Palm Sunday, Bring the Rain, and Stellan

While not completely unexpected for those of you who know me, this is not a game of requiring you to pick the one thing unlike the others while I sing for you one of my favorite Sesame Street tunes. Which I sing very well. And do the dance. There wasn't a dance? Oh, well there's one now.

It's about faith, about waiting, about expectations. It's about hope and all those things we can't see but know when they are absent.

Of the whole Liturgical calendar, Palm Sunday is always the hardest Mass for me. The Lord always seems to use it in the exact way I need. And He uses the same part each year. The same reading. You'd think I'd be prepared for it each year. But nope, every Palm Sunday it sneaks up on me and usually leaves me covered in tears.

Several years ago, I was wrestling with who exactly was at fault for crucifying Christ. Was it the chief priests or was it Pilate? Legalistic, party of one, thanks. Being a big fan of the law and all things government, I had the best argument as to Pilate's non-guilt. Then came the Palm Sunday Mass and it's responsive reading. (the crowd's response in bold) "Then what am I to do with Jesus, the so-called Messiah?" Crucify him! "Why, what crime has he committed?" Crucify him!

It was then and there I finally got it. We did it. Pilate, the chief priests, Judas, they all played a role but it was us, our sin that crucified the Lord.

Fast-forward a few years to yesterday when I sat in the pew at my beloved Church and realized quickly what was approaching. I knew it was Palm Sunday but I had completely forgotten about that reading. All the sudden, I'm there all over again. This time as one of the crowd at the cross.

He saved others but cannot save himself! So he is the king of Israel! Let's see him come down from that cross, then we will believe in him. He relied on God; let God rescue him now if he wants to. After all, he claimed, 'I am God's Son.' "

Tears started to flow and as best as I tried to bite my cheeks and think of Lilo and Stitch scenes to stop the tears, I couldn't. Which is sad because honestly, Lilo and Stitch does the trick each and every time.

I might be going out on a theological limb here, but it struck me that I am just like that crowd. I believe the act of Christ overcoming death is the point, not necessarily the time he took to do it. I believe the saving and redemptive act of the resurrection would have been just as powerful had it been 3 min after His death instead of three days.

And I think of what a powerful statement, a powerful giving of grace to those in the crowd to die, rise again, and pull Himself off the cross. He could have done it. And those people in the crowd, those of us who wanted proof right now would have had it and some faith to boot.

But He didn't.

He waited three days. Three long days where His followers must have thought differently about leaving their nets. 72 hours where those who wanted to believe would have to hold what this Jesus had said in one hand and reality in another. He was dead.

Had they heard Him wrong? They didn't have the Gospels of Matthew or Mark or the Letters of Paul to remind them of His words of promise, words of comfort, words of wait. I am confident there were a few followers, like myself, who must have spent those three days in distress. They had given everything up for this Jesus. And He was gone.

And just when hope was lost, when faith might have taken its final breath, He overcomes the piercing finality of death.

After Mass, I came home to a new post by Angie at Bring the Rain and an amazing new song by Selah reminding me that though certain times feel unfulfilled and unrestored, they are really just times where grace is about to be amazing.

Then today after checking for updates on sweet baby Stellan, MckMama's post included the words to one of my favorite Casting Crowns songs calling us all to praise You in the storms of life.

Palm Sunday, Bring the Rain, and sweet baby Stellan. All chances for us to just wait. Wait in hope, wait in faith, wait in the total and complete fulfillment of all the things we know He'll do.

I believe it was the waiting those three days that made His resurrection all the more glorious. One the most incredible homilists I have the privilege of hearing weekly told us yesterday that Palm Sunday began Holy Week- the most sublime week of love in the history of the world.

Firmly holding to the belief that faith, that love, that deliverance means sometimes waiting for the tomb to open and death to be defeated so that He may be glorified all the more.