Palm Sunday has always been one of my favorite days. There is much to love: celebratory  music, the handing out of palms, the beginning of Easter. Much of my life I’ve been on spring break in one of my happy places, reveling in brightness and good cheer.
Isn’t it easy to just exude love when the the sun is out and the music uplifting and everything is fueling our positivity?

“All glory, laud, and honor, to thee, Redeemer, King”

“Ride on! ride on in majesty!

“Hosanna, loud hosanna, the little children sang, ”

And yet- what did Jesus do as he entered Jerusalem, surrounded by thousands of adoring fans singing his praises?
He wept.

“As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace.”
(Luke 19:41)

Did Jesus weep because he knew his fate, that a brutal death was upon him?  Did he weep because he knew he would be betrayed by the multitudes, and many of those he loved most ? Or was he merely weeping over the human condition? A condition that most often puts survival and self preservation ahead of selfless love. A condition that, unless worked through, is sure to cause nothing but  death and destruction to the beholder.

Perhaps he was weeping because he knew that the very best these adoring, palm waving humans, fanfare and all, were capable of was conditional love.

They believed in the messiah, provided he would save them from their oppressors.
He had performed miracles; he had just raised Lazarus from the dead. He was Hosanna in the highest- beloved and believed in… so long as he came to save the day for them.

To love unconditionally is to love another, for more than just their performance.
It goes beyond what can you do for me, to make me feel better.
And even further; it means to love another even when they don’t make you feel better.
After all Jesus, and Buddha and all of the great masters said to love our enemies, as they did.

Are we humans capable of embodying such a faithful love? Or of putting it back out to the Universe, and to an all-loving Spirit?
Is this even in our human nature?

Looking back indicates otherwise.  Going forward, we can certainly hope it so.

HAPPY PALM SUNDAY. ENJOY IT!