The Courage to continue
Today is Palm Sunday - the beginning of the season we call Holy Week. Today we remember Jesus' entry into Jerusalem in the days before his death. According to the Gospel accounts he was greeted with acclaim by the people, and in one of the stories (from the Gospel of St John) those who lined the road pulled down palm brances and strewed them on the ground as a sign of respect.
For all the celebration, we are told, Jesus knew why he was in Jerusalem, to confront the injustice of those who were the religious and secular rulers. To speak out against the oppression of Empire, and the corruption of the Temple religion by those who collaborated with the Roman rulers. We read that Jesus 'set his face ' when he turned towards Jerusalem way back in the 9th Chapter of Luke's Gospel (our Gospel readings for today were from the nineteenth Chapter (the entry into Jerusalem) and the 23rd Chapter of Luke (the trial and execution of Jesus) - the phrase to 'set one's face' is, many commentators say, a deliberate echo of Isaiah Chapter fifty talking of Jesus' resolve.
Jesus knew that his stance on restoring integrity to the religious life of the people, and proclaiming justice for those oppressed by the Empire was dangerous, life-threatening - but continued, declaring as he had been called to do, the calling to righteousness and equity. As Franklin D Roosevelt wrote - “Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
Ride on To Die
Scripture
The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty? Isaiah 50.7-9a
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Artwork - Orthodox Icon of the Entry to Jerusalem, from Vectorfied