I remember being a kid and going to church on Palm Sunday. They’d give us a dried up palm branch as we entered the sanctuary. I had no idea what it was for or all about. I promptly turned it into a weapon to torment my younger siblings. Palm Sunday is the day we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Scores of people laid down their garments before Him and waved Palm branches as a sign of national pride and the hope of a savior. They cried out, “Hosanna” which means, “Come Lord Save”. The sad irony is that many of those same people would cry out, “Crucify Him!” just a few short days later. While that may feel like a quick shift in public opinion, you and I must decide what we will do with Jesus. We must either Crown Him as the coming King or Crucify Him as a criminal and a fake. There is no middle ground. I love this CS Lewis quote:
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
Did you catch that? If Jesus is God in the flesh who died on the cross and rose again, is there anything that could be more important than following Him? Yet the sad reality is that many of us treat Jesus like an add on to our lives rather than the very reason we exist. Crown Him or Crucify Him, but don’t try to live your life in the shallow in between.
By my rough calculations, this will mark the 1,986th Palm Sunday celebration. The Scriptures tell us there will be a “Last Palm Sunday” and I hope to be there with you:
Revelation 7:9-10
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”