and mission. G_d draws the adoration of a Davidic monarch on Palm Sunday, welcomed into the city to spontaneous cries of “Hosanna”—O Save! Shortly thereafter, cries of accusation, condemnation, crucifixion, and “it is finished.” The crowds shout their admiration and hopes to the Messiah King, who they thought would restore the power of Israel. The crowd’s incessant pleas for him to save them would be honored. They did not know that their calls for death would send this King to rest on the throne of a cross and from there Jesus would restore, to all mankind, the power of Life.

A short week from adoration to condemnation is a difficult pace for me to comprehend. Perhaps entering Jerusalem astride the donkey, Jesus set his resolve strong, knowing what he must do. Seeing the knees bent in praise, and the arms spreading cloaks and branches of palms to cushion his path, possibly the words of Isaiah drifted through his mind. “The Lord has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn back…” Maybe Jesus could focus on the Prophet’s words, “he who vindicates me is near.” Did Jesus hear their echoes of “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” or did he ready himself to face a tree of terror? Did the words of adulation sound like “Crucify him” which would soon be the same crowd’s second verse?

In a few short evenings past that day, Jesus would tell his disciples “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” therefore he knew what would be coming. We keep this feast with Him, but we simply cannot know the depth of his offering to us. Mary, as any mother would be, was surely very proud of her son as he rode through the Jerusalem crowd in triumph. Hopefully, Mary did not know that soon she would again bear his weight in her tender hands, and would begin to wrap her son in linen as once she swaddled his newborn flesh. Perhaps the unwavering love from his mother, and from his Father, was Jesus’ focus and that assurance allowed him to experience a comfortable Palm Sunday ride which would quickly evolve into a painful walk to Golgotha.

Jesus emptied himself into the hands and will of G_d, knowing that his Father, and at least one other, would love him to the end. Although he did not account equality with G_d as a thing to be easily grasped, he had it all the same. He freely took his divine nature with his human nature. In the mystery of Three-in-One person, he saved us by and with his suffering, and then gave us life by his dying and resurrection. All we may know on this day is that, before our own swaddling to our shroud, Jesus loves us to the end and thereafter. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Word became flesh for us, to make us a new being.

Pax,

JBT