Today being Palm Sunday, Stephen spoke from Matt 21:1-18 this morning. Normally we view Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the crowd’s acknowledgment of Him as King. The celebration element is prevalent in the narrative: we see Jesus riding on a donkey with crowds shouting ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ and placing palm leaves and cloaks on the road before Him. Such moments remind us of the ‘red carpet’ treatment accorded to celebrities nowadays, but if we ponder the story further, we see how the story does not finish in the way the crowds expected. Within days, Jesus is reviled and crucified as a common criminal, even though He was indeed King. God often works in ways that are totally unexpected to human reasoning.
The story is also a reminder, however, of the sacrifices God requires of us. As the people gave lavishly, we too are urged to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2). We have an opportunity to lay our burdens and fears down before Jesus and to give Him our sacrifice of praise. We relinquish our desire to be in control and accept that if He is our King, we have to live our lives every day in acknowledgment of this fact. It is easy to view Palm Sunday as a one-off event, the precursor to the events of Holy Week, but it is a time for us to give of ourselves freely to God, understanding that sacrifice, once given, cannot be reclaimed.