Palm Sunday… Celebrate?
Introduction
Have you ever been to a great parade, or a processional where lots of other people were gathering to celebrate an event? Perhaps there was limited room to stand and everyone wanted to best view. Lets be honest the only reason people gather at an event like a parade is because there is an expectation of something great to come. At a Christmas Parade people or children look forward to the arrival of Santa Clause at the end of the Parade, notice they never put him at the front of the Parade, that’s because no kid really cares about the marching band, as much as they do the guy in the red suit at the end.
As we study the Bible, we find that all four gospel writers describe the triumphal entry. John speaks of it briefly in chapter 12, verses 12-19. Matthew give us a more full account in the 21st chapter. In Mark it is found in chapter 11 and in Luke Chapter 19. You all know the story, Jesus went to enter Jerusalem for His final visit. On nearing the city, He sent two disciples with instructions to go to a specific place, where they would find a donkey tied with her colt. They were to bring the animal on which no one had yet ridden.
Jesus finds himself on the coats the disciples placed on the coalt for him to sit on. The colt then is lead into the town, and as it is, they lay what we would know as a red carpet for the colt to walk on. The Pharisees didn’t think this was very proper, in fact they thought so little of it, they instructed him to tell them, to stop what they were doing. Jesus response to those was simple “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40). See the disciples and those who saw him come down the mountain that day into the town, were cheering and celebrating his arrival, and the Pharisees didn’t think this was needed, much less acceptable.
God’s plan for the world is bound up in His promise of a King, a King who can solve the problems of our sick and confused world. This brief recognition two thousand years ago declared that God had kept His promise. God’s King had come. He would not rule right then, for He had a greater purpose. But His eternal Kingdom has been established.
Have you ever considered how amazing that plan was and is? I think Palm Sunday is a great time to remember the celebration of a great arrival, a coming King, who humbled himself to be what you and I can experience today as Saviour & King!
It’s Just a thought… think about it.
