It began as any ordinary day. The sun rose above the horizon and people went about their routine. There was no great proclamation that God was going to alter the course of the world that day and in the coming week. But that is the way life changing events sneak up on us. Suddenly our lives are changed forever with no or little warning. Often, we don’t even recognize the life transforming impact of the event until later. Palm Sunday was a day like that, a day ordained before time, when God quietly acknowledged “It is time”.
The King is Coming
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the day we know as Palm Sunday was a spectacular event. The crowds roared in praise and adoration of Him. The account in Scripture describes people waving branches and laying their coats on the road as they would for a king returning from a victorious battle. The event was prophesied in the Old Testament (O.T.) book of Zechariah. “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey – Ch 9 Verse 9. Little did the crowd realize Biblical prophecy was being satisfied before their eyes that day.
The crowd was anticipating a deliverer who would rescue them from years of Roman tyranny and subjugation. Even as the euphoria climaxed around Him, Jesus stayed true to His mission and could see past the accolades looking into the eyes of the very ones who would later reject Him and demand “crucify Him”. The people could only fixate on their immediate circumstances and misplaced understanding not grasping the significance of that moment in time and history.
The account of that day is recorded in the Gospel Luke – ***.
As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting:
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord;
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.” Luke 19:37-42 ***
The Indictment
“If you, even you, had only known…..” were the words Jesus spoke that day as He wept over the city and the people for He knew their hearts. They lifted their voices with adulation in the fervency of the signs and wonders they had seen rather than His offer for spiritual healing. Jesus’ subsequent heart breaking indictment flowed from their failure to acknowledge Him as the way of true peace; the Messiah who would bear their transgressions as prophesied in Isaiah 53. Sadly, the very peace they longed for as a people would now elude them resulting in the demise of the nation of Israel as foretold by Jesus in verses 43 &44 of Luke 19.
“For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:43-44
The price of their rejection of Jesus Christ and His words echoes throughout history with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. and the dispersion of the people across the Roman empire and beyond. A historic geo-political ripple still felt today.
It would be simple for us to fault their willful ignorance assuming we would not fall prey to the same lack of spiritual understanding if we encountered Jesus face to face today. But we too are not immune to the malaise of such blindness. The prophet Hosea in the O.T. expresses it this way “My people perish from lack of knowledge” – Hosea 4:6.
In our human frailty, we are often blind to the obvious realities about ourselves and regrettably ignore the truth about our greatest need that plagues us. Like the people of Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday, we need a Savior to rescue us; not from our circumstances but from the pervasiveness of sin. That terminal spiritual condition is beyond the realm and power any human king or politician to resolve in our lives.
The Way of Peace
Jesus, as God’s Son, came in His first advent to deal with that foremost human issue. Once we come to terms with the reality of our greatest need allowing Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord to heal our inner man, all other life issues are put in perspective.
Palm Sunday began a week of events that were foretold by the prophets of the O.T. and laid the foundation for a restored relationship between God and man. It is the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ that soon followed Palm Sunday which satisfied the demands for the restoration to be realized. Those two events would accomplish a true deliverance and a peace available to all people. The great eternal truth is that reconciliation and peace with God is now available to all who will call upon Jesus Christ in faith (Romans 10:9-13).
Coming to Take Possession
Two thousand years later, we are on the cusp of another day when God will say “It is time”. As in the past, it will begin as any other day but will culminate in Jesus’ victorious return. He (Jesus) who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” (Revelation 22:20). Both the Scriptures and Jesus foretold of His future second advent when He will take possession of His Kingdom on Earth. The prophetic signs as prophesied in the Scriptures are coming to fruition before our eyes. Wisdom cries to us not to repeat the tragic mistakes of the past by ignoring the truth of God’s message to us through Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ heart is that all people come to Him by faith which is reflected in His invitation to us: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:28-19
M.P. Bramble
*** – Parallel Gospel accounts – Matthew 21:1-9, Mark 11:1-10, John 12:12-19
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