This weekend we celebrate Palm Sunday. In the story of our faith, today Jesus arrives in Jerusalem to the hopeful cries of crowds desperately longing for a change from the world as it is. Today we begin our walk through the fateful days of Holy Week. Today the forces that Paul called “the principalities and powers” muster their response to Jesus and his vision of the world God wants.
I said that the crowds were desperately longing for a change from the world as it is, and to a large degree that hope stirring in their hearts that led them to welcome him so boisterously into the power center of their world remains one of the universal elements of our faith. Hope still stirs, even amid the chaotic and destructive events of their time and ours.
Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners Magazine has said, “Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, and then watching the evidence change.” As such, hope seems like madness to those who base everything they believe on the evidence. The evidence would suggest that things are going to get worse in the Strait of Hormuz. The evidence suggests that the climate emergency is teetering on catastrophic. And it is not just global. There are times when the evidence of personal struggle is not “trending to the positive.” The “world as it is” does not self-correct or simply evolve toward the “world God wants.” That’s the evidence-based truth and that kind of truth can be discouraging.
Jesus knew that as he made his way into Jerusalem. All evidence pointed to a painful end. And yet, there he goes. It’s madness to believe anything good can come of this. And yet, there he goes.
Perhaps Jesus carried more that just the evidence on that donkey into Jerusalem. Perhaps we need to believe in spite of the evidence. Perhaps our belief is informed by the evidence but not trapped by it. Perhaps we can carry hope into this week in which we know the world is not as God wants it, trust in the vision of a world made new even amid the chaos, and then watch. Wait. Hopeful and expectant of a change. The evidence points towards more of the same but hope points to possibility. But hope stirs even now.
Welcome to Holy Week.
Will.