Praises!

How can things go so wrong so fast? Palm Sunday is a day of celebration. It is a day when the disciples must have felt the Kingdom of God was only hours away. They may have thought about freedom from Roman rule. They may have thought about places of honor and responsibility that each of them would be given. They DID NOT think about being in hiding and in fear for their lives four days later. They DID NOT think that imprisonment and execution would be their own fate at some point in the future.

This was supposed to be the highlight of the ministry to date. Jesus had entered the city to the cheers of a multitude. Obviously, the people were on Jesus’ side, and the authorities were scared. They had asked Jesus to keep it quiet, to calm the crowds. Jesus, in what must have seemed like an outburst of emotion to the disciples, said, “This is a moment that requires joy and celebration. If the people are silenced, the rocks themselves will proclaim the same message!”

We all recognize that the Christian life has its ups and downs. We, like the disciples, have been ecstatic when we feel the presence of God working in and through us. We love the march of the victors, heads high, shoulders back, chest out!

However, we also know the lows that come when we think all is lost, and God has abandoned us. We know anxiety and fear. We have experienced doubt and uncertainty. We have our own moments of faithlessness, leaving only the stones to cry out our Savior’s praises.

As we end Lent and begin Holy Week, let us commit to the proclamation of the Gospel in good times and bad. May we not be only among the cheering throngs on Palm Sunday only to disappear on Good Friday, or even to find ourselves calling for crucifixion.

Pastor Craig