Jesus attracted crowds.
He was charismatic.
He spoke powerfully and with conviction.
He used humour and everyday stories in addressing His hearers.
In any crowd, there are;
- the believers, and the doubters.
- the cheerers and the jeerers.
Jesus spoke up for those without a voice....
THE CROWDED-OUT CHRIST finds room
- in the alone;
- on the margins;
- in the marginalised;
- with the unpopular;
- in the misunderstood;
Christ in beggars, lepers and prisoners,
in moral and mental outcasts,
in those whose behaviour makes them intolerable.
Those who are insignificant, failures, non-persons,
Christ suffers their wounds.
The Crowd that Christ chooses to inhabit–
I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me.
We are soon to begin our journey through Holy Week.
Let us remember the journeys Jesus made to Jerusalem:
brought as an innocent child in the arms of his parents
to the Temple to be presented.;
brought as a young boy, growing fast and full of questions and curiosity;
and coming, again and again, as a grown man
to the great festivals in the courtyards of the Temple;
facing, with coolness and courage, the growing dangers, spoken and unspoken,
the threats to his freedom and life.
As he enters the city
on the day we call Palm Sunday ,
the crowds cheer: ‘Hosanna!’
They see in Jesus the fulfilment of their dreams of freedom from occupation and persecution.
Soon it will be different words
they shout.
Jesus our Brother,
you move in fearful fashion with those who wait in crowds,
hoping to leave behind atrocities that have overtaken what was once home.
Help us to see you and to serve you in all who suffer today
that we may be enabled to share ourselves with them.
Lord, thank you for your loyalty
and patience towards us
who have so little understanding
of what might lie ahead.
Thank you for your love
which never ceases,
your forgiveness which never runs out
and your light that shines on
in the darkness
and shows us the footsteps to follow
and the road to take.
