by Yolanda Pierce, Ph.D.,
Palm Sunday is a joyous occasion on the Christian liturgical calendar, marking the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. But Palm Sunday is also the beginning of an ending. It immediately precedes the most sorrowful occasion of the Christian calendar; the betrayal and death of Christ. Palm Sunday always reminds me of this contradiction: there were some who shouted “Hosanna in the Highest” on one day, who a few scant days later would also shout “Crucify Him.” There were some who greeted Christ as the promised king on one day, who would later mock him and brand him a traitor a few days later. How quickly public opinion shifts…
These past few months, I’ve listened to the public shout “more money for mental illness” when mass murderers from seemingly stable, middle and upper-middle class homes have committed unspeakable acts. But I’ve also heard the lynch mob cry “kill him” when violence erupts among the urban poor, and among black and brown people. Apparently, killers from the suburbs are worthy of diagnosis, treatment, and perhaps even rehabilitation. And yet, killers from the inner city are animals and thugs, who should be locked in jail and the key thrown away. How quickly public opinion shifts…
I suppose it’s easy to condemn gay people to hell, until it is your son who courageously leaves the closet and wants to spend his life with the partner of his choice. It’s even easier, I suppose, to deny women control of their bodies and their reproductive choices when you’re focused on the “promiscuous” and the “slut” and not when the bodies under discussion are those of your daughters, wives, and sisters who will always financially have access to health care. Or how much easier is it for a six year old to be handcuffed and put in a patrol car, another passenger on the cradle-to-prison pipeline, because there is just no controlling “those people.” But when a six old somewhere else displays exactly the same behavioral issues, the school chalks it up to his being just a “spirited” youngster and that “boys will be boys.” How quickly public opinion shifts…
To truly understand Palm Sunday, you have to acknowledge the rest of the story that occurs later; the upcoming betrayal by a friend; a mockery of a trial; and a criminal execution by the state. To truly understand Palm Sunday is to know something about the people who exist on the underside and underbelly of history; the outcast, the downtrodden, and the untouchable who were singled out and loved by someone not afraid to walk with the “least of these.” To truly understand Palm Sunday is to see the shift in public opinion, to recognize how quickly we can move from praise and affirmation to bloodthirstiness and calls for execution.
During these final Lenten days, my prayer is that we pause; that we recognize that public opinion can condemn some to death and can speak life to others. May our cries this season be of affirmation for our mutual humanity, our mutual brokenness, and our mutual need for salvation.
Dr. Yolanda Pierce is the Elmer G. Homrighausen Associate` Professor of African American Religion and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary, and Liaison with the Princeton University Center for African American Studies. She blogs @ Reflections of an Afro-Christian Scholar
