12 The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—
the King of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.
Look, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.
John 12:12-16 NRSV
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Today is Palm Sunday. This is the beginning of what was perhaps the busiest week in Jesus’ earthly ministry. This is a day that we, as followers of Christ, look at as the beginning of a great celebration of recognizing our Risen Savior.
We don’t look at the cross as a crucifix, a horrid place of punishment meant only for the worst of criminals, we see an empty cross and tomb as emblems of our faith.
We see an empty cross that reminds of a price paid in full by Jesus’ blood, and His righteousness.
It is important to remember that the place of ultimate and most disgraceful punishment is something we are all deserving of.
10 as it is written:
“There is no one who is righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who has understanding,
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned aside, together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness,
there is not even one.” Romans 3:10-12 NRSV
There is no one that is good enough or deserving of God’s grace. There is no one who has a place in glory by their own merit. We are all as dirty as filthy rags.
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Isaiah 64:6 NRSV
And while this can sound dismal, hopeless, and depressing, we have hope and a promise of glory and life eternal through the atonement, propitiation, grace and love of God expressed to us through Jesus Christ our Savior, King, and great High Priest.
This is a time we love and celebrate as much as we do during the Christmas season.
Jesus was born into this world through a virgin birth. When He came into this world, He came with one purpose and that was to Glorify the Father.
This was done through conquering sin and becoming the necessary blood sacrifice. There was not one drop of blood in this world that could have satisfied the sin debt.
So God, through His infinite mercy and grace, sent His Son to die in our place. Jesus became the propitiation for our sin.
My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2 NKJV
In the NRSV v.2 say He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. This means simply that Jesus came and paid the sin debt we couldn’t begin to make even the first installment on. Jesus and “appeased” God which was pleasing to God.
Because of this event of satisfying a debt beyond our capability to pay, we are now able to have a relationship with God and be called “Children of God.”
Sin was a death sentence that we all face apart from Christ. Because of Jesus and His work at Calvary we have life through Christ through faith.
It is my hope that you never see the cross as anything other than an emblem of faith, hope and victory.
We have victory in Jesus. This is a time to re-affirm our faith, life and devotion to Jesus Christ.
As we look at the story of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ on a foal, what stands out is the fickleness of the crowd and their strong stand on tradition and ritual.
The Passover had become something God had never intended. It had become an annual ritual that held higher importance in and of itself than the reason for the Passover celebration.
The Passover was a time to celebrate God’s forgiveness of sin that was granted through the sacrifice of life other than our own. This was done through a sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish.
Obviously, there was no human fit for this except for God Incarnate, the Christ, God’s very own Son.
As we look at the story and accounts of this truly amazing day, ask yourself, who is your king? And, are you willing to stand no matter what the world is saying in opposition to who Jesus really is?
Would you be willing to join in the crowd today and sing and praise Jesus saying:
“Holy, Holy, Holy! Hosanna!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’[d]
The King of Israel!”
AND THEN, when the world turns and stands there and yell “Crucify Him” be the only one who continues to cry out
“Holy, Holy, Holy! Hosanna!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’[d]
The King of Israel!”
This is a fair question we must all ask ourselves honestly.
The Mount of Olives is where Christ will meet us. Let’s all go there together. Today, he comes back from Bethany and sets out on his own free will to finish the story of our salvation through his holy and wonderful death.
As a result of what he did, he came down from heaven to save us from the depths of sin and raise us with him to the top of everything that can be named.
Now he comes to Jerusalem on his own free will. He doesn’t show up with a lot of fanfare or show. His voice won’t be heard in the streets, as the psalmist says. He will be gentle and humble, and he will come into the room in a simple way.
Let’s run with him as he runs toward his passion, just like the people who met him and praised. Instead of covering his path with clothes, olive branches, or palms, we should try to be humble and live as he wants us to.
Because of this, when the Word comes, we’ll be able to accept it. God, who has no limits, will be inside of us.
With humility, Christ went into the dark places of our fallen world. He is happy that he did this for us, happy that he lived with us and shared our nature so that he could lift us up to him. When we hear that He has now gone to the highest heavens, we know that this is proof of his power and that he is God.
But His love for us will not be satisfied until he has raised our earthly nature to glory and made it one with his own in heaven. To lay ourselves at his feet, not clothes or olive branches that only look good for a short time and then fade away, but we, dressed in his favor, grace and righteousness. Or even better, clothed entirely in him.
All of us who have been baptized into Christ have to be the clothes we put out in front of Him. If we want to show the conqueror of death how well he did, we should not just show him palm branches.
Instead, we should show him the true rewards of his victory, now that our sins have been washed away in the water of baptism and we are white as pure wool.
As we sing the praises to His Holy Name, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” let our souls be branches and palms that welcome him. His name is blessed.
There is power in the name of Jesus. The phrase “pray in the name of Jesus” is often used by Christians, and it refers to the practice of praying to God and asking for His help, guidance, or protection.
Two things about the death of Christ. The first was that since one person died for and in place of everyone else, everyone had died. What is this death at the end? Either the death they deserved because of their sin.
It’s odd how we often acknowledge that we take on too much, and try to accomplish things in our own strength, and need to rely more on Jesus. And yet we continue to do the same thing over and over.
The conscience is a divinely given moral compass that can be swayed by many factors, such as our background, experiences, and thoughts. What is important is the truth that one has to inform their conscience.
Life is rough for most people today. Just when we have hope of a life returning to normal, we are seeing things none of us have ever seen in our lifetime.
To grasp the magnitude of our deliverance, we must first comprehend where we came from. We are not exempt from the repercussions of our actions because we are descendants of Adam.
