The Ashes of Palm Sunday
Jill Carattini

昨天在世界各地的教堂、孩子們揮動棕櫚葉,在過道上舞蹈,歡慶第一個棕櫚星期天. 人們揮舞象徵勝利的棕櫚枝,來歡呼忠城和歌頌勝利. 棕櫚也用來為榮耀和顯赫的那位鋪路. 所有四個福音書的作者都報告說耶穌享受了這樣的敬意. 當耶穌來到耶路撒冷,騎着毛輅,人們以國王的禮節相迎. 把棕櫚枝和衣服鋪在他的面前.歡迎和跟隨他,大聲歡呼:

Hosanna!
祝福的是,以上帝的名字到來的那位!
以色列的國王!
Hosanna在最高位!

我自小喜歡慶祝這個節日. 它是教會裡很特別的一天. 通常我們要求安清入坐,而這一天我們可以自由歡呼,遊行,成為大家注目的中心.年輕人是不會忘記棕櫚星期天的勝利.

象許多童年的故事, 隨着章節的繼續推進,而變得複雜.人們對星期日棕櫚節的回憶也遠非只是基督勝利地進入了耶路撒冷. 慶祝這個節日所彰顯的諷刺在於,每一次勝利歡呼都變成一種重擊,因為我們所扮演的角色,在短短幾天之內將發生巨大的變化.剎那之間,歡呼聲"Hosanna!"將被"釘死他"的叫罵聲所取代.人們用棕櫚和讚美所贏得的榮譽將很快被束之高閣. 勝利的棕櫚星期天,所表達現實問題在於,我們確信,十字架還沒有到來.
......

In churches all over the world yesterday, children danced among the aisles with palm branches, a jubilant commemoration of the first Palm Sunday. A symbol of triumph, the palm branch was waved to welcome royalty and extol the victorious. Palms were also used to cover the paths of those worthy of honor and distinction. All four of the gospel writers report that Jesus was given such a tribute. As Jesus came into Jerusalem, riding on a colt, he was greeted as King. The crowds laid branches and garments on the streets in front of him. Multitudes went before him and followed after him, crying out:

Hosanna!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!
The King of Israel!
Hosanna in the highest!

I loved celebrating this story as a child. It was a day in church set apart from most others. In a place where we were commonly asked to sit still, it was extraordinary to have permission to cheer and march and draw attention. The triumph of Palm Sunday is not lost on the young.

But like many stories in childhood that grow complicated as the chapters continue, Palm Sunday is far more than a triumphant recollection of Christ's entry into Jerusalem. The convicting irony of the holiday we celebrate strikes with each cheer of victory, for we reenact a scene that dramatically changed in a matter of days. In little time, cheers of "Hosanna!" became shouts of crucifixion. The honor they extended with palms and praises was forgotten shortly after it was placed before him. The troubling reality to the triumph of Palm Sunday is that we know the Cross is yet to come.

But it is also more than this. With Palm Sunday comes the arrival of holy week in all its darkness, in all its brilliance. Each year as palms are waved in the aisles, I imagine my place in this drama. Would I have been with the marching crowd that cheered him as King only to cheer again as he was marched to Golgotha? What I long to imagine was a fickle crowd--an illustration of the power of mobthink, or a sign of a hard-hearted people--only reminds me of my own vacillations with the Son of God. How easily our declarations that he is Lord become denials of his existence. How readily hands waving in praise and celebration become fists raised at the heavens in pain or hardship. Like a palm laid down and forgotten, the honor we bestow on Sunday can easily be abandoned by Wednesday.

Such are the thoughts my adult mind carries through the story in which I once took only delight. With palms in our hands, we carry the burden of awareness that Jesus himself carried through that first crowd. Though we recognize the Messiah before us, we will turn from him. Though we labor to follow his ways, we will fall short. Riding through the streets of Jerusalem, Jesus knew then what he knows now: this honor will be abandoned, praises will cease, and these branches will be trampled to dust. The Cross will still come.

How fitting that in many churches the remains of Palm Sunday literally become the ashes of Ash Wednesday. The palms are burned and the ashes collected. Then on Ash Wednesday services, the ashes are used to mark our foreheads with the sign of the Cross.

This week we remember the one who comes into the midst of our defeat. He comes near to our unfaithfulness, near the ashes of what was meant to be obedience or praise. Despite our oscillating thoughts, despite the sin we cannot leave, he comes to make us holy and pure. He comes to bring us to the Cross.

Here we do well to glean from the excitement of children: Palm Sunday is a jubilant commemoration that the King is here and the Cross will come. The Son has made his triumphal entry. We must lay more than palms at his feet.