WHOLLY JESUS! OR WHERE IS DOLLY PARTON WHEN YOU NEED HER?
“You’d be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap.” Dolly Parton
The Miniature Sicilian donkey is the perfect mascot for Palm Sunday: The Sunday of the Passion. The MSD, after all, is that rare combination of cuddliness and affection with a bit of donkey attitude thrown in for good measure. The endearing face is balanced by a dark cross emblazoned on its back. My friend Suzanne McCord used to supply us with a steady stream of these bad boys (and good girls) for every Palm Sunday procession at St James Church in Austin. My personal favorite was a particularly good-natured donkey by the name of Dolly Parton. It made perfect spiritual sense to have Dolly Parton lead the Palm Sunday procession. After all, this is a day that takes you from the playful poking of palm fronds by those engaged in the liturgical version of “The Wave,” all the way to the stark realities of isolation, betrayal, and suffering as the same celebratory crowd turns into an angry mob shouting “Let him be crucified!” At the end of this most schizophrenic service, one is left to wonder: “Uh, what just happened?”
Jesus happened. Life happened. The whole and holy truth happened and was revealed. And we got a rare glimpse of how it really works. What we have traditionally called “Holy Week” – that sacred time from Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Easter – should probably be called “Wholly Week.” It is the entire unsettling story of how we human beings are transformed and reborn – even how we die and are resurrected.
What else would you expect from a man who said the most confusing and conflicting things? Here are a few examples: “Those who lose their lives will find them”; but “Those who find their lives will lose them”; and “If you want to be the greatest, be the servant of all”; and “It is more blessed to give than to receive”; but “If you want to receive what really matters, give everything away”; and “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you and bless those who curse you”; but “Father forgive them for they are clueless”; and “My grace is free but count the cost”; and, finally, “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain” (oops, I think that was Dolly Parton who said that last one). But you get the point. What’s cheap is costly. What’s costly is cheap. Or something like that.
In other words, what is holy is wholly. And what is wholly is holy. And that’s the truth – according to Jesus. And to Dolly.
