What do you think of first when you hear Palm Sunday? Maybe you think of the cross where Jesus would die just five short days later. This cross at our church even has some leafy branches around it a little like the ones used in that first Palm Sunday.
Maybe you look ahead to next Sunday as we celebrate Easter and the empty tomb.
Maybe this time of year is when you consider attending church.
Matthew 21:8-9 describes that day this way: “And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”
How tragic that the same crowd called for Jesus to be crucified just 5 days later.
They thought Jesus was coming as a political Savior.
They worshipped Jesus for the circumstances they thought He’d improve but utterly rejected Him as the Savior from personal sins.
John 4:23 says, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.”
They had spirit but rejected the truth that Jesus came to save from sins, to offer eternal salvation not temporary improvement of circumstances.
This Easter season, let’s focus on the real reason Jesus came. Eternal salvation is enough to give us hope for today, every day, and for eternity.