Many years ago, Prince Charles (as he was back then) was coming to Saltaire on the outskirts of Bradford, I think to formally open the David Hockney gallery at Salts Mill. I was on holiday from work that day and so we decided to take the children along, thinking this would be an amazing experience for them and something they would remember for years to come.
We set off bright and early, so that we could find a place to stand so that the children could see the prince regent, I parked a distance away and we walked into the village. The roads were closed, there was a police presence and a crowd of about thirty people, there was a red carpet on the road and a Jaguar motor car being washed and cleaned ready for the future king, who was arriving by train, but then being transported elsewhere in the car, there were caters buzzing around and people sweeping the street in readiness for the royal feet.
I happened to a friendly Police officer that we had expected more people to be there, and his response was “who really cares about the royal family these days” suggesting that he had much more important things to be doing. A few more people turned up and we were all issued with union jack flags to wave enthusiastically. The Prince was met by Jonathan Silver, the entrepreneur who had bought the redundant mill and spent a fortune renovating the place, the two men walked up chatting with an entourage of bodyguards and official looking people wearing their Sunday best.
It struck me that the “crowd” posed very little threat, there wasn’t even enough of us to line the street, so some enthusiast people made us move around so that it gave the appearance of there being about ten times the number of people there to catch a glimpse of the Prince. Of course, we watched the local news that night where they claimed that crowds had lined the streets to mark this memorable occasion, they had done some impressive shots and even better editing, but we knew the truth.
Our experience in Saltaire that day could hardly be compared with the huge crowds that gathered in London for the Platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth, then for the funeral, and again for the coronation of King Charles. Over the centuries we have got used to marking occasions of importance by uniting in large gatherings and even today we see record crowds, making a statement.
On the first Palm Sunday, the Jewish people were living under Roman rule, perhaps we can relate to that today as we look at the situation in Gaza with fundamentalists on both sides of the divide who are battling with one another, each seeking supremacy for themselves, while in the middle, thousands of innocent people, with no axe to grind, pay the price. In the same way that a solution to the problems today seem to defeat the leaders of the nations, perhaps we can understand why the people of Jerusalem pinned all their hope on this man Jesus of Nazareth, he was perhaps to them, their only hope, that God’s kingdom would prevail and that is why they reacted in the way they did.
This situation mattered enormously to them and ranked much higher than a day in Saltaire in the mid-nineties, when as the Policeman said, “who really cares?” the people of Jerusalem cared that day.