Deacon's Column

Deacon’s Column – Palm Sunday 2020
 

As I write my Deacon’s Column this week, I feel somewhat disappointed and sad. All year long I look forward to the celebration of our Easter Liturgies at Holy Cross Parish, starting with this Sunday’s celebration of Palm Sunday. It has made me so aware of the axiom, “you don’t know what you have until it is gone.” It is a quote we hear all the time, but we don't really give it much thought until we lose something, are separated from something, or something is taken from us. So, our current world crisis should be a wakeup call. A call to never take for granted the many blessings in our lives and the many ways we have been gifted by God with our families, our friends, our parish community, our liturgies, and the Eucharist but most especially the special gift God has gifted us with in his son Jesus…
 
This sadness and disappointment we all feel can help make the paradox of Palm Sunday so much more personal and meaningful. On the one hand, we are called to be filled with great joy, along with the throngs of rejoicing people as Jesus enters Jerusalem. The promised Savior has finally come! The Messiah is here! Redemption is at hand! But then, on the other hand we turn towards the sorrowful narrative of his passion, his rejection, his suffering and his death when we remember that Palm Sunday is also Passion Sunday. It is a solemn moment, a silent moment, when we question how a day of such triumph can be filled with both joy and sorrow. Then we recall that what seems to be Jesus’ defeat, is actually his victory. The victory of everlasting love for “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.” This is what Jesus taught and this is what he accomplished through his passion, proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that his love for us has no limits.
 
The angels sang "Glory to God in the Highest" when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and now the people sing "Hosanna in the Highest" as Jesus enters Jerusalem. Both entrances were motivated by God's love. The same love that led him to be obedient to his Father even to the point of death to reverse the disobedience of Adam, pay the price of our sins, and rescue fallen humanity from all hopelessness and injustice. Palm Sunday may indeed be a paradox, but it is a solved one. The source of our sorrow is our sin. Our sin is the cause of Jesus’ suffering, but the source of our joy is Jesus’ love. It is the very reason Jesus was willing to suffer and the very power that through his sacrifice on the cross conquers our sins.
 
So even the coronavirus with all its separation, suffering, pain, despair and even death, cannot hold back the joy we Christians find in the limitless love of Jesus. Even amidst the disappointments, sadness and sufferings that keep us all apart during this time of great celebration. Let us always keep this in the foreground of minds. The true joy of our Easter celebrations does not change simply because we are socially distant from one another. Christ has risen! Truly He has risen! Just like he said he would!
 
God Bless,
 Deacon John
 

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