Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday. Crowds lined the street to welcome Jesus. They were exuberant; some threw their garments on the dusty road for the donkey to walk. Why? That animal had a special rider on it - Jesus. They waved Palm branches jubilantly and enthusiastically in the air. They shouted 'hosannas.' By the time the the parade reached the city the whole city was roused. This day marked time of celebration where Jesus was welcomed and worshipped.

The crowd was eager to support Him when He gave them what they wanted. There is such a thing as bought loyalty that depends on favours, or to put it bluntly on bribes. Recall after the feeding of the five thousand, they wanted to make Jesus King. Jesus had to leave them for He did not want to rule an earthly kingdom. To do so would have sidetracked Him from His eternal purpose. His mission was to establish the Kingdom of God, the spiritual kingdom throughout the entire world.

Less than a week later the people, were shouting "crucify Him." We assume they were the same people who welcomed Him on Palm Sunday. If that was so, then I can describe them as fickle. Human fickleness! We see this every day in our society. Fickleness is due to lack of commitment. A committed faith is not blocked by personal trial or crisis or benefits withdrawn.

Many come to God expecting everything to be good. Maybe some hiccups here and there, every now and again. But when a real crisis comes, when the bottom drops out for us, we raise the question, "Why? Why should this happen to me?" We blame God. A committed faith in God takes the good and bad. O we need to examine our faith - is it casual or committed?

During the discussion in our Adult Bible class, one member. Bruce came up with the thought that it could be possible the people which shouted "crucify Him" was a different crowd from the one which welcomed Jesus on Palm Sunday. He suggested that this crowd could be paid by the chief priests and enemies of Christ to demonstrate during the trial. Bribery! Quite possible. Again we come to the subject of human greed or materialism. In some countries, voters are paid to vote! They vote not for the good or interest of the country, but for personal gain.

Well it was an interesting study of the attitude towards Jesus on the two different occasions.

God has given us the gift of free will - we are allowed to choose. We can accept Him or reject Him. I am reminded of the poem written by our poet General John Gowans called "choice"

Is choice a tragedy?
It seems to me
It very often is,
But must it be?
Would it be
If I couldn't choose?
Lord, in your mercy
Teach me how to use
The precious power
You dangerously given
To choose the way I work,
The way I live.

I don't ask You
To take the gift away,
But guide me in my choices,
Everyday.