Today is Palm Sunday. This year it kinda snuck up on me. I guess my lack of church attendance is the cause of that. Once I realized that next Sunday is Easter Sunday I woke up. Geez, how could I forget about Palm Sunday. I do have fond memories of preparing the palms to hand out at church when I was young. A group of us would gather in the parish house when they arrived in a big cardboard box. As a child I remember thinking they must have come from Galilee or Jerusalem ! It was an exciting thing to take those palms and start splitting them into individual palms. They would be placed in a woven basket, like the kind I imagined the ladies took to market in the old days. to be handed out to everyone entering the church. I felt privileged to be involved in all of that.
I remember being told that Jesus rode a donkey into the city that day. The donkey was a symbol of peace because horses were used in war. The palms were also a sign of peace. That is what I was taught and what I believe. The actual facts are not so important as the symbolism. Symbols of all types are used to express abstract ideas or beliefs. We use letters and numbers in that way. They are symbols and have meaning to those that are taught that meaning. So too are the symbols we embrace in our beliefs. We need to be instructed in those symbols. The palm goes way back in history as a symbol of peace. It was used as such long before Jesus. The beginnings of a symbol are often lost to history. The origins are not so important as the understanding of the current meaning of that symbol. A symbol begins as a sort of secret code, known only to those that are taught its' meaning. As the symbol spreads, so too, the meaning. I believe the palm to be a symbol of peace but others will tel you it is a symbol of triumph ! It is true that great conquerors had palms and other things, thrown at their feet when they entered a city. It was a sign of subservience. A symbol of triumph or a symbol of peace ? It is both.
Symbols represent ideas or beliefs. When we destroy the symbol do we then destroy the idea or belief ? No I don't think we do, we just assign a different symbol to those ideas or beliefs. Call it rebranding if you will. Marketing is like that. Symbols are very powerful things although intangible. It is all in what you believe it to be.
I remember being told that Jesus rode a donkey into the city that day. The donkey was a symbol of peace because horses were used in war. The palms were also a sign of peace. That is what I was taught and what I believe. The actual facts are not so important as the symbolism. Symbols of all types are used to express abstract ideas or beliefs. We use letters and numbers in that way. They are symbols and have meaning to those that are taught that meaning. So too are the symbols we embrace in our beliefs. We need to be instructed in those symbols. The palm goes way back in history as a symbol of peace. It was used as such long before Jesus. The beginnings of a symbol are often lost to history. The origins are not so important as the understanding of the current meaning of that symbol. A symbol begins as a sort of secret code, known only to those that are taught its' meaning. As the symbol spreads, so too, the meaning. I believe the palm to be a symbol of peace but others will tel you it is a symbol of triumph ! It is true that great conquerors had palms and other things, thrown at their feet when they entered a city. It was a sign of subservience. A symbol of triumph or a symbol of peace ? It is both.
Symbols represent ideas or beliefs. When we destroy the symbol do we then destroy the idea or belief ? No I don't think we do, we just assign a different symbol to those ideas or beliefs. Call it rebranding if you will. Marketing is like that. Symbols are very powerful things although intangible. It is all in what you believe it to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment