UCA SA - Reflection of the Week

Palm Sunday reflection

by Clive Conway

As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the crowds line the road waving branches, singing hosanna, and projecting their hopes onto him. They long for change, for rescue, for a strong figure who will overturn an unjust system. Yet Jesus rides not a warhorse but a donkey – it’s clear that his vision of change will not look like domination or triumph in their usual forms.

For us today, Palm Sunday speaks powerfully to our own longings and confusions. We, too, crave transformation. We want safety, dignity, peace, and a future worth believing in. It can be tempting to place our hopes in loud leaders, sweeping slogans, or easy certainty, but Palm Sunday invites us to pause and ask: what kind of change are we actually longing for, and what does that change ask of us?

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem reveals a God who does not coerce but cooperates, who does not overwhelm but accompanies. This is unsettling because it exposes how deeply we are shaped by conventional ideas of power. The crowd’s cries of “Hosanna!” will soon give way to silence and even rejection, as their expectations are disappointed.

Palm Sunday calls us to integrity between our chants and our choices. It challenges us to examine where we place our trust and how quickly we abandon difficult hope when it asks more of us than celebration alone. Following Jesus means staying the course when justice is slow, when love is costly, and when faith is less about outcomes and more about faithfulness.

Palm Sunday does not reject the crowd’s hope – it reimagines it. It insists that real transformation grows from compassion, solidarity, and courageous love, particularly in standing alongside those pushed to the margins. As we walk into Holy Week, we are invited to move beyond the parade and into a deeper commitment: to follow a Christ who refuses violence, exposes injustice, and keeps choosing love even when it leads to the cross.

How different this is from the models of power on display in the world, especially in the Middle East at this time?

May we have the courage not only to shout Hosanna, but to actively ride the long road with Jesus, trusting that this gentle, demanding way is still the path to life for our world.