Lenten Dharma Reflection – Palm Sunday

As we enter into the height of the Lenten Season, our focus this week is on what has come to be known as the "Palm Sunday narrative". In this story, Jesus makes his entry into Jerusalem, through the city's famous Eastern Gate, riding upon a donkey. He is greeted by throngs of his followers, who wave palm branches and olive branches, shouting, "Hosannah!"

We might miss some of the symbolism in this story, which is important to understanding the reason behind it. This is a story of radically redefined sovereignty. At the same time that Jesus entered into Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate, at the beginning of Passover, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor would have been entering the city through the Western Gate. Pilate, a representative of Caesar, would have been accompanied by his soldiers and officials, all on horses, and dressed in the refinery of the Roman dignitaries. Jesus, enters on a donkey, surrounded by his followers and supporters... a dramatically different kind of army.

Jesus' message was a message of love. He redefined what the superstitious people imagined to be some sort of personal, jealous, vengeful and human-like being, they referred to as their God, instead telling them that what they imagined to be "God" is really Love.

The sovereignty embodied by Jesus was not the kind of "kingship" we saw in the courts of Caesar or Herod... it wasn't the kind of "messianic kingship" the Jews were waiting for... it was the kind of sovereignty Jesus expressed, when he taught, "The sovereignty of the Divine is within you."

In the coming week, we will reflect on a story of tremendous pain... the mythical story of the arrest, torture and crucifixion of the Great Teacher, the Christ. We will talk about suffering, pain and the extraordinary way in which we find the Christ and His Mother overcoming and transcending suffering.

I was reminded of a book I read not long ago, called, "An Interrupted Life: the Diaries of Etty Hillesum". Etty Hillesum was a Dutch Jew, who was killed at Auschwitz, in 1943, when she was only 29 years old. Among the persecutions she suffered, Etty was accused of being a Christian, because her sentiments did not seem to reflect the traditional wisdom of the Jewish people.

Etty Hillesum was unfazed by these accusations, writing in her diary:

"All I wanted to say is this. The misery here is quite terrible, and yet, late at night... I often walk with a spring in my step along the barbed wire, and then time and again, it soars straight from my heart... like some elementary force -- the feeling that life is glorious and magnificent, and that one day, we shall be building a whole new world. Against every new outrage and every fresh horror, we shall put up one more piece of love and goodness."

These are the words of a Bodhisattva. Like the story of Etty Hillesum, and the Chrisitian narrative of Holy Week, we are challenged to move through those "fresh horrors" of our time... the accusations that are levied against us... the dangers that await us from the intolerant and hateful... and to emerge having raised up one more piece of love and goodness.

Our reflection as we enter into a period of silent contemplation, until Holy Thursday, comes from the gospel attributed to John:

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them."  - John  12:12-36

Learning to find the truth hidden and sometimes obscured by our limited comprehension of ancient myths and sacred texts is an example of being lost without the light. We know that the gospel story is a story of Love becoming incarnate in the person of the Christ... something that occurs in each and every one of us. We need not seek external light, but instead, remember how to radiate the light that we are.

We are the light of the world.

Namasté!

-- dharmacharya gurudas sunyatananda

Follow me on Twitter  |  Visit DharmadudeUnplugged

Copyright ©2008, Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda (Dr. F. Gianmichael Salvato). All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire blog, including by-lines, contact information and this copyright remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.