Palm Sunday

“The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went to meet Him, and cried out: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!’” (John 12:12-13)

I’m a few days late on this, but I woke up on Sunday morning with a different view of Palm Sunday because the day felt like the calm before the storm. Jesus rides into Jerusalem surrounded by praise and support. Feels great, doesn’t it? Then the hammer drops. I’ve been there. Riding triumphantly into a good place in life only to have the good place turn into being nailed onto a cross. Okay, so not literally nailed to a cross, but definitely emotionally. My nails pierce differently, and they typically start by piercing my mind. In just the past few weeks I can see the roller coaster of emotions I have experienced: fear, disappointment, happiness, anger, and sadness…probably all in the past few days if I’m honest. I told a friend a couple of years ago that I feel like my life changes every three days. Things will be going well, and BOOM…something happens to bring me back into disappointment, anxiety, anger, sadness, etc. I climb out of that place, and then BOOM…something else happens. So the celebration of Palm Sunday seems like a set up. All of us go into a time in our lives that seems to be getting us to the place where we wanted to be. People are celebrating with us, we are pleased with how things are going, and then comes…you fill in the blank. After wrestling with this I came to this conclusion. Everything works out in the end. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He knew what was going to happen to Him, but He kept riding. He chose to take the celebration with the impending crucifixion all for the glory of God. I think that’s why many of us trip when it comes to problems. We see problems as dead ends rather than road blocks. We can’t see the future, so we think that those dead ends…I mean road blocks are the end. How about taking a different view? We can’t see the future, but we can stand on the word of God. Did He not promise us in the 23rd Psalm that surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives? Didn’t He promise to never leave us nor forsake us? Doesn’t Romans 8:28 promise that all things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to His purpose? With that being the case then if these road blocks are here, that must mean that God has something amazing planned for us right up ahead. It might be challenging and even painful passing through road blocks; but because we can trust Him, we should keep riding.