S&F-Palm Sunday: Our Hero Enters the City

Over the Catholic Liturgical year there are many special days on the calendar.  The two big ones are Christmas and Easter.  They are so big that they have whole seasons (Advent and Lent) devoted for preparation and time periods after to celebrate.

While both are important, I always find myself drawn to the Lent/Easter as the one that means more to me personally.  And I think the reason is Holy Week, which starts today.

Today, with Palm Sunday, we reenact the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.  With the reading being the entire narrative of the Passion from Jesus's praying in the garden, to the arrest, scourging and crucifixion we get all the highlights of the week to come.

And that's what I love about this week.  I can wake up every day and think about what Jesus was doing today on his week leading up to his death.  This is a good time to imagine being present in the events of Holy Week week Jesus.

Today I picture myself in the crowd, watching Jesus sitting on the donkey entering the gates of Jerusalem.  I see myself as one of the Jews in the crowd cheering the living God entering the city.  Is this going to be the time that Jesus is going to fulfill the prophesies and take his seat at the temple?  Is this the time where he is going to overthrow our Roman oppressors?

We know now that Jesus's mission was not to triumph as an military hero, but to have a victory over sin and to restore our relationship with God.

But, 2000 years ago, the typical Jew would have still looked to Jesus as someone who was going to call down the wrath of God on the Romans and restore the kingdom on earth.  And that is why Jesus is being celebrated as a conquering hero on his entry to the city.

How does the attitude change so much that we go from cheering Jesus to demanding for his death over the next week?  That's the journey we, as Christians go, on over Holy Week.  It's exciting to walk with Jesus over the coming days and I am looking forward to documenting it here.