Passion Week: Palm Sunday

Bartimaeus is healed
Just outside the ancient city of Jerusalem, a small band of shabby characters are making their way toward the outer walls.  Among them, a man named Bartimaeus. For years he spent his days at the gates of Jericho as a blind beggar seeking spare change from those who would give. Until yesterday. Yesterday he was healed of his blindness and today he is eagerly following the sage who granted him this gift of sight. Sadly, these new and perfect eyes, that today allow him to now see the vibrant beauty of the world, will soon show him the contrasting horrors of life as he will watch the man who healed him being tortured to death.

Jesus weeps
That man now walks with a quiet intensity while the rest of his entourage surround him like a boxer approaching the ring. The men are excited as they fully expect their leader to establish himself as the Messiah, a king on Earth, and overthrow Israel’s Roman oppressors. Little do they know their leader has all but given up on trying to explain to them that the Messiah is to be a sacrifice rather than a conqueror, a servant rather than a celebrity.  Jesus is fully aware that He is now living the final days of His life and He is approaching them with both courage and dread.

As He reaches a point that He can overlook the city, He begins to weep, lamenting that the people failed to recognize the day of their Savior’s coming, an event that was predicted to the very day by the Prophet Daniel.

As He and His disciples are approaching the town, Jesus sends some of them ahead to find a donkey colt, one that had never been ridden.  The disciples locate the colt and bring it to Jesus where He then rides it into the city.  As Jesus is entering, His followers begin to take their cloaks as well as palm branches and lay them on the ground in front of the donkey.  The people cheering as their king arrives, having no idea that within five days they will be calling for His execution.  

I wonder if Jesus thought about this as He was coming into town?  He said that if these people had not cheered, then even the rocks and trees would have cried out in worship of Him.  The people had grand plans for how Jesus was going to save them from the Roman Empire, and as usual, God had something bigger in mind.

Jesus enters the temple
After the procession, Jesus enters the temple.  Upon His arrival to this holy place, He appalled to find people using the worship of God as a means to make money.  This enrages Jesus, who in the midst of this commotion, contains himself and chooses to remain silent.  He instead slips away for the night, staying in the nearby town of Bethany.

I wonder what Jesus must have thought that night.  He had just experienced people cheering for Him, people that He knew had no idea why He was there and people that He knew would want Him dead in just a few days.  In the Holy temple He saw what He later calls "a den of thieves," making a mockery out of the worship of His Father.  With the scene of the money changers replaying in His mind, I wonder if His heart began to swell with a burning intensity as He sat quietly that night weaving the whip He will use tomorrow to drive those thieves out of His Father's House?  Was he hurt, the mockery He felt was taking place in the name of God?  He will not sleep well tonight.


Matthew 21:1-11Mark 11:1-11Luke 19:28-44 and John 12:12-19

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