Reading John 12: 12-20: Palm Sunday is the day of Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He rides into the city on a donkey, and the crowds of people lay down palm leaves as He goes, shouting ‘Hosanna’, which means ‘save us now’, or ‘rescue’. It’s a day of rejoicing and adoration, but also one of soberness, since the very city which welcomed Him on Sunday, would then reject and crucify Him on Friday. With that mixture of adoration and sadness, it is the perfect beginning to Holy Week.
But it is on the rejoicing and adoration that I want to focus today. I woke up this morning being tremendously grateful that today marks the start of Holy Week. I have been reminded this week of the importance of faith – and not in any mundane sense of the word. Faith in God, faith in God’s protection, faith in God’s mercy, faith in God’s saving power. Faith that God is real, and what that entails. All these things are, of course, intricately connected. I think I’ve been trying to fight too many battles on my own recently. But I have felt God’s love in my life this week, and the message has been that God is all-powerful, and I need to put my trust in Him.
As I pondered this morning over Jesus’s triumphal entry, the Holy Spirit peacefully but powerfully testified to me of the real triumph of Jesus, His triumph over sin and death. And I am grateful for the change in rhythm that religious holidays bring into my life, allowing me to worship in a special and deliberate way. It brings a kind of purpose to my mind, to follow the events of Holy Week, and focus in on this most sacred of events. To focus on the sacred brings its own kind of sanctification. Somehow, when we travel and weep with Jesus along the via dolorosa, the profound sadness is always ultimately swallowed up in a deep hope and an unspeakable joy. But, that is the very promise of Easter!
The Light of Christ in the Darkness 