John 12: 12-18
Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,“Hosanna![d]”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[e]
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”[f]
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
Wow, how quickly people can change there opinions. That is the capability that we have as humans, think back to the days of your childhood and think at the people that you had as your best friends. How many of them were still your best friends a few years later. How many of them were still even your friends?
At this time in History Jesus was just about everyones best friend (notice I say just about, he wasn't one of the Pharisees and Saducees, and well, the Romans) How quickly things would change over the course of the week though.
Did you know that the book of John is the only one of the 4 gospals that actually uses the phrase "Palm branches"? Matthew and Mark use the phrase "branches" and the gospal of Luke says "cloaks" So why do I want to focus on the book of John? Well, would you believe that the Jews "kinda got it right?" They were just off by about a week and the style was just a little wrong. Palm Branches back in that day were what were waved around to celebrate a victory and with Jesus' entry into Jerusulam, that is what they (thought) they were celebrating. They thought they were celebrating Jesus' victory over the Roman empire which would lead to Jewish Rule in the world. But instead of being the ones to celebrate the victory, they helped lead to the victory, and it wasn't Jesus' victory over the Roman rule, but instead it was the victory over the power of Satan. It gives us hope for the future and something to really look forward too with his second coming.
Yes, yesterday was Palm Sunday...... But maybe it's on Easter Sunday that we should actually decorate our church with Palm Branches, to celebrate Christ's victory over death.
Hey, it's a thought
"I looked up, and I saw my Lord a'comin
I looked up and I saw my Lord a'comin Down the roadAlleluia he is coming
Alleluia he is here
Alleluia he is coming
Alleluia he is here"
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