3-29-21<\/p>\n
I hope the words of that title, and the kiddie-pop version of all we hold dear does not remind you of \u201cSanta Claus Is Coming To Town.\u201d But in our cultural cocoon it would not be surprising if some children grow up thinking that the Easter Bunny was at the manger scene; or Santa Claus went to the cross.<\/p>\n
Exaggeration, perhaps, but I will not cop to sacrilege\u2026 except as our whole culture has become sacrilegious; secularized; post-Christian. And include most of our churches themselves as complicit in the apostasy.<\/p>\n
Palm Sunday used to be universally celebrated in Christian churches. Now it is barely observed. Catholics would burn the palms and save the ashes for the subsequent year’s Ash Wednesday. When I was a boy our church and Sunday School were festooned with palms that were distributed at the end of services; and in our house, anyway, we arranged them behind the picture frames with Jesus and Bible scenes.<\/p>\n
Why palms? They were symbols and reminders of the palms \u2013 and flowers and garments \u2013 laid before Jesus as He entered Jerusalem for the Passover. No power to salvation, they survived the centuries as spiritual Post-It Notes: This is how the people received Jesus as His power and glory became known in that city.<\/p>\n
For three years he had performed miracles. Walked on water. Healed the sick. Raised the dead to life. Read minds. Forgave sins.<\/p>\n
He had followers, slowly growing in numbers. The word spread, just as the Word spread. Yet through the small towns in the region of Galilee, after more than three years of such ministry, His adherents were numbered as a cult following. Skepticism? A lot of it. Suspicions, too, that he was a magician or prophet at best. Or the \u201cmiracles\u201d were exaggerations or coincidences or swindles…<\/p>\n
By the time He entered Jerusalem, Jesus knew it was His final visit. He knew the word-for-word prophecies from Isaiah and other Scriptures that would be fulfilled a hundred times over before the week was out. Followers, even Scribes and Pharisees, did not connect the dots.<\/p>\n
The city fairly went crazy to welcome Him. A virtual parade. His path strewn with elements of welcome. Music and cheering; crying eyes; workers and housewives taking time to welcome the Messiah.<\/p>\n
But my question today is, Do you ever think back, either because of (or in despite) Jesus movies, or Sunday-School bulletins? Have you imaged the scene? \u201cWhy is He on a donkey?\u201d \u201cHe asked for one!\u201d The mystery was lifted when people eventually realized that it was another puzzle-piece of prophecy from 700 years earlier.<\/p>\n
If you have thought about that jubilant scene, you likely did not see yourself as a scoffer or skeptic or hater. These types were hard to find! As we know, the Roman officials tried to ignore the whole \u201cJesus thing.\u201d The only opposition, and bitter it was, came from the religious leaders. Not the Jews in general, not at first, because the cheering crowds were Jews. It was the religious Establishment who hated Him.<\/p>\n
Rejecting Jesus as Messiah, but also nervous about their own positions and security, they ignored Scripture and colluded with the political Establishment. As we know.<\/p>\n
You might have pictured yourself in that adoring, welcoming throng. Of course! But how often have you pictured yourself in that crowd beneath Pilate\u2019s balcony only a few days later… screaming for Barabbas to be pardoned and Jesus to be executed?<\/p>\n
Have you pictured yourself as a member of the mob who watched, approving, as Jesus was scourged to a bloody pulp?<\/p>\n
Have you pictured yourself as someone in the crowd along the Via Dolorosa, as Jesus was forced to carry His cross; were you, too, jeering, spitting on Him?<\/p>\n
And after your love had turned to hate, were you then so indifferent to this innocent Man\u2019s suffering that you wandered away from Golgotha? \u2013 Probably so, because most of the Disciples were not there at His feet with His Mother Mary.<\/p>\n
WHY would any of us think we would have been any different that the population of Jerusalem? Happy welcome? Join the party. \u201cCrunch time\u201d? Spit on the Great Pretender. Fair-weather faithful.<\/p>\n
Manipulated by the mob\u2026 when you are part of the mob. Swayed by the Establishment\u2026 and its version of the news of the day. Knowing Scripture\u2026 to the extent it could be cited to justify your changing but comfortable notions. Doubting, disbelieving, rejecting. God forbid we do such things again!<\/p>\n
I have been asking if you ever pictured yourself \u201cthere\u201d during Holy Week. But you don\u2019t have you. Jesus Himself pictured you there. At every event that week, from jubilation to tortured death. He looked into the crowds, but saw the faces of you and me.<\/p>\n
Beyond our faces, He looked \u2013 and still looks \u2013 into the hearts of you and me.<\/p>\n
On Palm Sunday, however, we commemorate His entry\u2026 into Jerusalem; into fulfilled prophecies; into our lives. No turning back! And, for us, no ignoring Him.<\/p>\n
More audacious, really, than a Virgin birth, or the astonishing miracles, or the timeless wisdom He left us\u2026 is the very thought of the Incarnation: that the Creator of the Universe became flesh and dwelt among mankind. That He LOVED that much.<\/p>\n
That He LOVES that much. Humankind should rush toward Him, yet He came to us.<\/p>\n
They sang \u201cThe King is coming!\u201d But He is still coming, still wanting to enter our lives, our minds, our hearts. He\u2019s coming for you. Will you welcome Him? Can you picture that?<\/p>\n
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