Flowery (Palm) Sunday: The Lord’s Entrance into Jerusalem.
Philippians 4:4-9. John 12:1-18.
Read John 12:1-18
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
None of us want to be like the crowd that gave Jesus a triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday but then cried, “Crucify him!” on Good Friday. How do people go from turning toward Jesus to turning away from him? How do we avoid doing that?
“The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign,” of raising Lazarus from the dead. The crowd was hoping, instead of the raising of Lazarus confirming the universal resurrection, that Jesus would do that kind of thing in their lives now. But by being arrested, brought to trial, and presented before the crowd for sentencing, they went from hoping that Jesus would do that kind of thing to not believing that he could do that kind of thing. They responded the way their leaders did in mocking Jesus at the cross: “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.” (Matthew 27:42)
We hope that Jesus will show himself to be as powerful a King now as he has given us reason to believe he is. But that hope can be sorely tested when we hope one thing but are disappointed when God does another. Jesus went to the cross to overthrow the ruler that really needs overthrowing – sin within us. He will always powerfully be with us as we take up our crosses and follow him.
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)