Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Reality of Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday in the church calendar. This is a time when we remember Jesus' entry into Jerusalem before the events of Good Friday took place.
 
It was exciting and new. A parade was forming. The people were starting to stretch their necks to see over the person in front of them. the young children of course, crawled threw the legs of he adults to see if they could gaze upon what was happening. Yet everyone saw it. What did they see? They saw a man riding upon a donkey. And there were people racing in front of the man on the donkey throwing down palm leaves and clothes in the path of the man on the donkey. People started to shout Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The crowd had started to be caught up in the excitement and they began to shout and run along side of that parade that day. 

As they were running someone in the crowed asked Who is this man? Why are we shouting our Hosannas? Is he a king? Another turned and said, Yes we think he is a king. We think that he is the king of the Jews seeing that he is riding on a donkey and it says in the scriptures that the Messiah would come upon a donkey. The two of them ran off with the crowd.

We too can be caught up in the excitement of the moment.

The people of Jesus day knew that something exciting was about to happen as they watched Jesus that day. That Jesus was riding as the Messiah would. They thought that they knew what that meant. They thought that it meant that they would be free from the Romans. They also thought that it meant that Jesus was going to be their king. So they got caught up in the excitement of the moment.

They had a picture of a king that would save them. They had a picture of a reborn nation. They had a picture of a people that would be free from the mighty nation of Rome. So they celebrated.

We all know too well what occurred later that week. That very same crowd would cry out Crucify Him, Crucify Him. The dreams of that Palm Sunday were paraded down the streets of reality.  Jesus was not what they had pictured. In reality Jesus was a heavenly Messiah.

Jesus would soon know pain and suffering. Jesus spoke of the reality of who he was and is. Jesus shattered the dreams of the people that day by telling them of the reality that is to come. That reality was that Jesus was to die on the cross.

The crowd of Good Friday turned on Jesus because he did not fulfill their dreams. Jesus had them to see the reality of who he really was. Jesus was a warrior that would come to destroy death. He gave the people a taste of reality.

Jesus was painting a picture of a suffering Messiah. A Messiah that would suffer for their sins for all time. This is what he came to be. The people felt that they had been let down.

Jesus was to be the lamb that would be the sacrifice. The people of that time missed the point. What about us? Do we get the point? Or are we still waiting for Jesus to be the concurring Messiah King?

God gives us the power of suffering love. It is a power that lets us see the face of Christ in the weak and the most lowly on this planet. It is a power that relates in grace. It invites us to be with him and be one of his special grace givers. It is a power that assures us that we would not be afraid of suffering. 

The people on that first Palm Sunday wanted a warrior king. Jesus came to be a suffering king who came to save us all. The crowd missed the point. Do we get is? Is Jesus the suffering Messiah for us? Or are we looking for a warrior king? Do we see Jesus as the suffering king who did come to save us from our sins?

What do we see?


No comments:

Post a Comment

Blessings A Day 2019 Day 365

Blessings A Day 2019-Day 365 #Blessings2019 On this last day of 2019 I am blessed: That I have made it through another...