Unexpected

John 12.12-19

The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
‘Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—
the King of Israel!’
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:
‘Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.
Look, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt!’
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify. It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him. The Pharisees then said to one another, ‘You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!’


Reflection

And so it begins. Not just the Passion, but the upending of everything we know, everything we’ve come to expect.


We may be at ease with the familiar hymns and liturgies, but we shouldn’t be too comfortable. If Easter is about anything, it’s about a new way of being, one that sets asides all of our assumptions in favor of God’s. The weak are given strength, the poor are nurtured, the mourner is given hope, death retreats in the face of life.


In a few days we’ll recount Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. As we do so, let us remember why he was there: not to be feted as a king, but to give his all that we may have new life.

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