This week is "Holy Week" for Christians. This week, we remember the events leading up to Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. Today, we celebrate Palm Sunday which remembers Jesus entry into Jerusalem (see Mark 11). It was a celebratory day where Jesus was welcomed into the city and celebrated greatly. It foreshadows the drastic change of events that will happen the end of the week.
This is the first time that I've experienced a Palm Sunday service in a more liturgical church. In the past, the Palm Sunday service has always been very celebratory, followed by a Good Friday Service that was more solemn. This service had a tone of solemnity through its entirety. The celebration of Palm Sunday was definitely overshadowed by the impending suffering that we will remember later this week.
The one aspect that was renewed to me, can be seen in 1 Corinthians 11:23. The night before Christ is crucified, he gathers with his followers for a Jewish festival called Passover. This gathering is significant because it remembers the faithfulness of God to the Jews when He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Jews gather yearly to celebrate Passover. It's an intimate gathering with family and close friends. Paul retells the story in 1 Corinthians by saying "on the night that he was betrayed...." Jesus knew what was coming. As he broke the break and shared the meal, he knew Judas was going to give him up to the most painful experience in his life. During the meal, Jesus called Judas out for the traitor he was. Jesus wasn't fooled. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it anyway.
I'm amazed by that, and have so many questions about that. The reality of the situation is that Jesus had to be given up to be crucified. It was the main purpose for his time on earth. He chose a man to walk with him during his time in ministry on earth who he knew was going to later betray him, and he did it anyway. Judas was not treated any different until the last night when the plot had been planned and Jesus releases Judas to do as he planned. Jesus allows himself to be betrayed, unjustly killed, so that he can raise to life and so that we can know God. It's a painfully, beautiful story.
And a lesson for us. We will be betrayed. We are humans, and sometimes life is hard to do with humans. We turn our backs as often as we offer to help. Yet, God still reaches out to us. We aren't worthy of his affections, and yet he gives them all the same. We turn our backs on him, and yet he welcomes us back with open arms. What a great God he is.
This is the first time that I've experienced a Palm Sunday service in a more liturgical church. In the past, the Palm Sunday service has always been very celebratory, followed by a Good Friday Service that was more solemn. This service had a tone of solemnity through its entirety. The celebration of Palm Sunday was definitely overshadowed by the impending suffering that we will remember later this week.
The one aspect that was renewed to me, can be seen in 1 Corinthians 11:23. The night before Christ is crucified, he gathers with his followers for a Jewish festival called Passover. This gathering is significant because it remembers the faithfulness of God to the Jews when He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Jews gather yearly to celebrate Passover. It's an intimate gathering with family and close friends. Paul retells the story in 1 Corinthians by saying "on the night that he was betrayed...." Jesus knew what was coming. As he broke the break and shared the meal, he knew Judas was going to give him up to the most painful experience in his life. During the meal, Jesus called Judas out for the traitor he was. Jesus wasn't fooled. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it anyway.I'm amazed by that, and have so many questions about that. The reality of the situation is that Jesus had to be given up to be crucified. It was the main purpose for his time on earth. He chose a man to walk with him during his time in ministry on earth who he knew was going to later betray him, and he did it anyway. Judas was not treated any different until the last night when the plot had been planned and Jesus releases Judas to do as he planned. Jesus allows himself to be betrayed, unjustly killed, so that he can raise to life and so that we can know God. It's a painfully, beautiful story.
And a lesson for us. We will be betrayed. We are humans, and sometimes life is hard to do with humans. We turn our backs as often as we offer to help. Yet, God still reaches out to us. We aren't worthy of his affections, and yet he gives them all the same. We turn our backs on him, and yet he welcomes us back with open arms. What a great God he is.
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