PASSION

Palm Sunday.

The entire week – between Passion Sunday and Good Friday – is called Passion Week. The ride we celebrate on Palm Sunday is the ride Jesus made on a donkey. The procession led into Jerusalem. People stood on both sides, waving palm branches and spreading their cloaks on the road before Him. We call it The Triumphal Entry.

Yet is was more – much more – than a triumphal entry into the city Jerusalem. It was the beginning of the end – and yet a new beginning.

I cannot imagine that Jesus could enjoy the pomp and glory He received as He rode into that city. He knew what was coming beyond Jerusalem. I think, rather, His eyes were on the unseen cross and the horror He would face later that week.

Yet, even more than that, I know His eyes were focused on an empty tomb.

That empty tomb is why He came.

As He walked among men those thirty-three years, He saw our darkness, our sin, and our night. The only way – He knew – to bring light into our darkness was to bring the Light of the World into our sin-weary night.

So He came.

He knew what it would mean. Still, He came.

He knew that some would reject Him. Still, He came.

He knew, even though we would become His children, we would also at times reject Him by our actions or words or thoughts. Still, He came.

 

He knew that “without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.” In our world of sin and chaos, there was nothing but darkness and black, empty night. So He came.

Purposefully, this Savior stepped into our night.

It wasn’t about the glory and that triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It wasn’t just about the cross. It was about Resurrection Power and a forever empty tomb. It was about Love. “For God so loved the world . . .”  That is why He came.

Purposefully, A Savior Stepped Into Our Night.

As Passion Week approaches, I am so grateful it didn’t begin and end with that triumphal entry.

The real triumph was in that empty tomb.

The real triumph is that He came to bring light to our darkness. Hallelujah!