Prepared To Walk The Road Ahead Of Him

[Note: Today’s guest blogger is Krista Vardabash. Krista leads the pilgrimages to Chiapas, mexico, for the Chiapas Mission at Spiritus. She works at ESL and lives with her husband, Lou, in Fairport. They were married at Corpus Christi in 1998 and have been a part of Spiritus Christi ‘from the beginning.’ Thank you, Krista!]

First, a memory. It was a Saturday afternoon nearly ten years ago. I was asked last minute by my sister to watch my 7-year-old niece for the night. Just one catch, I explained to my sis…we were attending 5:00 Mass. My niece was fine with joining us even though she had not been a regular attendee to any church. We sat together in the balcony at DUPC because she wanted to see what was happening on the altar. Fr. Jim was the homilist that evening. When we all stood in unison singing Alleluia in anticipation of the gospel reading by Fr Jim, she tugged on me and whispered with great excitement, “Is this when Jesus comes out?”

Later in the Mass, when I went to communion, I told her to just follow me. When we reached Fr. Jim, he offered me the blessed body of Christ and before I knew it, offered communion also to my niece. She of course took the host with a smile and, thank God, followed my gesture to put it in her mouth. That evening, I sent an email to Fr. Jim explaining her desire to ‘see Jesus’ and thanking him for unwittingly bestowing a First Communion to her. I, myself, couldn’t have been more pleased at the spontaneity and unadorned way this had come to pass. The look on her face as she held the host was one of wonder and gratitude albeit also one of confusion; a pleading look on her face of ‘this is great…but what do I do now?” And wouldn’t we all feel the same if we suddenly realized Jesus was right before us and placed into our hands? In his response to my email, Fr. Jim expressed what anyone who knew him would expect: “I am glad to have given her the Jesus she was looking for.”

This memory is one that reminds me of Palm Sunday because it is when we celebrate Jesus’ reveal to us and his acceptance to fulfill the role as the Messiah. Weeks before, he had gone up Mount Tabor with Peter, John, and James with great anxiousness about the road ahead to Jerusalem. He knew he would be running head-on with the ruling authorities. On the mountain, Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus. The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly what Jesus, Moses and Elijah said in their conversation together, but I imagine that it must have been something like a divine intervention/counseling session. 

I imagine Jesus saying, “So, guys, I suppose the fact that you’re here talking with me is…telling. You know what’s going to happen when I enter those gates, right? This is about to get real, isn’t it? Any advice on what I should say when they question me about who I am?”

After that conversation with Moses and Elijah, God proclaimed to Peter, John and James, that Jesus was indeed His chosen Son and told them to listen to him. It was those events that made a less-anxious Jesus descend from the mountain. He had new found conviction, and carried himself with the authority of a leader.  

But the Transfiguration was more than Jesus’ face radiating light, his clothes turning a dazzling white, the appearance of dead prophets, or even God’s command to the disciples. To me, it is about Jesus coming into, and owning, the conviction that he was indeed the Messiah that so many were looking for. His ride upon a donkey into Jerusalem amidst the high praise of waving palms and cloaks and blankets being thrown down before him isn’t about adoration of Jesus.

Jesus never wanted to be treated like a king. His arrival into Jerusalem is about us. Wanting treatment like a king wasn’t how he rolled. Yet, he instructed the disciples to steal a donkey for him and to ready the people to receive him as such. The roads were lined with citizens of Jerusalem palms in hand, exclaiming Jesus’ arrival, throwing down cloaks and blankets before his path. He didn’t demand this because he required adoration. He did this because he wanted everyone to know – both the believers and non-believers of the day – to be assured that he had indeed arrived and he was prepared to walk the road as the non-violent rebel, the scholar, the activist, the chosen one who didn’t ask to be chosen; the one the people had been waiting for.

There is so much to the Holy Week ahead that tested Jesus’ conviction and challenged the resolve of the disciples.  We will soon rejoice in his resurrection and triumph over sin on Easter Sunday, however today on Palm Sunday let us adore him for his conviction, grit and guts to take up the heavy burden as Christ the King; afraid no more of facing the unknown road ahead that was going to be painful and merciless, all the while clinging to his faith in God his father.  It is an opportunity to ask ourselves how we appear for Jesus in the face of similar emotions that he and his disciples must have had – doubt, anger, betrayal, fear, confusion, hopelessness. Do we have the courage and conviction to ‘own it’ as Christians and keep walking that road knowing there will be adversity, ridicule, and judgement ahead, clinging to our faith as our guide?

As a child of the late 60’s/early 70’s, most of my Lenten seasons would feel incomplete without queueing-up the soundtrack to the 1973 sensation, Jesus Christ Superstar (I still have my parents’ vinyl). These days, one can access any scene online and not only listen, but watch various scenes. If this resonates with you, watch this clip. As Jesus approaches the outside walls of Jerusalem, the crowd accompanying him is small, but the Pharisees see him coming. They watch with grave suspicion as the crowd grows, palms waving, singing “Hosanna, heysanna, sanna, sanna Hosanna, heysanna, hosanna.” The Pharisees attempt to quell the ‘riot,’ and Jesus says to them that even if the people were to cease, the rocks and stones would start to sing. Soon, Jesus climbs upon a rock to sit and face the adoring and still singing crowd. He is smiling and gathering children around him. But then something curious happens in the movie. The people sing a few words different than earlier words…“Hey JC, JC, will you die for me?” And Jesus (actor Ted Neeley) depicts a suddenly sobered Jesus and the scene freezes for a few seconds on Jesus’ face and his utterly bewildered expression contemplating this question. Then the scene picks right back up with the palms waving and Jesus smiling, engaging the crowd, children on his lap with a look that confirms that, yes, he is indeed the Jesus they were looking for and he will indeed die for them.

It’s Palm Sunday. Look for Jesus on the inside and think about how the  how the non-violent rebel, scholar, and activist is coming out of you and “sing out for yourselves, for you are blessed”.