Different Perspective of Palm Sunday

For years I’ve wondered about how we celebrate and worship on Palm Sunday. This typically involves a re-enactment of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the congregation being his followers in Jerusalem celebrating by waving palm's and announcing the coming of “their” king. This is where it gets interesting; the scriptures in Luke say the people shouted “Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the heights” . Key here is that the people of Jerusalem who lined the streets and laid down their robs & coats where celebrating the entry of a King who they believed had come to claim his rightful earthly place restoring Israel and expelling the Roman occupiers. This was the moment that many had been waiting for including some of his disciples. The man entering Jerusalem was whom they had always understood as the Messiah would be, that of a conquering king not the suffering Messiah, the Lamb of God for the entire world.

Remember that Jesus wept for Jerusalem before he entered the city because he knew the people had already missed the opportunity to understand and believe in what was coming before them. In other words those cheering along the path of Jesus’ entry had no clue or understanding of whom really was entering into Jerusalem and worse would reject the true offer of salvation that was to come. No one not even the Disciples up to this point understood Jesus’ true mission that he came to be the Lamb of God, the one last sacrifice for all humanity.

We must remember the people were there because of the great miracles that Jesus had performed through his ministry had validated in their minds who Jesus was, but they were going to miss the greatest miracle of all the resurrection. The point to all of this is that the people of Jerusalem missed the true Jesus and were celebrating something they desired and wanted, not what God was providing. Do we today get blinded by the miracles and see Jesus for something he’s not. Or do we see and worship him as “The Lord & Savior of the world”. To understand the magnitude of Palm Sunday we must see it from the perspective that even though Jesus’ wepted and desired different for the people who cheered him as he entered Jerusalem he went forward with what the Father had called the Son to do and save the world. So, on Palm Sunday should we celebrate the entry of Jesus as the people of Jerusalem did or as Jesus weeping for those who have missed the truth of Christ by wanting something of our own desires?