Triumphal Entry

March 21st, 2005 Matt Jones Leave a comment Go to comments

Today is Palm Sunday. The week before Easter. The week that everyone will be (and probably should be) watching The Passion. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week and is that last week of Lent.

Luke 19.28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples,30 saying, Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.31 If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it? just say this, The Lord needs it. 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them.33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, Why are you untying the colt?34 They said, The Lord needs it.35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,38 saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, order your disciples to stop.40 He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out. (NRSV)

Christ entered Jerusalem fully aware of what was awaiting him there.

We should enter this last week of Lent preparing our hearts for Jesus’ death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. I recommend reading though the Passion Narratives in the Gospels as well as the suffering servant passages in Isaiah. I especially recommend Isaiah 52.13-53.12 (it is particularily emotive in Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message).

I think it can be especially hard for those who get bogged down with daily life to take time to focus on some of these issues. Especially in Academia where scholarship can be particularily time consuming, we think there isn’t as much time for devotion and medidation. One thing that is easy for me to do is slack in devotion because I can tell myself that I am studying about God. There is a distinct difference between studying God’s Word and actually medidating and spending time in devotion and prayer. I want to encourage those that are in similar positions to become aware of the difference. Studying God and His Word is a very good thing, but don’t stop there. The Jesus that entered Jerusalem knowing he would be scourged and crucified has called us to something more than scholarly understanding of the Bible.

Have a blessed Holy Week.

PS - sorry blogging has been light, I have been pretty busy lately and this week looks to be about the same!