Palm Sunday

As I make a point out of celebrating the festivities of other religions and cultures that somehow are kin to me (or that I merely like), so I'd like to celebrate those that belong to my religion: Christianity. No, no need to unleash the lions and wish me into a Roman Circus: I'm a Generic, Go-With-The-Flow, Live-and-let-Live, Love-Others-Too-No-Matter-What-They-Choose-To-Believe (as long as they are sincere! Thanks Kierkegaard!) Lutheran. ^_^ You know, the kind that can't see what's wrong with gay people wanting to get married and have children other than why would ANYONE do that (gay, straight or otherwise), nor can possibly understand how could only the Christians be right and saved when there are so many non-Christian people who are much, much better than Christians.  However, even as a Generic, Rebelious Christian who listens attentively to the teachings of other religions, I also find deep meaning and big lessons to be learned from our own festivities... or those that are still on the calendar.

Today's celebration is Palm Sunday, which is the First day of the Holy Week - a week that's not celebrated the same way around theChristian world. It's quite curious coming from Costa Rica, how the Holy Week is a regular week in other countries. Back in CR, by now the Central Valley's 95% of the population is roasting their hide on one of our many, absolutely GORGEOUS beaches, or packed in some Mountain Hotel enjoying thermal waters, fresh strawberries and long walks in a cool weather that's missing from the rest of the national territory, OR abroad shopping to their hearts content and their credit cards limit. In here, in Europe, this is just another week, like the one before. The difference comes the Monday AFTER Resurrection Sunday, when Easter is celebrated, you don't have to go to work and enjoy egg hunting and chocolate bunnies. I still don't get what has this Easter celebration to do with the Christian celebration - is not like the Bible said that on Sunday Jesus was resurrected just in time to go on Monday Egg hunting with the Apostoles... no pun intended. So, really, how that connects? It doesn't matter, so never mind. I've far bigger matters :-(. It is a Hungarian custom  - to my knowledge - that on Easter guys splash girls with parfume and girls give them a chocolate egg. I don't like the splashing, and so far I've been escaping my boyfriend on Easter to avoid the trigger crazy parfume fumigating. However I believe we have forged an agreement: I let him GENTLY spray me with parfume (ON THE WRIST!!! NOT THE HAIR!!), IF 1. he pics a parfume from a carefully selected list of parfumes I like, and 2. I get to keep the bottle. ^_^ It's a win-win situation, so I hope it works out well.

But that's beyond the point - I ramble while I'm writing... isn't that something?

In today's celebration - Palm Sunday - we remember Jesus' joyous entrance to Jerusalem among a crowd of people extatic to see Him and be close to Him. Riding a donkey, he was received with palms and people took off their clothes to lay them at his feet for him to pass over them. It was the reception of a King. At Mass, the priestess mentioned several elements of this entrance that bear a particular significance. Jesus came not in a horse - which would have heightened His status and allow Him to stand tall and look down upon those celebrating Him - but on a donkey, a humble, short animal that kept him pretty much on the same level as those celebrating him. Also, a donkey was back then the less suitable animal for riding, as the donkey is a difficult, jumpy animal hard to drive. He was received by humble people amids expressions of joy and admiration, which were judged by others as a follie, a riot maybe, a wild mob. With his entrance he also gained the bitter envy of those who - believing themselves more than the son of a carpenter, more schooled and prepared in the religious life of the Jews - resented both His smashing popularity, His success and His disregard of the social structures imposed at the time. 

These things made me remember how this week of Holy meditation, and remembrance both of Jesus' sacrifice, but also His teachings and His life, give us a glimpse, and thus a ray of hope, to our own situation.

Time and again we have talked about work ethics and how good it is to do your best, apply to the task you are doing and be honest about it. In a lot of circles of our life, we find lots of people who seek to cut corners, to cheat, even to bully and abuse, and also a large portion of people who act either indifferent, resignated or wish they could be "that smart". We have the child, the parent, the sibling or the spouse who won't work, won't move a finger for the family, but expects to be provided for. I bet more than one of you is nodding right now. Yes, you know, the child or sibling who didn't finish the university, wakes up late, demands to be served breakfast, lunch, dinner, doesn't clean their own room, stay home playing some videogame and demands the rest of the family to pay for everything they WANT. Asking them to wash a plate is cause for a quarrel of epic proportions. Mentioning the possibility of getting a job is an insult. They are surrounded usually by family members who may not be ok with it, but prefer to ignore it. The moment your efforts render you results, you succeed in your hardworking, envy rears up and either you pay them more and receive more insults and harm, or you refuse them and there's an open war against you trying to get the whole family to hate you.

There's the case of the neighbours who steal cable, manipulate their amenity-measure-clocks, cheat in their taxes and make a "reason of pride" to brag about how they are supported by the Government, how they cheated to get more food stamps or unemployment checks, child support and what not. Well, the moment you succeed in your honest job, pay your taxes and amenities as you should, get your own cable and internet AND not only protect it, but refuse to share the password with the freeriders, you are the black sheep of the block.

The most common cases, however, are work and study related. If you succeed at your studies by applying yourself, investigating, reading, doing your homework and earning your grades honestly, the group used to cheating, test-buying, and crying to the teacher for the grade, will flag you as public enemy. So it happens at work. If you ACTUALLY do the job you are paid to do - and may Hyne forbid! - maybe even put some action into "proactivity" and do more, run the extra mile, thus proving the incompetence of your coworkers, who behave like the company owe them, that they got to the office to "do time", and so must be paid just for being there and not somewhere else - then you are the most hated Public Enemy in town. As I mentioned in a previous post (Witch Trials Today), you become the subject of a witch hunt.

So let's think about it: here comes Jesus on a donkey, demonstrating all those lazy ass, full of themselves, abusive, incompetent people that He doesn't need their formalities, that you can come from a lower place, you can come from anywhere, any background and do amazing things. He proved that the established structures suck big time, were fake and that Honesty and Humbleness(*) can do more, and that's the way to get to the Truth.

In this sense, I pick this lesson, this element of the celebration to remember that it doesn't matter if others mock us, it doesn't matter of others disqualify us, or thing our upbringing, our origin, our preparation or work, our knowledge is lowly and worthless. What matters is your effort, your conviction in what you do, your perseverance, and what you and you alone think of it. The good job, the honest effort always gets rewarded, and though your success may raise envy and ill intentions, and you will be exposed to witch hunts and even crucified, remember this: your good deeds and example touch people, they don't go unnoticed, and they'll always prevail. Jesus touched many, affected the lives of many, and though He was crucified, He also defeated that. Our crosses and procedures are such that we can succeed them, so no matter how many times you are dragged to the Saint Inquisition, how many times you are nailed to the cross of your success by the envious intentions of those who fail to understand your example, you can come back and defeat them.

May God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit be with you all.

(*) I understand "humbleness" here as the capacity not to lower oneself and ignore one's worth, but the virtue of valuing everybody and everything, seeing worth in everything, cast away the snobbish attitude and recognize that even the poorest and most humble of all can be the holder of a great human value.