Jesus enters Jerusalem alongside a frenzied crowd full of excitement.
Palm Sunday is a parade, but it’s not the Macy’s parade with 2-story balloons of Elmo & Clifford. Palm Sunday feels like a coronation. But it’s not like the crowning of King Charles where everything was scripted according to centuries of royal tradition. Palm Sunday is a flash mob turbocharged with anticipation.
Everybody thinks somebody is toast when the new sheriff arrives. Who will it be: Romans, Pharisees, Sadducees, or all the above?
Except, there’s a problem. Jesus doesn’t meet anyone’s expectations. Excited on Palm Sunday, we’d be dazed & confused by Good Friday. Easter Sunday is a bigger deal than Palm Sunday, but still, we’d be dazed & confused.
If what you really wanted was to see your enemy suffer, you’d be disappointed.
To be human is to have unrealized hopes & unanswered prayers.
All four Gospels describe Jesus’ triumphal entry, but only John’s Gospel makes this Palm Sunday observation. John 12:16 begins, “His disciples did not understand these things at first…” Jesus invites us to walk by faith into a future we cannot see. The better we handle twists & turns, disappointments & setbacks, highs & lows of this earthly life the better able we are to see God at work in our lives.
He is Risen!
