PALMS UP
INTRODUCTION The title of my reflection for this Palm Sunday is, “Palms Up.”
MEANING OF THE PHRASE: “PALMS UP!” I looked up the meaning of the phrase, “Palms up” and found that it has many meanings from surrender to I’m here, from acceptance to helplessness, apology to cluelessness, innocence to there you have it, and on and on and on.
Today Palm Sunday I thought of the human hand – palms up and open – as in a way of waving a hello or a greeting. The people in the crowd wanted to wave and celebrate Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem – and so they grabbed what was right there, palm branches – and waved them to celebrate Jesus’ presence.
We have palm branches at hand today, but when we don’t have flags or signs or palm branches, we wave with our open hand – palms up and out. We do this when we see a friend or when we see a famous person going by. “Look there’s the president or pope or Miss Maryland!”
MEANING OF PALM SUNDAY What does Palm Sunday mean to us? It’s the beginning of Holy Week – the culmination of Lent – the arrival of the 3 big Christian High Holy Days: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
These days have so much meaning – that we need a week, a lifetime, the hours of the services this week to ponder the fringe – the edge – and then gradually move into the middle of their meaning.
For this Palm Sunday, for this homily or reflection, what struck me was that Jesus went through what we all go through. We have our own personal Holy Weeks and Horror Weeks. Jesus went through the whole mess for the mass of us.
On Palm Sunday he’s honored, celebrated, waved to, cheered on – but by Friday they are screaming for his blood: “Crucify him. Crucify him.” Their hands have moved from open waves to tight fists.
Then next Sunday we celebrate hope – recovery – renewal – resurrection – the upswing of Jesus into glory. In theology it’s called “The Kenotic Curve.” Kenotic – K E N O T I C – from the Greek verb “kenoo” K E N O O or the adjective “kenos” K E N O S – meaning emptying, absence, the hollowness of everything.
TODAY’S SECOND READING We find all this in today’s second reading – Philippians 2: 6-11 – which is called “The Great Kenotic Text”. We used to hear in theology all the time: “Know
Philippians 2: 5b-11!
We get the message. God is God. Christ Jesus – who is also mysteriously God – lets go of equality with God – empties himself – become human – empties himself even more – takes on the form of a slave – humbles himself even more and becomes obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.
That’s the first half of The Kenotic Curve – the Downhill Slide.
Then Paul says, "Because Jesus did this – God exalts him – bestowing on him – a name which is above every name. It’s Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord – that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth – so that every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.
The best scholarship to date puts this text – these words of Paul to the people of the Greek city of Philippi – is between the years 54 to 57. It was written from the city of Ephesus – in modern day Turkey.
It’s before our gospels.
Notice how primitive it is. The early church is trying to put into words how this Jesus of Nazareth is both human and divine. The Early Church is trying to put into words how God is Trinity – and it would struggle with this for a few centuries – till we went through heresies and councils and came up with our creeds.
We are the beneficiaries of these struggles and articulations.
IN THE MEANWHILE In the meanwhile we get it. We get these texts. We understand the Kenotic Curve. We see it every time we go to visit a loved one in the hospital. There it is: the monitor. We hope it’s going up and down for our loved one – otherwise they’re dead. They flat lined.
We know the ups and downs of life. We know days of glory and days of horror. We know days of fullness and days of emptiness.
The Kenotic Curve tells us that God knows us – because the Son of God became one of us – and went through what we go through. It’s usually the bottom of the curve – the pits – the dark valley at the bottom – when we recognize our need for God. That’s when we pray. That’s why Psalm 23 is so popular – especially at funerals. Though I walk in the dark valley you are with me.
All is darkness and they remain that way till our Bad Fridays move to our Easter Sundays – till we realize resurrection. Then we change the words from "Bad Friday" to "Good Friday".
We see the Kenotic curve every day and every year.
Sometimes we hit a home run; sometimes we strike out. Nobody has hit over 400 since Ted Williams did it in 1941. Red Sox fans will tell you he came within 5 hits of doing it again at the age of 39 in 1957 – when he hit 388.
Sometimes we’re at a beautiful wedding – 150 people – and there is music and dancing, cake and celebration – but then we’re all alone when we get the phone call, “Mom, we’re getting a divorce.”
We celebrate our kid’s baptism, graduations, dance recitals, but it’s lonely when we have to see the police or the principal when our kid messes up.
Sometimes we’re in a brand new car and people stop for a second to admire it – and sometimes we leave the new car sticker on the back side window on the left – just to let folks know, “This is a new car!” and sometimes the car has become a clunker and it won’t start and it’s costing us money on repairs and we don’t have the money to buy a new one.
We know the ups and downs of life. In the marriage vows we even say it, “for better for worse, richer or poor, sickness and health.”
Life is curvy – not that many straight lines – might as well get used to it – and Jesus walked that crooked line from Nazareth to Jerusalem – and he arrived there today – and he’ll be killed next Friday. It’s as bottom line as that.
CONCLUSION – UPTURN - RESURRECTION But we are a people of hope and people who belief in upturns – and so we’ll also be back next week for Easter Sunday – Alleluia. Alleluia.
So our prayer doesn’t end with, “Christ has died.” We continue and say, “Christ has risen. Christ will come again" - and "again and again and again.”
