120,000 people are cheering at the tops of their lungs. It’s difficult to see the donkey and its rider with all the palm branches being waved. Where there once was a road leading down into the city from the Mount of Olives, all you see is a carpet of cloaks. We would think of a motorcade or a parade route with a famous world dignitary, but even that wouldn’t due justice to the scene. If those people weren’t there, God the Father would not have let his Son enter the City of Kings without praise. Would you rather have heard the rocks shriek in praise? Maybe another chorus of angels would be a better fit just as the shepherds heard over the fields of Bethlehem at Christmas.
Palm Sunday is a unique festival of praise in the Christian Church. The season of Lent is a 46 day intense stretch for the church. Every few days we have a chance to catch our spiritual breath in the season of repentance with a time for rest. The Sundays are islands of grace and peace. Pull out the five Sundays of Lent and Palm Sunday and you are left with the traditional 40-day period of Lent. Palm Sunday is a day of praise as we enter Holy Week, a time of intense focus on Jesus’ Passion.
Just as we can get swept up in excitement in a crowd at a sporting event, the emotional high can be great on Palm Sunday. Our sermon encourages us to take a closer look at this king who rides in not to conquer his subjects, but to conquer for his subjects. Don’t let his lowly appearance fool you. Jesus is the rider on the white horse from Revelation. He comes to conquer in a battle that we could not win. We are spiritually free and forgiven because Jesus has conquered our old evil foe. One week from today we will celebrate the defeat of even death itself. Hosanna!
Topic(s): LentBook(s): Luke
Tag(s): Lent, Palm Sunday
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg