Palm Sunday_C - For Crying Out Loud_041022

Deacon Tom Writes,

“For Crying Out Loud”

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Year C

The tide of public opinion can change in an instant. But what is the “tide of public opinion” and more importantly what does it mean?

In today’s Palm Sunday readings leading into the Holy Week readings, we’ll see an example we can apply directly to our lives. Today, we see people welcoming Jesus back to Jerusalem like a hero. But, in a short time, that crowd will suddenly turn against him in the face of social pressure. This includes many of the people who welcomed him back as well as some in his inner circle.

Why the sudden change?

This is something we can better understand by looking at the world around us and seeing today’s rage and cancel culture. We see stories go viral. The court of public opinion acts as judge, jury, and executioner. If we’re being honest with ourselves, we’ve probably shared some of those stories and thrown a stone or two in the comments.

The tide of public opinion is often nothing more than the collective mindset of the crowd gathering at the moment.

On Palm Sunday, the crowd gathered to welcome Jesus and to sing his praises. They celebrated a man with a reputation for speaking kind words, healing, inspiring, and even challenging religious leaders. Jesus was the original “People’s Champion.” Word of his works spread throughout the land—he was the go-to man for a miracle, an advocate for the poor and disheartened. To some he was a prophet, to others he was the Messiah. But to the religious authorities—he was a large and growing problem.

A spirit of hope filled the air when people heard rumors Jesus was back in town for Passover. They showed up to greet him, waving their palm branches and raising a chorus of “Hosanna.” Many recognized the presence of God in their midst.

Not everyone was happy. The people’s allegiance to Jesus was a direct challenge the Pharisees—the Jewish leaders of the day. The Pharisees told Jesus to, “Rebuke your disciples.” The public attention was eroding their authority.

Jesus didn’t rebuke his disciples. He corrected them, “If they were to keep quiet, I tell you, the very stones would cry out.” (Lk 19:40)

This is the key moment.

If Jesus gave in, the publicity would’ve died out. Jesus may have had a nice Passover dinner with his friends, and everyone would have gone about their business.

Instead, Jesus challenged the Pharisees. They made a plan to get rid of him using public opinion—and one of his closest friends.

If you’ve ever seen a negative news story or post that should have died down but didn’t because someone spread, commented, and instigated—maybe misquoting people, bringing others into the drama, or pre-judging a situation, or even using outright lies—you know exactly what’s happening here.

The Pharisees pulled the strings and convinced the Romans to get involved. Up until that time, the Romans didn’t have a problem with Jesus. Jesus didn’t challenge their rule. He even told people to pay their taxes, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” That’s not a man Pilate needed to arrest.

Remember (we’ll see this during Holy Week) that Pilate didn’t want to sentence Jesus to death. It was the Pharisees who stirred up the crowd until the Romans were afraid the mob would cause bigger problems.

What a difference a few days can make.

As Jesus stood before Pilate several days later, the Pharisees fueled the crowd to advance their agenda – to get rid Jesus and maintain their power.

The finger pointing, the false accusations, the skillful manipulation of the crowd led to Jesus being condemned to death. Many in that crowd were the same people welcoming Jesus on Palm Sunday.

I ask myself, which crowd would I have been in?

Would I have been in the Palm Sunday crowd welcoming Jesus back? More importantly, would I have believed the Pharisees and joined in their opposition to Jesus with the rest of the Good Friday crowd, too?

This is not an easy question to answer honestly. It’s exactly what happens today. Sometimes we experience a subtle manipulation. Other times it’s a well-meaning social media share. Occasionally, we’re too busy to look at the whole story, or we’re indignant about something, and we make the wrong call. We feed into the crowd mentality. I like to think I would have made the right choice, but...I wonder!

We need to protect against this. We need to learn to see God’s presence in our lives at all times and remain vigilant against the hive mindset.

Our readings today let us see Jesus as the people saw him. For believers Jesus is the “Way, the truth, and the life.” For those in power, Jesus was a problem—an obstacle to living a self-centered life, a life where they didn’t need to think about the common good. They only needed to think about themselves.

Today, we can use these lessons and reflections to remember we are part of the common good, an essential part of the “Mystical Body of Christ.” Every action we take—no matter how big or small—gets us closer or farther from our goal of supporting the common good and sharing the love of Christ to all who cross our path.

Think about this: Many of the people in the crowd on Good Friday were also there to greet Jesus on Palm Sunday.

They were good people caught up in the moment.

Today, we have a chance to imagine what we would have done if we were present at these two remarkably polarizing events. Better yet, we can look into our lives and see what crowds we side with today. Being champions of the poor, the alienated, the marginalized and the abused is the best way to let our Palm Sunday hosannas rise above the crowd around us. Being always aware of “the crowd” keeps us protected from being part of the Good Friday crowd.


Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Recommended Reading: Jesus Before Christianity. In this book Dominican Father Albert Nolan presents an account of Jesus' radical involvement in the struggle for full humanity in the context of first-century Judea: he "challenged the rich to identify in solidarity with the poor, a spirituality of solidarity that resonated with white Catholics seeking a new, progressive direction".

Recommended Podcast: Five Minutes with Joan Chittister.  Sr. Joan Chittister is one of the most influential religious and social leaders of our time. For fifty years she has passionately advocated on behalf of peace, human rights, women’s issues, and church renewal.