It’s Palm Sunday, the sixth Sunday of Lent, and the beginning of Holy Week, where many of the same people that lauded him on Sunday called for his crucifixion on Friday.

And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11.7 – 10, ESV)

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. (Mark 15.11 – 15, ESV)

I quoted from The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action by Tim Muldoon when I published Water to Wine? on March 26. Tim has excellent observations in Exercise 21, Triumphal Entry, about the fickleness of crowds:

One day, crowds gather and welcome a celebrity into their midst. Another day, they watch him get tortured and killed. What is going on here?

Jesus is completely unconcerned with the adulation of the crowds, in this situation and others. Like any modern story of the celebrity who is lionized one day and vilified the next, this one points to the unreliability of public opinion as a barometer of divine favor. The “voice of the people” may sometimes be the voice of God, but if so, it’s coincidence.

God often directs his servants to expose personal and social sins: biblical figures such as Noah, Moses, the prophets, Jesus, Paul, and the disciples; saints such as Augustine, Francis of Assisi…latter-day figures such as Martin Luther King Jr.,…Mother Teresa….

We who have fragile egos so often act in light of what we perceive to be the voice of the people. It is very difficult to hold truths that are frowned upon by those around us, especially difficult moral or political issues that are constantly in the news. Jesus’ example here shows us that the right action is never based on looking around us at what others think; it is always about obeying God’s commands. – Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent

“It’s about obeying God’s commands.” What commands? Here’s where it gets dicey. He reminds us…

We practice discernment of God’s commands by remaining close to Christ and Christ’s Body, the church. In doing so, we place ourselves with the poor, the suffering, the forgotten, the abused, and the hated: God’s beloved creatures whom others have forgotten. We choose to see humanity where others see problems: the child starving on the streets or growing in her destitute mother’s womb; the young prostitute whose daily bread comes from the grasping hands of sex tourists; the foster child shuttled from home to home; the elderly person in need of health care. Seeing Jesus in those people, we ask three simple questions:

• What have I done for Jesus?
• What am I doing for Jesus?
• What will I do for Jesus? – Tim Muldoon, The Ignatian Workout for Lent

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25.35 – 40, ESV)