Palm Sunday 2020

Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!

Palm Sunday 2020 will have a very different feel. There seems so little to celebrate as we look ahead to Holy Week. COVID-19 daily claims more lives in Britain and across the world. Normal social contact is suspended. Our lives are on hold. How then can we rejoice with the crowd in Jerusalem?

The events of the first Palm Sunday took place just before the Passover.  In Jewish homes, then as now, this feast is the annual remembrance of the events of the Exodus. For Moses and his people the escape from Egypt was truly something to celebrate.Their descendants continue to give thanks for their deliverance each year. Jesus and his friends arrived in Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday where they planned to share in the meal that is central to the festival.

The story of the Exodus does have a dark side which is little acknowledged. As the Hebrew slaves fled, Egypt faced widespread sickness and death. Like people across the world in 2020 they lived through dark days as life became uncertain and precarious. This year, perhaps as never before, the suffering implicit in the Passover story resonates with our own situation.

As we begin the journey through Holy Week this year we recognise that before experiencing the joy of liberation God's people have always known the reality of suffering and death. Jesus faced that challenge bringing hope and peace to those who follow him. In the midst of all that we see around us  we echo the words of the Palm Sunday crowd, trusting in God who raised Jesus from the dead.