PALM SUNDAY

Read Matthew 21:2-9

“As the time approached for him to be

taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely

set out for Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51)

The stage is set. The streets are lined;

filled to bursting point with the throngs

of Jewish people who have come to

Jerusalem. They’re in town to

celebrate the Passover Festival; to

remember God’s dramatic and

powerful intervention that brought their

ancestors out of their Egyptian slavery

(Exodus 12:31-42). It is an incredibly

emotional time.

The atmosphere is charged, reaching

fever pitch at what the assembled

crowd see next.

Jesus, the one they have heard teach,

seen do the miraculous, boldly claim to

be the Messiah, is entering town on the

back of a donkey. The King has come.

Peacefully, humbly, and in triumph.

The crowds are raucous. Together

they cheer and shout, "Hosanna", as

they bless his name by spreading their

cloaks and palm branches on the road

before him (v.8-9). They are adoring

him, submitting to him and pleading

with him to save them.

It is the most astonishing red carpet

welcome the world has ever seen.

Yet despite all that is going on around

him, Jesus’ eyes are firmly fixed on the

task that is before him. He knows what

is coming (Luke 18:31-33). He knows

that Jerusalem means his time to die

has come (Luke 13:33). These final

few days of his life are his resolute

focus.

The events of Palm Sunday teach us

that all that will come throughout the

rest of the week: his betrayal, arrest,

false trial and crucifixion is no

accidental miscarriage of justice.

No, this was a plan. A plan that had

been set in motion and borne out of

love from the moment sin entered the

world through the crunch of the

forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6). A plan to

show us that we have a God who does

not stand idly by, but instead chooses

to enter time and history in order to

rewrite the broken story.

The time has come for Jesus to fulfil

his mission. And he will do so willingly

(John 10:18), with tears in his eyes

(Luke 19:41).

As he enters Jerusalem on that donkey

he is choosing to lay down his life for

our sake, so that we would know the

incredible love our God has for each

and every one of us.