“Being a fan”—it takes many forms in my state, especially during football season where it seems that everywhere you turn, there’s something about Seattle’s franchise team, the Seahawks. Oh, the merchandising and extremes of fans at games or game-watching venues, wearing gaudy blue-and-green gear, body paint, and dyed hair. And don’t forget to hoist that 12th man flag—the 12th being the extra combined “player” in the stands cheering on the eleven on the field bashing into each other.
I saw different kinds of “fans” in Kaua'i—ones with roots and
extravagant split leafs that took me back to the uses of fans in ancient hot
cultures. Think “throne room” and you’ll probably envision a servant on either
side of the monarch, gently waving palm branches to keep the air circulating.
No electricity needed—just cut a likely candidate from the royal gardens and
put it in a slave’s hand.
People of ancient times also associated palm branches with
goodness and victory. Palm branches have been found on coins and important
buildings. King Solomon had palm branches carved into the temple’s walls and
doors (1 Kings 6:29). But the Bible’s most significant mention of palm branches
came at the end of Jesus’ earthly life.
John 12:12-19 describes Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem after
three years of teaching and miracles, including the most recent and sensational
miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead (chapter 11).
People were understandably ecstatic. Anyone who could heal
the desperately sick, feed thousands with minimal resources, and taught against
nit-picking religious rules—well, He had their vote even though, as subjects of
foreign rulers, elections weren’t even possible
But their hopes for a change brought out a parade with all the festive
and royal accouterments, like palm branches.
Thus we have “Palm Sunday,” knowing full well that the same
adoring mob would, within days, demand His death. In many churches, the hymn that day is “All
Glory, Laud and Honor,” which we sing without knowing the story of suffering
behind this ancient song.
Its author, Theodulph, was a native of either Italy or Spain
who was brought to France by Charlemagne about 781. A few years later he became Bishop of
Orleans, and became known for trying to reform the clergy. Then came an epic
royal family mix-up and false accusations against Theodulph, who was banned on
Easter Sunday, 818 A.D., to solitary confinement in a monastery southwest of
Paris.
Alone with his thoughts and his faith, he meditated on the
Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and wrote this hymn of 78 verses (39
couplets). Three four-line couplets are in most hymnals today, including this
verse:
The company of angels
are praising Thee on high, And mortal men and all things created make reply.
The people of the Hebrews with palms before Thee went,
Our praise and prayer and anthems before Thee we present.
But there’s more to look forward to. Revelation’s sneak peek at heaven includes
believers completing the Palm Sunday adoration:
After this I looked
and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every
nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of
the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their
hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who
sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
(Revelation 7:9)
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