Palm Sunday procession, Torrevieja, Spain. Picture: Miguel Angel Villar

Palm Sunday: You Have to Laugh

Sunday April 2 2023

Journey through Holy Week with a series of reflections by the Rev Roddy Hamilton

Palm Sunday: Laughter

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

(Mark 11: 1-11)

They always say:
“Laughter grounds you”;
“Brings down the mighty”;
“That many a true word is said in jest”.

And we think a donkey riding messiah
Is a soft shoe saviour
Gently meek and graciously mild.

Hardly!

Jesters do oft prove prophets:
And this is hilarious.
This is political theatre.
This is dangerous comment.

The messiah is mocking empire,
Laughing in the face of the self-appointed,
The autocrats and the narcissistic.

Jesus is drawing out the truth
Making a mockery of the Roman pageant,
Of Pilate and his standard bearers.

With a donkey!

You have to laugh.

Please!
Laugh!

Otherwise no one will take this seriously enough.

Lord
Holy Lord
May we have ears to hear
Deep laughter today
As we travel the road
That leads to the freedom

Laughter that speaks truth into the hurts of the world
The tables of parliaments
The corridors of empire

Then let laughter’s echo recede
And hold silence
For too many the powerful ignore
And pray ‘Save Us!’
Save us all.

Amen