To so many of us the goal in life is to make something of yourself. Many of us were told explicitly or implicitly that you need to really work hard to make something of yourself. Palm Sunday is a repudiation of everything that those ideals stand for. It begins to answer the question of what is the meaning of life and what is success. (with Easter Sunday being the whole answer )
I know you've heard of a mid-life crisis. It's usually focused towards men but it could easily be a woman, especially today. Men buy into the notion that you settle down, have kids, work hard and all of life will lay out like a golden carpet before you. Many men however work hard, long days and get to a point, oh say, around 50 to 55 and realize the whole idea is simply a mirage. They realize they are not really happy after having jumped through all the hoops. They search for meaning and sometimes they try to find it with another (an affair), a racy sports car, divorce and starting all over again. In any event many never really find that seemingly elusive goal, happiness and fulfillment.
The truth of the matter is that happiness never was in all the things. Happiness is actually not in accumulating things but divesting of them. Things are distractions to the happiness deep inside. Jesus had been preaching it, telling everyone, showing everyone the power of the word and now he is coming to Jerusalem to confront his Madison avenue, the temple elite, the power brokers who are fully invested in stuff, things, rules and all sorts of rubrics.
I once had a heavy portfolio of stuff when I was in my 30's and 40's. I actively sought God my whole life, probably because I am gay, but it wasn't until mid life that I came to some great epiphanies myself.
I had volunteered in the Dominican Republic twice when I was about 48 years old. I was not a volunteer footman at Punta Cana. I lived and worked in the poorest of the poor areas, mountain villages bordering Haiti. I think the plan was to have us see what true happiness and fulfillment was and it was a success. These were the poorest of the poor. Their material poverty was far below the poverty seen in the United States. Yet these people were happy, generous and loving and deeply faithful. What a life altering experience. It made you appreciate what we do have and perhaps even embarrassed at what we do have.
Jesus coming to Jerusalem are the final scene's of Jesus trying desperately to show us that life is about loving. We should know our own worth and that isn't in things. Jesus already knows he will not be successful with this crowd. Their hearts are too hard, their power too entrenched, they have too much invested in the way things are to give it all up. Jesus will offer his life for us so that we can see the power of his message, the power of his offer, his willingness to die for us.
You may have know first hand what death is like from a loved one, a friend, a family member. Saying goodbye is never easy. This week we will replay that last week Jesus spent on earth with us and we know the outcome. The outcome is so powerful that we will be drawn again into the maelstrom of agony, tears, and suffering. But we have to say good bye if we are to discover what is truly important and maybe we will find our life on the other side of Easter. Lets pray this week.
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