April 10, Palm Sunday C (Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Luke 19:28-40)
Even if we think we don’t need a savior, we seek one.
High on a shelf in my office perches an icon I received as a gift. A friend purchased it in Greece and had my name inscribed on the back by the icon writer, Father Pefkis of Agion Oros, Athos. It is of the Cretan School, written in the Byzantine style. Just off-center in the foreground is Jesus on the back of a white colt. His usual robe of blue over a red tunic is here a verdant green over a burnished orange. The green is echoed in the dome of the Jerusalem temple inside the walled city, itself depicted in the style of a Byzantine church. The green and orange repeat in the garments of the crowd that follows Jesus down the mountain on one side and the one who greets him outside the city gates on the other.
The green emanates from a palm tree rising just behind the colt’s mane. In the tree is a small man reminiscent of Zacchaeus. He cuts branches with a scythe. In the foreground, children take off their cloaks and lay them on the ground before the colt’s hooves. A craggy Mount of Olives gleams in a golden hue.
The icon is full of motion, from the turning heads of those glimpsing Jesus to the cutting and falling of the palms, the slow canter of the colt, the procession of the crowd, and the haste of the children who throw their cloaks to the ground. Beholding the icon one can almost hear the cry of Psalm 118: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”
