John 12: 12-44
Palm Sunday
On the next day (the day after Mary annoints His feet with the costly ointment of spikenard, for His burial) the large crowd that had come to the Feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
Took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord, even the King of Israel! (Psalm 118:26).
Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey's colt. (Zechariah 9:9).
This was a very dramatic, almost theatrical, entrance to the city of Jerusalem, by the King of Israel, as the people understood, which is why they proclaimed Him so!
When some Pharisees who were there heard them, they complained, as Luke tells us, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. But Jesus answered, I tell you, if these become silent, the very stones will cry out! (19:39-40).
And as He approached the city gate, He saw the city and wept over it (Luke 19:41), because He saw how the Romans will come in in A.D. 70 and raze the whole city to the ground, not leaving one stone upon another (19:42-44).
And all the people who had witnessed His raising Lazarus from the dead were telling everyone else all about what Jesus had done (John 12:17-18).
This was the last straw for the Jewish leaders. They didn't want Him to upset their little apple cart, they wanted to maintain their status quo; because their conquerers, the Romans, let them have their little fiefdom, and they liked lording their authority over the people.
If Jesus pressed His authority to be King over Israel, then the Romans would come down on them hard, take away all their authority, and destroy the city. Which is what happened, anyway, a few years later.
So all their scheming only bought them a little time. And the Gospel of the Kingdom got its start to spread over the whole World. God's Plan will not be thwarted by any mere men.
Palm Sunday starts Holy Week. We remember this week, all the sorrow and pain and suffering our Savior came to endure on our behalf. This week shows us how much God really Loves us.
John considered himself the "one Jesus loved." He is the one who was most conscious of how much God loves all of us, and he wrote that, This is what Love is: not that we loved God, but that He Loved us first, and sent His own Son to be the propitiation [the complete satisfaction] for our sins (I John 4:10), and that Jesus said, Greater Love has no one than this, that one lay down His life for His friends. You are My friends ... (John 15:13-14).
O my Father, as we consider the things that happened in history this week, that changed the course of the whole World; help us to be aware of Your great Love werewith You have Loved us!
Show us Your ways, that we will want to cooperate with You in how You designed the Universe to operate: to love You back, and to love others as You have Loved us. And to do all the things in obedience to Your rules of living, so that all our thoughts and attitudes and words and deeds would bring glory and honor to You, and show the World that You have sent Your Son to rescue them.
And we look for His return to rule in total Righteousness and Justice and blessings.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
