I happened to notice on the eve of the Palm Sunday that there are flowers and fruits on both sides of the walkaway to our cottage. This sight fascinated me.
It is summer time. Yet the flowers and fruits do not show any sign of the impact of high temperature and humidity. They live their mission.
The journey of Jesus of Nazareth to Jerusalem was a jubilant occasion with adults and children greeting Jesus, who was riding on a donkey. The narration of St Luke in the 19th chapter of his gospel, describes it as a 'triumphant journey'!
What Jesus discovered on arriving at the Jerusalem temple, was that the temple and its premises had become a place of merchandise. It was in this place Jesus preached the message of love and grace to which the chief priests, scribes and leading men responded by 'trying to destroy Him' (V47) and others 'were hanging upon His words(v48).
There is a personal response to Jesus and His message each of us makes in the interior of our hearts. I spent most of the day yesterday, with a man who was laying pipes for irrigating our garden. It was a time of conversation. His story was disturbing, painful and created a shrill within me. Yet he spoke about Palm Sunday, when he would go to the Church with his family because, Jesus came to the temple on the first Palm Sunday to cleanse the temple of merchandise and restore it as a house of prayer. He looks forward to it as an annual ritual when he too would have the blessing upon his life, when Jesus would come during the worship and Eucharist.
To me his recollection became the message of Palm Sunday, spoken to me, by a person whose personal life is loaded with multiple harsh experiences. His conversation and anticipation of the Palm Sunday brought an unusual feeling of comfort and hope!
The flowers and fruits were external expressions of the joy associated with the journey of Jesus to the temple of Jerusalem. His teachings at the temple divided people into two groups- those who wanted to destroy Him and those who believed in His teachings.
To find a man, who believed in the coming of Jesus and believing in His teachings, in spite of his distressing experiences of life, was an inspiration to me!
Jesus of Nazareth comes to make the inner temple of our lives a place of prayer!
I have felt disturbed by the political events during this time, when the national election is announced to start from April. The ruling party is resorting to unethical and repressive measures to win the election.
The first Palm Sunday is a reminder of the two realities- those who turn the temple into a place of merchandise and those who long for the voice of God!
We are called to be a leaven of love and peaceful resistance in such times! We need a contemplative orientation to be a 'voice in the wilderness'!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
No comments:
Post a Comment