WHY PALMS ON PALM SUNDAY?

WHY PALMS ON PALM SUNDAY?

By Jack Zavada

Palm branches are a part of Christian worship on Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday, as it is sometimes called. This event commemorates Jesus Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as foretold by the prophet Zechariah.

The Bible tells us people cut branches from palm trees, laid them across Jesus' path and waved them in the air. They greeted Jesus not as the spiritual Messiah who would take away the sins of the world, but as a potential political leader who would overthrow the Romans. Their shout "Hosanna" meant "save now."

In ancient times, palm branches symbolized goodness and victory. They were often depicted on coins and important buildings. Solomon had palm branches carved into the walls and doors of the temple (1 Kings 6:29). Again at the end of the Bible, people from every nation raise palm branches to honor Jesus (Revelation 7:9).

Today, many Christian churches distribute palm branches to worshipers on Palm Sunday. The people remember Christ's sacrificial death on the cross, praise him for the gift of salvation, and look expectantly to his second coming.

Scripture Reading for Holy Week:

Palm Sunday: Philippians 2:6-11

Monday: Isaiah 42:1-4

Tuesday: Isaiah 49:1-4

Holy Wednesday: Matthew 26:14-16

Maundy Thursday: John 13:12-16

Good Friday: Isaiah 53:1-5

Holy Saturday: Romans 6:3-11

Easter Sunday: John 20:1-9

WHAT WE REJECT WHEN WE REJECT JESUS

WHAT WE REJECT WHEN WE REJECT JESUS

By Caryll Houselander

Behold the man abiding in mankind!

He has put on our humanity. He has put you on—and me. He has covered himself with our shame, blindfolded his eyes with our blindness, bound himself with our slavery to self. He is bruised by our falls. He bleeds from our wounds. He sheds our tears. He has made himself weak with our weakness. Faint with our faintheartedness. He is going to die our death.

All people are condemned to die, but he Is condemned to die not only his own death, but yours and mine, and that of every man whom he will indwell through all the ages to come.

“Behold the Son of God!”

“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!”

He alone, of all men born, need not have died; but because things are as they are, because we have to pay the price of our sins, and our life on this earth must inevitably be a journey through suffering to death, Christ has chosen to give himself to everyone who will receive him, so that each     person who wills can tread that road with the feet of Christ, and at the end of it he can, if he wills, die not his own death but Christ's…

He has chosen our impotence in order to give us the power of his love, our weakness to give us his strength, our fear to give us his courage, our ignominy to give us his majesty, our pain to give us his peace, our wounds to give us his power to heal, our dying to give us his life, our interdependence that we may give him to one another…

Yes, and behold in him in yourself. Each one of us can recognizer himself, a sinner, in the disfiguring, the bruising, the ugliness, hiding the beauty of the fairest of the sons and daughters of men. And there can be few who do not recognize themselves, too, in the utter loneliness of this man in the midst of the crown that lately spread their garments to be trodden by the little donkey he rode on, and no clamor for his blood.

HOSANNA!

HOSANNA!

By Pastor Dwight Cunkle

Hosanna! Lord come and save us!

Can we hear this ancient cry for deliverance from enemy oppression, injustice and sin? Who will come and free us?

“Blessed is He who comes-the Lord, strong and mighty!”

“This is our awakening” (our Lenten prayer theme)

We have walked with Jesus through this season of Lent and today we enter Jerusalem intriumphal procession. Throw our coverings upon the ground before him. Wave festival branches in praise. Let children shout and let the blind and lame and unclean (all men beginning with us who are able to say, Lord have mercy on me”) - come to Jesus and receive healing and life. 

Various verses paraphrased from Paul’s letter to Ephesus

Put off the old attitudes and be made new in the spirit of your mind… Wake up and arise from the dead and Christ shall give you light...

Have love for all the saints and be rooted and grounded in the strength of Christ’s love so that you may resist the evil one and pray. Put on the whole armor of God and take the sword of the spirit that you may be able to pray and stand.

A Biblical Christian worldview is purchased by doing the work of bringing our thoughts (we have about 60,000 per day) under the review of Scripture and humbling our heart to receive wise counsel. Since his “thoughts are higher than our thoughts” we exchange our way of doing things for the very “mind of Christ.” And since we all have blind spots and the heart is “layered with deceptions” we need the help of others to be changed in the renewing of our minds (especially because of the dominant strongholds of unconscious presuppositions in our worldview, our view of God and our view of ourselves).  Ready to rumble?

A wartime mentality never loses sight of the danger of evil when left unopposed and the authority of good to overcome it. No matter the personal cost, and no matter how powerful evil makes itself appear, it is but a bully spirit whose defeat is already sealed; so stand firm and resist until it flees or is trampled down by truth and love.

Humble yourselves before God; resist the devil and he will flee. Confess your faults; pray for one another; & be healed.