All of us live in the thick of things—there is no other place to be.
The question is not whether we are under pressure, but who we turn to within it.
On Palm Sunday, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, that question becomes unavoidable.
Think about this.
All of us are in the thick of things.
In one way or another,
all of us are in the thick of things.
There is no other place to be.
We live in the thick of things.
There is no retreat,
Even the life of a hermit
is lived in the thick of things
in the thick of the human heart.
In the wilderness, as Jesus found,
fear does not disappear – it gets louder.
Temptation doesn’t vanish – it becomes clearer.
The need for control, recognition, security –
it all surfaces.
We all live in the thick of things.
Even hermits don’t go into the wilderness
to escape the thick of things.
They don’t go to hide.
Out there, in the silence,
everything is closer to the surface –
As we see in the writings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.
A hermit is still in the thick of things,
right in the thick of the human heart.
Our gospel readings take us into the thick of things.
Everyone is going to Jerusalem.
They’re either there, or on their way.
The noise, the smell, the excitement –
all of it meets Jesus as he arrives.
The streets are crowded.
He is well and truly in the thick of things.
There’s a question that hangs over
every one of our lives
from our baptism onwards.
Brittany and Gary will be asked that same question
when they are confirmed next Sunday.
The question is:
Do you turn to Christ?
In the thick of things,
do you turn to Christ,
or do you turn to those
who claim power in the thick of things?
In Jerusalem, that meant Caesar
and Caiaphas.
Political power.
Religious authority.
Both expected people to turn to them.
And anyone who didn’t
undermined them.
In the thick of things,
who do we turn to?
Olivia Butler puts it starkly:
“Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought …”
To be led by a coward
is to be controlled by fear.
To be led by a fool
is to be ruled by opportunists.
To be led by a thief
is to watch your treasures disappear.
To be led by a liar
is to learn to live by lies.
To be led by a tyrant
Is to surrender your freedom.
So in the thick of things –
who do we turn to?
Do we follow the loudest voice?
The strongest mood?
The easiest path?
The latest thing?
Or do we turn to Christ –
who in the thick of things,
refused to be led by fear,
refused to cling to power,
refused to return violence for violence –
and so made a way through the thick of things.
Not a way out.
A way through.
A way that does not depend on strength,
or status,
or having the upper hand.
A way that even the last,
and the least,
and the lost
can walk.
A way that leads, even through opposition and threat,
towards Jerusalem –
towards the purposes of God.
This is the strange thing.
In the thick of things,
when we turn to Christ
and follow his way –
we become free.
Free from being driven by fear.
Free from having to grasp at control.
Free from being pulled along by the loudest voice
or the strongest mood.
Free to walk –
Even when it is costly
In the thick of things,
do we turn to Christ –
and follow him there?
Because when we do,
we are not just being led.
We are being shown a way –
a way we can walk,
and a way others can find
even in the thick of their enemies.
Grits and Grains 