In a normal year, we would have palm fronds in our hands at the beginning of mass this Sunday. We’d hear a gospel account of Jesus’ “triumphant” entrance into Jerusalem, with a cheering crowd waving palms and spreading them on the road in front of him. But one of the ironies of Palm Sunday is that just a half hour later in that same Sunday mass, the palms have become something else. It turns out this wasn’t a triumphant procession at all — in fact, in the end it was a rather hollow moment. At the end of today’s passion reading from Matthew, we don’t see Jesus victorious, but deserted…

Picture for a moment a wild campaign party in a hotel ballroom on the night the polls close. Red, white and blue balloons, confetti, crowds of people waving signs, loud upbeat music, wild cheering every time the TV cameras cut live to the scene. But then gradually, the mood changes as the numbers come in, and those wildly high expectations begin to fade quickly. A concession speech from the would-be hero, and a little cheering, a few tears maybe, but after a few last drinks the crowd begins to trickle away, and the next morning we’re left with nothing but an empty ballroom with the depressing signs of celebration scattered…