The Humanity of Holy Week

Is there a more unsettling day on the Christian calendar than Palm Sunday? The enduring quietude of Lent suddenly breaks, the somber music gives way to “All Glory, Laud, and Honor,” and we, the agents of Christ’s crucifixion, jubilantly welcome him to the city where he is soon to die, actors caught up in a drama whose ending has already been dictated by history and our own innate sinfulness.