Palm Sunday, Passion Week & the Pleasure of God

Today is Palm Sunday!

For an overwhelming majority of the world, what does that even mean?

According to the Pew Research Center only about one-third of the world’s nearly 8 billion people associate themselves with Christianity. So, for more than 5 billion people, Palm Sunday is just another Sunday.

In a world that is facing unprecedented and uncertain and devastating times of COVID-19, people are seeking answers to questions about their health and their jobs and their future.

Yet for Christians today, we celebrate Palm Sunday! Palm Sunday was a foreshadowing of things to come. In this moment we get a glimpse of the kingdom to come!

The Jews were waiting the promised and highly anticipated coming King and Messiah. They had heard the stories of God’s sovereign reign and rescue in the Law and the Prophets, and they believed, it was ‘their time!’

They watched as Jesus rode into town on a donkey and they lay palm branches on the ground for his red carpet entrance into the city.

They sang, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

This would be the much awaited rescue and redemption they had longed to see. Amidst the dread and darkness of tyrannical rule they began to wonder if this was the Promised One; King Jesus!

Then Monday came.

Back to work. Business as usual. Get up, get dressed, get paid. And do it all again.

Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday.

But Jesus was thinking something altogether different. It was more than Palm Sunday; it was Passion Week. He didn’t call it that but He knew it to be so. It was why He entered the fray of mankind. He came for this week!

Consider some of the events of the week. The religious leaders’ plot to kill Jesus. Judas’s plan of betrayal. Jesus’s last meal with His friends. The sacraments. The towel and wash bowl. The singing of a hymn. The agonizing prayer in the garden. The sleeping disciples. The guards’ arrest. Peter’s denial. Jesus standing trial. His ensuing execution.

For what? All for the pleasure of God!

God was doing something incredible in these moments. The crowning moment of earthly history was about to be achieved. He was about to unveil the climactic event for which all of Christianity hinges; the resurrection.

The events that occurred during this week some 2,000 years ago all point to something greater than anyone could have ever imagined in that moment.

Palm Sunday pointed to someone greater than all earthly kings. Passion Week pointed to someone greater than the most excruciating pain of betrayal, beating, and ultimate execution.

It all pointed to a hope for you and me that can be found only in God the Father doing what He pleased. The One whom the Father said, “This is My Son with whom I am well pleased,” is the One who provided this eternal hope of glory.

May we use the events of this week as a moment of reflection and as a catalyst to move us into action. Reflect on the beauty of His unyielding obedience to endure the events of Passion Week. And may the focus of our actions be a worshipful response of repentance and obedience to the Lordship of King Jesus!

As one preacher said, “God is for God.” He is doing what pleases Himself. And He will not deny His character to ultimately express His love and joy and glory in revitalizing within His people a renewed passion of worship and praise.