Psalm 118, Mark 11:1-11
Palm Sunday
Theme: Hosanna
It’s a new day!
Spring is here, and the dark days of winter are in the past, at least until next year.
Today, we are beginning Holy Week. This is a significant season for Christians. The week begins with Palm Sunday. The first Palm Sunday was when Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago. There was a procession, people cheered. They threw down their cloaks and waved palm branches. Jesus road in on a donkey, just like Solomon did after his military victories.
People shouted Hosanna! Hosanna is a Hebrew word meaning “Lord save us.” It is the first word in a hymn sung on the seventh day of Booths. The hymn is recorded in the book of Psalms. It is Psalm 17 in our Bibles. It begins.
“Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
From you let my vindication come”
But there was a difference between kings and Roman processions and the one Jesus had. He did not enter on a war stead or on a sedan chair carried by porters. Instead, he rode on a donkey.
Instead of the customary invitation by local officials for a feast of welcome, he was jeered.
It was an opportunity missed for the leaders of Jesus’ time. They had forgotten their beleaguered past. They were too centered on the political and power manipulations in their lives. This Jesus was the champion of losers. He was favored by lepers, cripples, and tax collectors. To them, he provided nothing they wanted.
As we study the week Jesus was in town, we find him defying their established lives. Jesus paid more attention to the poor and sick. He went into the temple drawing disruptive and loud crowds speaking on sacrilegious issues. He even broke up their main line of income, the money changers in the temple.
Come worship with us at First Christian Church, Warrensburg, Missouri where we will renew the march of palms remembering that day Jesus marched into our lives. Will we be more welcoming than the leaders of Jesus’ day?
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