Palm Sunday

March 18th, 2008

Freedom, Peace and Justice are all qualities at the heart of God. Yet we can find ourselves enslaved by the pursuit of these very qualities. Nations fighting for peace end up perpetuating the very violence they seek to destroy. Serpents are slippery and slimy things.

Most of the ugliness in the human narrative comes from a distorted quest to possess what is good. Coveting begins with appreciating blessings. Murder begins with a hunger for justice. Lust begins with recognition of beauty. Gluttony begins when our enjoyment of good and tasty gifts of God consumes us. Idolatry begins when catching a glimpse of God in something beautiful leads us to constructing imitations.

Surely the Messianic hero will not appear riding on an ass. Surely the freedom fighter will mount the rostrum. Surely the table-turner will raise a victory shout at the very heart of oppression and injustice. Surely, surely, surely!

But no; humiliation, humiliation and then total humiliation.  Rejected, neglected, discarded.

Crushed, pierced, punished! But this was the only way to truly gain the qualities of Freedom, Peace and Justice that are at the very heart of God.                                  David Thatcher

Filed under: Thought of the Week