It's Fickle Sunday!
Palm Sunday
In preparation for this sharing, Friar Mike asked me if I had to choose another name for this Sunday if it wasn’t termed Palm Sunday and I couldn’t use the word “Passion Sunday”, what would I call today? I was kinda stumped. But when I thought about it, read the readings and went into a deeper reflection, I got back to him, and I said I’ll call it Fickle Sunday. It’s Fickle Sunday.
And I think we all experience that. Because on the one hand we are happy that the messiah has come, they all had a great welcome for him. But on the other hand, it ends in a bit of a tragedy. On the one hand the people shout “Hosanna!”, on the other hand they shout “Crucify him!”
And perhaps that helps me to get in-touch with my own fickleness. On the one hand I want embrace the cross, I'm called to embrace the cross, but on the other hand, I run from the cross, I ask God to take away my crosses. Even in my own experience of vocation when I joined the Friars, I was so sure that this life would bring great happiness and I was so opened to everything God had wanted for me, and now on the other hand, at times I find the demands of this life quite painful, and at times I find myself being resentful at the things I have to do. In the beginning, community life for me was most crucial and was what I had really sought for, but it is precisely community life I struggle most with. And perhaps those of us in relationship and those of us building up families would know this paradox also, would know the joys of entering into something so wonderful but would also know the crosses that come with it.
But maybe if we could understand this day, with this word ‘Hosanna’ that we use at Mass, that we hear in song, to help make sense of our readings and what it’s inviting us to see.
In the time of the Old Testament before Jesus, the word “Hosanna” was a cry to God for help that meant ‘Save me!’ But by the time of Christ, the word came to mean something different. It was a praise that meant “Salvation is here.”
And so, here’s where the fickleness comes in, what then does the word “hosanna” mean for us today? Well, in this Fickle Sunday, both meanings are relevant. As the Passion reminds us not only that we do need to be saved but it also affirms that Salvation is already here & how it’s brought about by Christ.
Now the great danger for us is that, it can become purely a story of what happened to Jesus long ago that stays in that time and has no real connection with us in this present time. And if we’re not careful, we’ll fail to see our own place in it, in this story of our salvation.
And so, for example, if we’ve ever been ashamed of Christ, of sharing our faith, then we’re no different than Peter who denied him. If we’ve ever joined in gossip or made hurtful comments, we’re just like the crowd who shouted “Crucify him!” If we’re indifferent to the poor, to the people who need our help, we’re just like those who fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane. If we bully others, we’re no different from the soldiers who bashed and scourged him. And if ever we’ve broken confidence, told lies or slandered and accused others, we’re guilty of the same thing that Judas did.
That is why we shout ‘Hosanna’, because we need to be save from these things, these sins that destroy our relationships and leave us wounded. But it also reminds us that Salvation is here for us through the Passion, death & resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of us who are baptised share in this salvation. We share in it by ending gossip, by respecting confidentiality. We share in it by supporting those in need with our resources. We share in this work of salvation whenever we forgive others and let go of grudges. When we admit when we’re wrong and seek out reconciliation.
Dear friends, our shouts of ‘Hosanna’ as we begin this Holy Week, invites us to internalise and look into the fickleness of our lives, admitting how we have contributed to the Passion of Christ and asking God for the strength and grace to do our part in bringing salvation here.
