Hosanna!

Happy Palm Sunday everyone!  Holy Week is a week full of highs and lows, a week that helps us to remember events that changed the world and changed our lives.  Palm Sunday is a day that, to me, contains the full range of emotions.  We read the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem, of the multitudes waving the palm branches and shouting "Hosanna!" and "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!"  The Pharisees tell Jesus to quiet the crowd, and He rebukes them by saying that if His followers keep quiet, "even the stones will cry out."  This is the Christ at His most popular.  This is Jesus Christ, Superstar.  And we celebrate in many of our churches by having the children wave palm branches as we sing songs of celebration.  We, like the original Christ-followers, believe!  And we shout out His name and would follow Him anywhere.

Yet we know what is coming.  No matter how great our celebration is today, we know that this week holds stories of betrayal, denial and death.  We know that these same people who shouted "Hosanna!" will in a few short days be screaming "Crucify Him!"   We know that on Good Friday the world will turn very black, and all the hope of Palm Sunday will seem to be lost.  And just when things seem to be darkest, we know there is the great light of the resurrection still to come.  This is the advantage we have over those early disciples.  We KNOW how it ends.  We are a Resurrection People!

So today, the question is this:  Will we live our lives like the early believers, shouting "Hosanna!" one day and denying Jesus the next?  It is one thing to sin; we all sin.  It is another thing to live our lives ashamed of the One who saves us from that sin.  This week I encourage you to re-write the story of Holy Week in your lives.  Let there be no denial or betrayal.  Show the world that Jesus is alive, and that He is now and forever your LORD and Savior.  Living for Jesus in the here and now is certainly something to scream "Hosanna!" about!  I hope you all have a blessed day!

Because of Jesus,