Palm Sunday Reflections

Palm Sunday 2015

There will be and has been all kinds of stuff written about Palm Sunday, about how Jesus comes as humble (riding on an ass not a horse as a military conqueror) and the like, and this will be done by all manner of pop Christian celebrities who love to be seen as those who speak truth to power. There will be those who celebrate the ‘triumphal’ aspects of this event with palm waving and talk of Jesus’ bringing the kingdom to Israel and they will shout their Hallelujahs whipping up their groups and audiences to join them.

But notice how many commentators do not talk about the crowd following Jesus. They will take little notice of this ‘flash mob’ as it gains momentum as Jesus rides toward the city of Jerusalem. There is little incentive to speak of this ‘crowd.’ Why?

Celebrity Christians and Triumphalist Pastors do not know about the mob because they themselves are produced by the mob. The acclamation they encounter, the great crowds they draw, their book sales, the attendance records at their churches (especially next Sunday when the once a year church attenders all come out), will all be indicators of them of their success. And they will believe the mob.

The very same mob that will soon turn against them when they make the news with some ‘Verboten’ behavior, or preach some doctrine that their donor base does not like. So they do not talk about or acknowledge the mimetic character of the crowd. They cannot afford to, for if they did they would see that the mob, as a mimetic phenomenon is not their true friend. Those who join the procession are only copying those around them, hoping that this one will bring the change that is needed for everybody.

I believe that on Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem full well aware that his act was subversive, not only of kingship (which is why he rides an ass not a war horse), but also fully subversive of the mob who acclaim him. For this mob will be the very group that seeks his death in less than a week. Jesus was hardly an idiot. He knew after the the mob sought to make him king after feeding the 5,000 that he was a dead man. This is why he retires outside Jewish territory and queries his intimate followers with a question “Who do the people say I am?” This is also why then, and only then does he begin to teach about his impending doom. It was the acclaim of the mob who were fed that signed his death warrant, the ‘same’ mob who would also on Palm Sunday join in this joyful procession. They think Jesus is riding to victory, Jesus knows he is riding to the gallows.

Mobs, crowds and acclaim are fickle things and can turn on a dime. All it takes is one news story to ruin a person’s life or ministry. The mob’s need for blood, for a scapegoat, though unconscious, will always be given expression once The Celebrity is no longer seen as perfect.

It is far too easy in the world of Christian Celebrityhood for us to equate success and book sales, numbers in the audiences whom we address, as signs that we are those who are meeting needs, or doing God’s will. We fail to see the mimetic character of the mob.

And we all have our Judases. There are those who will get close to a ‘leader’, who will fawn all over them and say all the things that ‘leader’ wants to hear and when they experience disappointment, will remove the dagger from its scabbard and stab the one whom they adored in the back. I recently went through such a phenomenon and can tell you it isn’t pretty.

So before you go fawning all over Jesus today, before you tell everybody how much you really can’t wait for him to bring change, before you join the worship and the “Hallelujahs’ consider this: is your faith able to withstand your disappointment and expectations? Or will you join the mob in seeking the downfall of the one in whom you placed your trust? Will you with Schadenfreude revel in their fall? Will you join the mob in seeking their permanent exclusion from the canon of authors you once loved?

Or do you have the guts, the faith and the love to be one of a few women who stand by the Crucified?

Are you really a disciple or just part of the new (Progressive, Conservative, Dispensational, etc) Christian mob?