Palm Sunday and the Collision Course

In the past, my South Florida church has closed our Palm Sunday service this way:

This time there will be no flight to Egypt.
The donkey has too much to carry, too far.
The shadows wait for me. Around the table at Passover
Among those in high places, in the condemned cell,
On the hill outside. Fear haunts my waking moments,
and I cannot sleep. Why has God forsaken me?

People:
The crowd today is with me. But not for long.
They are the powerless ones (the ones who matter).

The ones who count are counting.
Time is running out. This time, there will be no flight to Egypt.


I think the above is from Cry of the Whole Congregation by Walter Wangerin. We use the liturgy/chancel drama for Palm Sunday, so that's why I'm guessing at the author's identity.

I find it the most meaningful part of Passion Sunday. It reminds us that Jesus has been on a collision course with the Roman empire since his birth--or since the Wise Men showed up to let Herod know that he had a rival.

And yes, I understand that these stories are not exactly true, in the way that we define true as factual.

But in the other way that we define true, this final Palm Sunday passage reminds us about the totality of Christ's life.  It's important for us to remember the basic lesson of the Scriptures: God is not fickle; it's humans and the societies that humans create that are fickle. You can be acclaimed in one season and denounced in the next.

And it's important to remember that God will always take the broken bits, the muck, the way we've made a mess of it all, and God has the power to make transformation possible.  Holy Week, Easter, and the time beyond will show us how.