Palm Sunday
Open Your Bible
Luke 19:28-44, Psalm 118:25-29, Zechariah 9:9
BY Melanie Rainer
I love the exercise of doing something again. I like to read the same great books, over and over. I like to watch the same TV shows, or watch the same movies, and mine them for new gems. I’ve been re-reading all of Jane Austen’s novels over the past few years, and every book has been a delight. If books are prisms, then each new season of life has me looking through a different side, seeing how old and new insights bounce off of each other like light, making the experience richer and brighter each time I read.
Sometimes, reading Scripture is like that, especially reading beloved passages like the one today from Luke 19. Perhaps this is your first time ever reading the story of Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, kicking off the final series of events before His death. Perhaps you’ve read it dozens of times, and as you read it this morning your eyes skimmed over it, connecting only with the keywords you know to expect.
Because Scripture is a means of grace, it reads us as much as we read it. Like a prism, it catches light no matter when we look at it, and illuminates something deeper and richer. Scripture is living and active, which means that if we approach it with prayer, the Holy Spirit will guide us, and it will always reveal something to us.
I can imagine the cries of the crowd who cheered for Jesus were staccato: sharp, loud, joyful, full of passion, short. “Blessed is the King!” they yelled, throwing their garments on the ground for His donkey to walk over. Not long after, the crowds would cry something different: “Crucify Him!”
But it seems that Jesus gave a legato response to the crowd: long notes, connected to a deeper understanding of His purpose. His statements reference the Old Testament: “the stones will cry out” from Habakkuk 2; and “For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and hem you in on every side” (Luke 19:43), from Isaiah 29, Jeremiah 6, and Ezekiel 4.
Jesus’s statement, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes” resounds with wisdom and sadness (Luke 19:42). He was speaking to Jerusalem, the city He loved. He was speaking to the crowds who cheered Him and the Pharisees who challenged Him. He spoke with authority, which would quickly be followed up with anger when He cleansed the temple.
Lent, Holy Week, and Easter are a symphony, full of staccato celebration and legato mourning. We cheer, we cry. We celebrate, we abstain. We experience the fullness of life, death, and hope everlasting. We are Easter people, but we have the whole of the story in our bones. And every time we read it, we feel it more and deeper: the pain, the joy, and the glorious hope.
49 thoughts on "Palm Sunday"
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As a child growing up in the Catholic Church we were all give a palm branch on this day. And as read this, this morning that memory came to my mind. I didn’t understand back then what that meant. But as I read this today I’m thankful for that memory as it prepares us as what’s to come. And though we will not be in our churches, I’m comforted and full of Joy that WE will all be celebrating “together” in our homes!
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Thank you Churchmouse for you words and insight. I stopped in my reading at, “ you did not recognize the time when God visited you”. What!? Wait! Where? I went back and reread our passages today, and there it was! I have read this passage so many times my minds eye went right over that phrase, “ you did not recognize the time when God visited you”. There, right there in front of me. Oh Jesus Lord forgive me. I say I watch for you, but even when I read your Word I look right over you. I am putting these words around me so that not only do my eyes see them, but my heart stops to look.
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Please pray for my sister and nephew and my family, as I mentioned yesterday, my niece died in a car accident Friday night and today would have been her birthday.
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Praying right now
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Oh my. Praying that God will comfort you during this most difficult time.
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Praying for you and your family, Dorothy. I’m so, so sorry for your loss.
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Prayed just now. May God give you and your family peace and may you feel him wrap you in his loving arms ❤️
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This is a question on how this works. How do I go about ordering a book for these studies. Is there a particular site I go to? I am not very good technologically. It was a God thing that allowed me to find you all and at perfect timing I don’t post stuff but I’ve been with you all for a couple of months before this virus hit. God knew I needed this because no church and no women bible study group to go to. So great to see your posts and hear faith mercy and grace shown to us daily. Please tell me as simply as you can how I order the book for the next study.
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On the “Homepage” on the app.
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Thank you so much
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Today as I walked I thought of Jesus listening to the crowds cheering,knowing but only a few days later they would turn on him and feel alone, my heart felt sad. Then I thought again how so many of us feel alone during this time, but we aren’t alone, Jesus took this walk for us! So we wouldn’t be alone. Hallelujah we are never alone, He is with us!
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Remember to Praise and Thank God today and everyday! SRT is a true blessing.
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The words that stood out to me were “ I tell you this day if they were to keep silent the rocks would cry out” . To me it speaks to how great the glory of the lord is how his beauty and majesty is withheld from nothing in the universe.
I was also struck by “ If you knew this day what would bring peace but now it is hidden from your eyes”. I will continue to pray everyday that I never fail to see what would bring me peace. -
Reading these passages stirs up the very emotions Melanie writes of: pain, joy, sorrow, celebration with glorious hope. It’s all there in me, yet, at times one or two will be at a greater intensity than the others. Our present struggle does give opportunity for the pain and sorrow to be in the forefront. Oh how good it is to be reminded that we can cry out “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!” And as we pray for deliverance, may our hearts also be grateful and hopeful along with the psalmist as we say, “You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; your are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”
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