Palm Sunday


"As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, 'If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.'" - Luke 19:41-44

As Christians, I think we're great at Christmas and Easter, but sometimes we gloss over these other events. Palm Sunday is a big day on the religious calendar, but sometimes I wonder if we spend enough time stopping to think about what it meant.

Palm Sunday is really the day that begins to separate Jesus -- and by extension Christians -- from other religions. Palm Sunday, and Jesus' actions, are the reasons devout Jews don't believe Jesus is The Savior. Jesus' actions during Holy Week is what separates Him from other religious figures. He died on a cross, descended to Hell, and rose again, for us. No other religious figure makes that claim. It's what makes Jesus special.

But back to Palm Sunday. Jesus enters and gets the kind of coronation a king would get. The crowd chants for Him. They lay cloaks on the ground, an act done for royalty. They waved palm branches, an act of rebellion. They thought he was coming to overthrow the government and create a new world order.

He was, but it wasn't what they expected. Jesus doesn't march to the palace, instead He marches to the temple and throws out the money changers. Jesus came to start a revolution -- one of the heart and mind. The people expected a revolution -- one of the government.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus did the unexpected. He challenged conventional thinking and the conventional order, and Palm Sunday was no different. He shattered expectation, and the crowd rejected Him for it.

Which is why, upon entering Jerusalem, Jesus wept. He didn't do it often, but He did it that day. He wept for the city. He wept for the people. He wept because they didn't get it. He wept because of the consequences of their rejection.

Most of the people missed the point of Palm Sunday, and I think sometimes we do the same. This is the beginning of the toughest week of Jesus' life. It was also the most important week in the history of man.

Some people missed the point. They didn't get it. Do we?

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