Why did people joyfully welcome Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, only to demand his crucifixion five days later, on Friday? My explanation is disappointment. And it wasn’t only the “ordinary” people—perhaps swayed by the preaching of the Pharisees and teachers of the law—who were disillusioned, but also Jesus’ supporters, including the apostles.
They apparently expected a kind of super-leader who would turn the world upside down. Some may have imagined he would lead a revolution, drive out the Romans, and become the true king of Israel. But Jesus acted as a mere human being: he was arrested, convicted, and crucified. Then, he was resurrected. And with that—no matter how paradoxical it may seem at first—he truly did turn the world upside down.
The deeper meaning of that (let’s admit, non-standard) behavior, I believe, is that Jesus teaches us to value human life. Life is what we live for—it’s what leads us to eternity. He calls us to cherish that short, yet precious and unique, period of time we are given.
Sadly, throughout history, especially among those sickened by politics, life has often been reduced to mere statistics.
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In truth, from a Christian perspective, numbers don’t matter—whether it’s ten, two hundred ten, one, or a million. What matters is our attitude toward each individual life. When that attitude is shaped by political, propagandistic, or commercial calculations, the meaning of a unique, unrepeatable human life is lost.
Some members of the CP, for instance, propose to count how many Armenians from Armenia died during the 44-day war, and how many Armenians from Artsakh—as if to “compete with the dead.”
This extremely cynical approach turns human life into statistical material. The numbers are used to argue for the moral superiority of one group’s losses over another’s. And from those calculations, people are expected to draw conclusions about who deserves respect, and who deserves contempt.
It is like a spiritual cataract, clouding our eyes and preventing us from seeing the truth.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
