Palm Sunday Reflections

It was a day that some hoped would initiate the end of Roman tyranny and oppression in Israel. Others feared the beginning of the end of their system of religious control and manipulation. Still others were expecting the long awaited Messiah to take His throne and bring everlasting peace to His people. Only one knew the real truth about that day, and He wept over the very city that was thrown into loud upheaval at His triumphal entrance. He saw its spiritual stubbornness and prophesied its terrible downfall. He did not come to save the physical Jerusalem or bring renewal to the socio-political condition in Israel.

With all the tumult, cheering, and palm waving on the road to Jerusalem, one would not doubt that something quite extraordinary was happening. No one seemed to voice their concerns over His entrance on a foal of a donkey instead of a horse, which indicated that He came humbly in peace and not as a conqueror. Jesus affirmed and encouraged the joyous shouts and declarations of His kingship. He did not deny that He was Israel's King, yet nowhere do we see that He reveled in these shouts or shared in their level of excitement and enthusiasm. Even inanimate objects like rocks would be forced to declare the obvious, He curtly responded to the Pharisees threatened egos, if they did not shout out these praises. Many of these same voices would be shouting a different tune in less than one week. In one week instead of throwing palm branches at His feet, they would be throwing insults at His face.

But what were the first acts of this King as he entered Jerusalem to the chants of Hosanna (root meaning: we entreat you to save us now)? After weeping over Jerusalem, we are told that He entered the temple and threw out the money changers, the sellers and buyers of sacrificial birds, overturning all their tables and chairs. His first act was one of spiritual zeal for His Father's house, for the place of prayer and worship. "MY house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves," He proclaimed (probably roared/shouted in anger, if His voice was to reflect His actions in that moment). This act is a true indication of His true mission. Restoration of pure, unadulterated worship. It was in this temple one week later than an earthquake would rend the veil from top to bottom, indicating that the new covenant way to worship God has been opened.

What did He do next? After clearing the temple, the people flocked to Him, he healed the sick, and He taught, doing what He had been doing for the past three years. The children cried out praises to Him, the Messiah, as He was in the temple, and those stuffy, proud, irate, murderous Pharisees continued to criticize Jesus. Jesus simply looked at them and said "They have got it all right, guys." (my translation).

All of Jerusalem was taken by this Persona on that day. The Humble King, the Messiah, had come to them, but He had come to a spiritually blind city that did not recognize Him. They were really looking for another, one that would ease their physical pain and needs and solve their social and political woes. They were not looking for one that would painfully uproot the terrible murky blackness of their sin. Jerusalem welcomed Him, and soon would kill Him. Some cheered Him, and soon would mourn Him. Some expected the kingdom now to burst forth, but really the kingdom was already starting to burst in the hearts of men ... and the crowning of Majesty would happen in heaven not in Jerusalem. One day He, the Righteous and True, would return again with the fullness of His kingdom, and it will be VERY different indeed. It will be with a white horse not with a colt. Those that truly understand His first triumphal entrance and His mission to die and rescue us from sin, will rejoice in His second coming. Those who ignored, despised, or missed His first coming, will tremble in terror at His second.

Happy Palm Sunday to all... may His second triumphal return come soon!