The palms we receive this Sunday are among our most recognizable symbols. And one we are deeply attached to.
In the gospel accounts of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem, they make reference to branches laid at Jesus’s feet. We associate these branches with the branches of palm trees. Which were native to the region and represented majesty and victory. For us, the proximate image my be a California Redwood.
And what we receive is like a leaf. A piece off the branch.
What I find most remarkable is how deeply attached we are too this symbol and how literal we are in honoring it.
Its meaning is established by its context. They work for us, then, in translation. As a reminder, not just of Jesus’s majesty, but of actions that took place in another part of the world.