What a charmer, the smiling little boy in his Coptic server's robe,
wearing a crown of woven palm and holding a cross of woven palm
fronds. Palms, the ancient symbol of victory—and of martyrdom.
Initial reports out of Egypt indicated that the child was among the worshipers martyred in yesterday's terrorist attacks against Coptic Christian
churches; now there are some reports that he may be alive. So we
don't know which side of eternity he is on today, but yesterday he was one of many
who processed with us shouting “Hosanna!” to the Christ
who is coming.
You know how you
can hear a familiar text and then suddenly something new pops out?
That's what it was like for me hearing Matthew's account of the entry
into Jerusalem. “The crowds that went before him and that
followed him shouted, 'Hosanna!'”
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| Fresco above the entrance of the Cathedral of Susa, Italy. Click to see in detail! |
Was that always there?
Crowds before
him, and then crowds following behind, like the whole procession of
salvation history. There were the generations that came “before
him,” preparing the way for the Lord, and then, for two thousand
years now, crowds following after him, that smiling child among them like us. All acclaiming him in words we
still use to give him thanks and praise, and that will be on our lips
when he returns—Blessed is he who comes!
And Jesus is the center of it all.
May Jesus be the center of your every day this Holy Week.
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