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Last year, I was asked by a friend to explain Palm Sunday.  “It seems bipolar,” he said.  “Is it a celebration or Jesus arrival into Jerusalem, or his crucifixion.  Why do we have both stories on the same day?”

Palm Sunday is a little strange – maybe even a little bipolar.  One minute, we celebrate Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, singing songs of Hosannah and marching around the church.  The next we're acting out his crucifixion.  Even the name of the day is confusing - “Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion.”

When I was a kid, we used to get Good Friday off.  It was a real holiday; it was the day we remembered Jesus' passion.  But now Good Friday become just another day.  So the church made up for it by making Palm Sunday do double duty, to give us some way to remember the story:

Jesus comes into Jerusalem like a rock star.  It's like “Jerusalem Idol”.  There are 50,000 people living in Jerusalem in those days, and all the people loved him.  

So what happened?

Maybe Jesus became too big.  Maybe he became a threat to the powerful people in Jerusalem, to the Chief Priests.  They could see how much the people loved him, so they panicked.

Or maybe it was Jesus' destiny.  Maybe, in order to be fully human, Jesus had to experience the full range of human emotions.  All of the joy and love and adulation, AND all of the pain and suffering – including betrayal.   There is nothing worse than to be betrayed by someone you love.  And he was betrayed both by Judas and by his disciples.  We are all his disciples.

In a way, the bipolar feeling of Palm Sunday reflects Jesus rise and fall and ultimate betrayal.  From rock star, idol, to goat.  Someone once said that Jesus was not a very smart politician – he was only in one election and he lost – to Barabbas.

Today is the beginning of Holy Week; the week we tell the stories of Jesus' final days in Jerusalem.  The road to Easter passes through Jerusalem and the cross.  Now, there are 5 ways to have a perfectly bland, boring and meaningless Easter:

1. Be lazy.  Don't read any of the scripture assigned for Holy Week.  Don't set aside any quiet time to reflect on the sacred story.  If you want to have a dull Easter, be lazy.
2. Follow your usual routine.  Don't take advantage of any of the special services we're having this week.  Don't come to the Stone Soup and Maundy Thursday service. Don't come to the Good Friday service or the Easter Vigil.  Treat Holy Week like any other week.
3. Treat Easter as any other secular holiday, or as a kid's holiday with Easter bunnies and candy.  Play golf on Friday, or go the the Easter sales at the mall.  If you want a perfectly bland Easter, treat it as any other secular holiday.
4. Don't make time for your family, or for other people who need you and love you. Don't do as Jesus would have done.
5. Avoid visiting the grave of a love one, and don't even think about your own mortality. Don't think about the fact that everybody dies, even your closest loved ones.  And especially don't think about the fact that East is God's promise that death is not the final reality – resurrection is! - and that our bodies are not who we are, and that eternal life in Christ is our final destination.  

If you want a perfectly dull and boring Easter, don't think about the resurrection.

Thanks be to God.

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