On this day, Jesus rode down the Mount of Olives on the back of a colt that had never been ridden before and he was welcomed as Messiah and King. But this was a king like no other. He was not accompanied by a massive army to conquer the city. He came in love to win people’s hearts. He wept over Jerusalem because of people’s refusal to receive the peace that he came to give. His first order of business after entering Jerusalem was not to seek a throne for himself, but to go to his Father’s house. This person, who as a 40-day-old baby was presented to God in the temple and who, as a 12 year old, was already about his Father’s business in this same temple, was still about his Father’s business as an adult. Jesus’ first concern was always to bring his Father glory by doing the work that his Father gave him to do.
And what was that work? To seek and save the lost. To give himself as a love offering on a cross so that everyone who believed in him would not perish but have eternal life. You and I, in Jesus, are the glory of God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Now is the time to welcome our King who has come to bring glory to his Father by saving us!
It’s Palm Sunday.
Farewell to Shadowlands 