Hosanna in the Highest

Times come, and then they go. The shifting of sands amidst the rolling of the tides.

What has been deposited upon your shore this last week of Lent before Palm Sunday? Is it a concern for the Ukrainian people, Aboriginal resolution and dignity; concern for the unborn yet conceived-created, the recovery of our economy, and, for that matter, any money problems, the defence of our border and trade volatility or maybe the price and availability of a good home?I know it's hard to keep in perspective, but, really, life itself and the inner condition of it are of greater value. I know a woman who is fighting for her life in hospital against cancer amid all the aforementioned concerns. Then, there is her husband, carrying the load financially, looking for a home within the meagre budget the two share. He prays and seeks to ensure her a safe place to live, once she has recovered. He has to go on with this goal at heart. To think there would be no need is unimaginable, and so he continues and prays. He's finding landlord after landlord seems preoccupied with their desire for "mo money, mo money," uninterested in the troubles of others. What would you do if you had to face something of this level, while those around are circling the wagons?

Still, we have seen a great compassionate response toward the Ukrainian war crisis, by individuals, at the hands-on and personally financial levels. What a contrast in society! What a divide between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots!' It's interesting to note, it's mostly the have-nots, and those who can remember being so, who are giving and working to assist in this raw Ukrainian plight.

Governments have moved exasperatingly slowly. Oh, they've added a little milk to the batter with sanctions, a little sugar with diplomacy; and I get that, earlier on. However, the record these people have endured has been recently counted back to me.Between 1932 and 1933, the Soviet Union attempted a genocide of the Ukraine population. This was known as the Holodomor, killing 3.9 million, 13.3 percent of the ethnic Ukrainians. It was Joseph Stalin's attempt to eliminate a Ukrainian independence movement through forced starvation. This ended when all the farmland became socialist property, as these farms were annexed and given to transplanted Russians working for the state. This effectively gave the Russian government control over the food supply.

When Hitler attacked the U.S.S.R. during WWII, it was the Ukrainian people, still enclosed within its borders, who suffered a loss of over eight million souls. Compare this to the very real additional loss of six million targeted Jewish souls in the same war, known as the Holocaust! While attacking the dominant Russian core of this Republic, war was forced upon Ukraine. For one, they were geographically in the way, but more importantly, like many of the Allies, they were protective of the very innocent Jewish population struggling to survive as a people. This was a cold attempt to eliminate those who would dare to be human beings and stand against repression of the dignity of life and free will. Both peoples were just there, living and wanting to be free, that's all. No desire to harm others, except maybe the odd prejudice, like we find unfortunately everywhere. On mass, neither of these peoples wanted anything but their rightful homeland, common dignity and acceptance as such.

Now, there's this Putin aggression with all its atrocities and recent revelations regarding the attack on Ukraine. The motivation is clear now, it's greed over the major mineral resources in the areas Russia has targeted and attempted to occupy. I believe it's why President Trump visited both Russia and Ukraine: to make a deal for these minerals, which are key to new developing technologies and economic prosperity. "Mo money, mo money," all over again. Originally it was touted it was about the Russian people living in these Ukrainian regions. As the saying goes, "There are none so blind as those who will (to) not see!" and still, ridiculously, many will persist in saying we are healthy as a human race, and there are no such things as sin or real evil.

So back to the flow. Autonomy is something created, given and defended by God Himself. What we do with that autonomy ultimately illustrates what we desire within our hearts. Despite the discomfort of thinking of it, it really comes down to that; the conditions of Hell or the rewards of Heaven are within our power of choice to accept Jesus. Palm Sunday is the commemoration of God's solution for our quandary.

God came to earth, born into the human condition, as the person we know as Jesus Christ, yet was without any of His own sin. Harming no one, not even His own condition, by never indulging in the cancerous spread of sin throughout humankind, He retained His 'a ticket to ride.'

Yet that wasn't enough, to just come to be part with us, to only observe and interact in the perks of life. He came to enter in, to be part of us in the darkened condition of our lives, and then to do something about it.

His kingdom is not from this earth and is beyond the reach of our spiritual pollution, which so complicates the lives of humankind. Originally, sin, which didn't begin with us, has been perpetuated, compounded and spread and has enjoyed the ride.

So, Jesus Christ came for the triumphant purpose of dying as our substitute in order to destroy the power of sin within our hearts so as to prevent its further domination of us from within.On what we refer to as Palm Sunday, He entered Jerusalem riding on the back of a prophetic white colt. People surrounded Him, waving palm branches and spreading them on the road ahead, all the while crying out in Joy, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the Highest!" Matt 21:9, KJV. This was an exclamation regarding the expected triumph of the Messiah! Yet, in the minds of human thought, most expected Christ would bring a military coup and free the Jewish people from the heavy military arm of the government of their oppressors. However, Jesus came to free all humanity from the inner corruption and assault of sin as a nature, not to fight a physical battle. The change in the physical attitudes would come as a result. So, first things first. This is a greater liberty, a greater victory, more triumphant, but will never be forced on any life. What grace, what favour and patient provision, for the heart and very nature of humanity. It defends the free will of every person, even though our other choices don't deserve it, providing real choices of a different order. It's held out for us to see and so choose. Are we going to "will (to) not see" or recognize Jesus' triumphant entry as a symbol commemorating the invitation to allow Him to ride his way into our hearts and apply that wonderful change He holds within Himself?

Palm branches represent a kind of praise and worship; they are used for what the Bible calls a wave offering to God. Traditionally, in some denominations, these branches, or similar types found in the West, are shared out on Palm Sunday, taken home as a witness of blessing for the house, and later collected and burned for ash used on Ash Wednesday, the next year's first day of Lent.

Commemoration is a word made of 'Com,' meaning with, part of, or connected to, and 'memor,' the part we get the word memory from. Then, of course, there is the 'ation' meaning action. So together, we get 'with memory action.' That is why we commemorate Palm Sunday actively. It is also why we do this deliberately regarding anything else reflecting Jesus.

Even though He prefers what's right more than we do, He has allowed our response to depend on our choice. If we choose Him, then He can change things from the inside out. This is called making Him Lord of our life. He respects our free will more than we do. It's the only way to have the peace we need amidst the travesties of life.

By the way, statistically, 70 percent of Ukrainians (as of 2018) are of some decidedly Christian denomination. So, like the woman in the hospital and her husband who is seeking a home for them, they too are depending deeply on God, giving their lives in prayer to His mastery and triumph, still knowing much depends on the free choice of others, even in this troubled world.Have a Blessed Palm Sunday.Happy Seasoning.