Today is a special day in many Christian circles. It's a day that's come to be known as Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus entered into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, and to institute a new Passover for all who would believe in Him. Starting today, and going through the next week, I'll pause from my Faith and Tension series to look at the events of this holiest of weeks for Christians.
On Palm Sunday, Jesus began to make His way to Jerusalem with His disciples. As He started riding in, there were a great number of people who were traveling, either with Him, or approaching the city around the same time. Many of them recognized Jesus as the man who had been teaching about God, the man who had healed quite a few, and had performed a number of miracles.
In order to show their honor for this man, whom they also believed to be a prophet of God, they began to cut down the branches from the trees and lay them in front of Him. Some even took to putting their cloaks down on the road, a symbolic gesture much like what you would do in front of a king. In fact, there is a good chance that these people saw Jesus going in to do something great, perhaps to throw out their Roman oppressors, and to bring a great victory for them.
Why this acclaim for Jesus? They loved Him. He had served them. He had lived among them. He had told them that God didn't want to punish them and make unreasonable demands, but that God loved them and wanted nothing more than to show His compassion to them. He served them repeatedly, and therefore, Jesus was dearly loved by the crowds.
Their acknowledgment of that service was to praise Him as He made His way into Jerusalem. Yet, it's very likely that not many knew what would transpire later on that week.
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