Palm Sunday Symbols
Today’s palm crosses were made by people in the village of Masasi in Tanzania out of sustainable plantings of palms. For over forty years, St John’s Episcopal Church in Olney, Maryland, has worked to better the conditions in Africa by importing these crosses. All the net proceeds from the sales of the crosses are returned to countries all over Africa in the form of self-help grants to promote safe drinking water and sustainable farming practices.
The sculpture of the Last Supper captures some of the tension felt by the disciples as they wondered whether it could possibly be true that one of them would betray Jesus, and if so, who the betrayer would be.
The cock and the thirty pieces of silver are reminders that not only did Judas betray Jesus, but Peter also betrayed him by denying three times that he even knew Jesus when he was questioned in the courtyard. And all of the disciples fled rather than to leave themselves in danger.
The cross, made by Helmut Linne von Berg out of drift wood from the Rappahannock River, represents the cross upon which Jesus was crucified, the most ignominious death possible, reserved for criminals and people who spoke out against the empire.
The stone represents the stone that Joseph of Arimathea rolled across the entrance to the tomb where he had laid the body of Jesus. Pilate sent soldiers to seal this stone against the doorway in order to prevent the disciples from carrying the body of Jesus away.