It always amazes me that some of the big moments of history are replicated again and again.

Time changes, years become decades but people don’t change and the “sins of the past” are often repeated.

Palm Sunday is the perfect example of humanity’s fickle nature. “Hosanna” one day ... few days later, “Crucify”. Same people, same place.

For them, whether they realised it or not, it was decision time. There is something in us that actually hates to decide. I suppose there is a sort of virtue in sitting on the fence. A sort of virtue of openness and neutrality but we forget it is the choices we make that shapes our life and our destiny.

Pontius Pilate was to make a choice and that choice was to haunt him. He tried to wash his hands of the whole thing but he, like most of us, was to find out that on the big issues of life neutrality is often not an option. We should be used to choosing. We do it every day. To be honest or to cheat. To lie or tell the truth. To love or to hate. To care for those in need or just walk on by.

We have choices on how we treat this planet. We can no longer be neutral. We should no longer be neutral about human rights, domestic abuse, to name but a few.

Even the scandal of how so many people in our country live in poverty. Why do people in our community statistically have a shorter life expectancy that those who live 12-15 miles away? Educational inequalities...

Frankly we can no more wash our hands of those things than Pilate could wash his hands of responsibility for Jesus of Nazareth.

Yet I still wonder why after the euphoria of Palm Sunday many people could shout crucify.

Maybe Jesus was simply not what they expected. He did not live up to the promise. Instead of an army, there was some ragged peasants. Instead of generals, there was a handful of folk who smelt of fish. Instead of a warrior-king, there was a humble man riding on a donkey, a symbol of peace.

As I re-read the story, it never fails to captivate me. It’s the little things. Hosanna to Crucify in a matter of days. And Jesus weeping over the city.

Today if you have any sort of humanity you will weep over the wars and fighting in this broken world of ours. Funny how we all want the same thing: Peace. Just peace to get on with our life.

I ask is it really that hard?