Palm Sunday
We begin our celebration of Holy Week with Palm Sunday in 4 days. Between my trip to Jerusalem last summer and our Lenten Study of “The Last Week,” my understanding of the significance of this event has deepened greatly. There were two processions into Jerusalem on that day – the Roman one, bringing Pontius Pilate, from the West, and Jesus and his followers from the East. The first was a display of military power and presence, the second one the culmination of the journey of a prophet, who goes to Jerusalem to die. The ruling aristocracy of the Jews attending the Roman procession, while “the least of these” welcomed Jesus and prepared his way with branches from olive trees (there were no palm tree in Jerusalem at that time!) and their own cloaks. The Romans probably paid no attention to the other procession, if they were even aware of it, yet Jesus and his disciples were keenly aware of the other because of the Jews complicit acceptance of Roman rule, which secured their