Palm Sunday
Love Casts out Fear
Reflection By Jenifer Gamber
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
- 1 John 4:18
Palm Sunday. A day of jarring reversals. We gather in worship, taking our place with the people who 2,000 years ago welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem, the holy city and dwelling place of God. We wave palm branches crying, “Hosanna, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” The mood of welcome and celebration at Jesus’ triumphal entry quickly gives way to terror. Our cries of “Hosanna” turn into “crucify him” as we acknowledge our failure to follow Jesus in our own lives. We are confronted by the horror of Jesus’ death upon the cross and our own part in his death.
Jesus walked courageously to face his death in defense of the truth—the truth of the brokenness of the world, the truth of worldly power that oppresses others, and most of all the truth of God’s deep healing love for all creation. God’s love through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection transformed a place of fear and death into a place of hope. Do we have the courage to live the vulnerable and authentic life of love that marks the call for all Christians?
To live courageously is to live from knowing we belong to God and are loved by God. Jesus knew to whom he belonged. He lived fully as God’s beloved son and it showed. Jesus was life itself and brought that life to those he met. Jesus raised the dead, cured the sick, gave sight to the blind, and fed the hungry. His actions proclaimed the nearness of God. His life threatened the way of death. We, too, belong to God. We, too, belong to a kingdom yet to be known in this world.
Author Brené Brown writes about true belonging in this way: “True belonging is … belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness” (The Quest for True Belonging, p 40).
By walking the way of life and love, his place of true belonging, Jesus walked as his authentic self, love incarnate, toward suffering and death. Living any other way than as our true selves is also a journey toward a more profound death. Each of us has experienced those moments—perhaps days, months or even years—of living false lives, of not belonging to ourselves but imprisoned by forces of the world. Unable to love. I know I have.
It took courage to be honest with myself, with my family, and most of all with God, that I was not living as God’s beloved. It took the strength of community to do the hard work of helping me to remember to whom I belonged, and to make amends. It is easy, as did the crowd at Jesus’ trial, to divert attention away from my own brokenness and instead blame, deride, and mock others. But that is not the way of love; it is the way of cowardice. Living as our true selves, belonging to God, we are free to love.
In today’s reading, Jesus stood with all humanity, yet alone in the wilderness, silent before Pilate, silent before the crowd. Yet, not silent before the powers of death. Love overcame death. In Jesus’ courage and vulnerability, can we find courage to belong to the way of love, the way of life?
Listen To Our Lent Podcast Episodes
We also invite you to listen to the Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast hosted by Scott Stoner. This is a year-round, weekly podcast; however, during Lent, there will be two new episodes each week to enrich your experience of our Lenten readings on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit.
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