Yesterday was the day in our remembrance of the first Easter that we know as Palm Sunday. Our name for this day comes from the reference in Mark 11:8 which mentions that Jesus' followers cut down leaves to wave in celebration as he entered Jerusalem. Our versions of the Bible probably head the telling of the "Palm Sunday" story as "The triumphal entry." You can find the full story in Mark 11:1-11 and in Luke 19:28-40.The name "Palm Sunday" is fine and easy to remember, but if we read these two Bible passages in full today, we will see that the leaf-waving is only part of the story. If you have been following Jesus for a while you will probably have read this story many, many times, but take the time to read the story afresh today.
Imagine how the disciples who were asked to go and take the colt felt - were they nervous at taking someone else's donkey? Were they amazed when things happened exactly as Jesus told them it would?
Imagine how they felt when the crowds started to gather around the man they had been following for three years - the man they knew to be the Messiah. We read this story knowing how their week will end, but they hadn't understood Jesus' warnings. Were they thinking that finally the world had realised what they had known for a while? Were they imagining ahead at their nation embracing their Saviour and maybe seeing the Romans overthrown?
Imagine what the praise sounded like on the streets of Jerusalem. If you have ever been part of a large gathering of Christians praising God (at a stadium or Bible camp, for example), recall the memories you may have of that large number of voices singing in praise. And as Luke 19:40 reminds us, had the people not declared the praise of God for the arrival of Jesus "the stones along the road would burst into cheers."
This was a day of triumph - a day where people cried out: "Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord!"
Today, you may have a chance, like those crowds gathered on the streets of Jerusalem, to declare Jesus' name to somebody that you are trying to love. You may have a chance to share the story of how you found your Messiah and how you know the King who comes in the name of the Lord. If you have that chance please take it - and take it with boldness and celebration, like those singing as they waved their leaves. If you don't have the chance to use words to shout and declare the truth, then use your loving to speak the same truth. Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord by serving the person he puts into your life today - by appreciating them, or helping them, or listening to them, or feeding them, or encouraging them, or giving them a hug, or smiling.
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