Traveling

The day I’m writing this is Palm Sunday. I just got home from church, where I heard a great message.  But I was thinking about a different view of Palm Sunday on my way into Church.

Traveling is not fun. For me, it is exhausting and causes me intestinal issues. (Sorry, too much information, I know.) There was a point in my life when I looked just as forward to traveling as I did to arriving at the destination, but those days are long gone.

About 25 years ago, my wife and I, and our son, were traveling on a vacation. We had a layover in Houston (it was either there or Dallas) and were waiting to board our next flight. At that time, our son was into professional wrestling.

As we were waiting, we saw a member of one of the famous wrestling tag team duos walk by. I assume he, too, was walking to his gate for a connecting flight. I encouraged our son to introduce himself to him, but he, like his dad, is an introvert and was reluctant. Finally, I got up and walked in the same direction, but by then, the wrestler was long gone.

What I remember was that the man looked dog-tired. I think he was happy walking to his gate in the obscurity he was experiencing. I have no idea if he would have been pleasant to our son or not if he had approached him. You hear stories about how some famous people accept their notoriety and others almost rudely avoid it. Regardless, I would say he wasn’t any happier traveling than I would be now.

“Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.’ This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.’” - Matthew 21:1-11 ESV

Remember, Jesus is 100% man and 100% God, and he knew he was approaching his death on the cross. He couldn’t have been looking forward to the trip. While we think of Jesus riding a colt to Jerusalem with crowds cheering him on and laying down their cloaks (remember then, those were prized possessions) and palm branches, he was traveling to his torture and death. Not a looking-forward-to prospect.

There are many times when I’m not feeling good or just plain grumpy and I have to put on a happy face for others. I have to imagine the 100% human side of our Lord was the same way.

We tend to focus on just a few aspects of the Holy Week happenings. Sometimes, it is important to flip the camera angle to look at it in other ways.