| | Today is the day in the Christian year that is referred to as Palm Sunday. It is called so because as Jesus made His entry into Jerusalem for the last week of His life on earth, the people greeted Him with palm leaves. They also shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David."
Sometimes people wonder how it is that the same people who cheered and adored Jesus on Sunday could be calling for His death less than a week later. That can be explained by understanding what it was the people were actually doing. Son of David was a phrase that was used to mean the Messiah. So, the people recognized that Jesus was the Messiah. That wasn't the problem. The problem was what they were expecting the Messiah to do. Hosanna means deliverance or salvation. But, it wasn't deliverance from sin they were hoping to find, but deliverance from the Imperial Romans. The Palm Branches were a national symbol for Jews, similar to the bald eagle or Stars and Stripes in the United States. It was meant to evoke patriotism and nationalistic fervor. The people cheering for Jesus on that day were looking for a military/political Messiah, not a deliverer from their own sins.
It's worth thinking about, that many people today still want a Jesus for that same purpose. Maybe not to deliver them in a military fashion, but one who will make life easier for them. In other words, one who will deliver them from all the problems of life except their biggest one......their own sinfulness. Jesus may or may not deliver us from the problems of everyday life, and it certainly isn't wrong to ask Him to do so. What is wrong is to expect deliverance from problems (which is the result of sin) and not desire deliverance from the sin itself.
As this holy week begins, maybe we be seeking Jesus to first and primarily to free us from our own selfishness,
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| | Posted 4/5/2009 8:15 PM - 9 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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