Palm Sunday marks Jesus’ last visit to Jerusalem before His death on the cross. Crowds gathered and waved palm branches while shouting “Blessed is the King.” Jesus rides into town on the back of a colt and rebukes the Pharisees when they get upset with the crowd shouting praises to Jesus.
Text: Luke 19:28-40
I love watching sports. Like many fans of sports I have my favorite teams and love to cheer them on especially when they are doing well. Over the years, I have had many opportunities to attend sporting events for my favorite teams. There have been two times in my life when I have been able to experience a playoff atmosphere of a major sports team. The first was in college when the I had the opportunity to watch Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. I had been to a few regular season games prior to that experience but nothing compares to the atmosphere when the season is on the line. The crowd was loud and raucous. When the final seconds ticked away and the Suns won the series, it is the still the loudest I have ever heard Footprint Center. A second opportunity presented itself earlier this year when my wife and I attended the closeout game of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The game was close in the early innings, but when Gabby Moreno hit back to back homers on two straight pitches (the first was called foul) the crowd lost it. As fans we love to get behind our teams and support them and go crazy for them when they do well.
Luke’s gospel describes this event by saying the crowd began to praise God loudly because of what they had seen Jesus do great things. They shouted out blessings on Jesus as King coming in the name of the Lord. They are excited to see Jesus enter Jerusalem. I imagine the scene the same as the playoff environment. The people believe that Jesus is coming to free them from Rome. They have seen the miracles. They have heard him speak. Jesus is finally coming to bring victory!
However there are some in the crowd that are skeptical to say the least. They do not like Jesus. In fact, they are beginning to set into motion plans to capture Jesus and end this movement once and for all. As they watch the scene transpire, they get upset that Jesus is letting all of this unfold. Their anger seeps out and lashes out at Jesus who simply responds that if the people do not shout praises the rocks will!
As we enter Holy Week this year, remember that there are many that are celebrating the Risen Savior! However, there are also many skeptics around us. There are those around us that do not believe the same thing we do about Jesus. They see our joy as fake. They cannot understand why we would waste our time going to church rather than spending that time at home. Take time this week to celebrate what Resurrection Day means and pray for those in your life that need to know the truth about who Jesus is!
