Today is Palm Sunday - A day to remember Christ’s Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem. It is the day that starts Holy Week and the firsts of many events that leads directly to the cross. It has always seemed like an odd day to me – like a day of fake victory. Jesus enters Jerusalem humbly riding a donkey and yet exalted by all the people. “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, Hosanna.” Waving palm branches and making a path of coats and palms for him to walk on they praise him, and rightly worship him. But, why? Why is it the Triumphant Entry? There hasn’t been any real victory, any real triumph yet. That doesn’t come till Sunday and when it does come they don’t recognize it – they praise the small triumphs of little miracles, but ignore the larger triumph of Victory over Death! How petty, how small, how short sighted! They rejoice and praise him as Messiah and then just days later cry out for his crucifixion. How fickle, how erratic, how inconsistent! ….. And how very like ME.

Lord, forgive me for my shortsightedness, forgive me for inconsistency. Forgive me for praising you as Messiah one day and crucifying you the next. Lord, in many ways Jerusalem was praising you in for what THEY expected you to be and do – in many ways they weren’t praising you, but their perception of you. Lord, I know I do that. Forgive me. Lord, show me who you are that I might praise you rightly – that I might in truth and honesty from my deep heart say to you, Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Rejoicing in the journey – Beth Stedman