“Does your church march around outside on Palm Sunday?” a friend emailed me. I considered for a moment lying and telling him, “No, we don’t. Not at our church.” I was afraid he wouldn’t come if I told him my church did a Palm Sunday parade.
I understood his hesitation. It sounds pretty embarrassing, doesn’t it? Being part of church congregation and marching outside, carrying palms, worshipping on a busy New York City block. I don’t expect we make a pretty picture. It’s always a big congregation on Palm Sunday and getting everybody organized to march outside and go down the block is unwieldy. What if someone was looking? What if someone he knew saw him?
But we should remember, there is a history and meaning to this Palm Sunday tradition.
What is a Palm Sunday Parade?
A Palm Sunday parade, also called the palm procession, is when a church congregation parades outside after the palm fronds are blessed. The parade usually includes singing, prayer, and members of the church wearing religious vestments while carrying important religious icons, items, and the blessed palm fronds.
READ MORE: 5 Palm Sunday Devotions
The Meaning of Palm Sunday Parades
Palm Sunday parades commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The scene is described in various New Testament gospels, specifically the Book of Matthew, the Book of Mark, the Book of Luke, and the Book of John. The palms signify how the people of Jerusalem welcomed Jesus on the city streets with palm fronds in their hands. As John 12:12-13 states:
The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!”
READ MORE: 15 Palm Sunday Bible Verses
Palm Sunday Parade Reflection
Our congregation tries to sing while we process, making our loud “Hosannas. The front part of the procession usually gets ahead of the back part of the procession so we don’t even end up singing together. We’re just a disjoint group of people staring at programs and hymnals, stuck at a traffic signal.
And yet, I’m always struck by the wonder of it. Palm Sunday is a chance to take our faith outside and put it on parade. What an occasion of witness.
Palm Sunday is a chance to take our faith outside and put it on parade.
Maybe someone will look up from their Sunday Times, glance out the window and think, “Those people must really believe in what they’re doing or they wouldn’t risk looking so foolish.” But remember that Paul made the point in his letter to the Corinthians that what looks foolish to the world can be God’s wisdom at work, “because the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.”
Maybe foolishness itself is important to experience on Palm Sunday. Think of how self-conscious the disciples must have felt when they were walking along behind Jesus on the colt with the people shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Didn’t they worry about being noticed? Weren’t the apostles wary of what this hosanna-singing crowd really thought? After all, in less than a week, some of these same people waving their palm branches would be urging the authorities to crucify Jesus.
The phrase that comes to mind for this little Palm Sunday parade is “ritual humiliation.” The events of Holy Week, after all, led to a tremendous, monstrous humiliation. When we celebrate Holy Week we walk through what Jesus’ followers felt–their bewilderment, their despair, their fear and their faltering faith.
Don’t I feel all those things when I contemplate Jesus’ suffering?
Palm Sunday is a mixed celebration, a parade that ends in a minor key. Sorrow hovers close by. We start out singing hymns of praise and then we end contemplating the Crucifixion.
“Yes, we walk outside on Palm Sunday,” I wrote back to my friend. “It’s a little embarrassing and I’m sure we look foolish, but it’s a good foolishness. It’s a way to welcome what is coming, a getting ready for Easter, which has always looked like foolishness to the world. Come to church with us. I’ll give you a palm frond of your own to carry.” I hope he comes this year.
READ MORE ABOUT PALM SUNDAY AND HOLY WEEK:
