You're Still Missing the Point

activism, Christianity, and the type of warrior we were hoping for

Sometimes I see a post on social media that is so asinine I start to squirm.

Two of my greatest flaws in life are swinging wildly between thinking I’m holier than everyone around me and thinking I’m the greatest sinner to have ever lived, and also placing an overemphasis on the importance of online discourse. So when I first saw the post, so representative of my issues with Catholic activism the past few years, I didn’t rush to my laptop. I’ve learned to let things simmer + bubble, no matter how badly the algorithms want me to race to my harshest emotions and spit them all at you like fire. But I then had a few conversations that were similar to the post, and I can’t stop thinking about it these many months later.

All of this to say, I’m going to go ahead and assume the Holy Spirit is asking me to take a digital whack at it, and if I’m wrong: have mercy on me, a sinner.

I want to talk about Palm Sunday, 2 months late. (Mea culpa.)

This particular social media post proclaimed that if you were celebrating Palm Sunday but weren’t involved in a very particular type of activism that this person found acceptable, you were “doing it wrong”, because Palm Sunday is about “triumphantly overthrowing oppressors” and the goal of it is to “speak out against occupation”.

Palm Sunday by Evans Yegon

We all know about Palm Sunday. The moms among us are shuddering—the long Gospel! The sword fights with palms¹! The procession!—but we also have a warm glow of admiration for a centuries-old liturgical practice. Palm Sunday, or the Sunday before Easter, is when we as a church remember Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem riding a donkey. It serves as the beginning of Holy Week, and as a reminder that the same people who rejoiced at his entrance would later call for his death. You would be correct if you stated that the crowds in Jerusalem very much believed Palm Sunday was about overthrowing oppressors. And you, like them, would be wrong if you agreed.