Beneath the Palm, Beyond the Praise
In the midst of palm branches swaying and shouts of praise, may we never lose sight of how we led our King to the cross.
Jesus chose a donkey. The people chose palm branches (John 12:13)
Jesus chose fulfillment. (Zechariah 9:9) The people chose expectations.Â
Jesus chose to offer Himself. The people chose to idolize what Simon Maccabee and the earthly kings offered.
Jesus chose to love our enemies. The people chose to crush or align with them.Â
Jesus chose humility and lowliness. The people chose military strength.
Jesus chose to keep his sight beyond the cross. The people chose to ignore it.
Jesus chose to disarm kings from their greatest weapon: Death
The people chose to oppose and reject Him with their greatest weapon: Death
Jesus chose to embrace death and suffering. The people, unwilling to accept a King who embraces death and suffering, do not.Â
In the midst of palm branches swaying and shouts of praise, may we never lose sight of how we led our King to the cross. When that is forgotten, we risk picking up our palm branches and raising our shouts in support of a Jesus from our imagination, not the crucified Messiah.
Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel! (John 12:13)Â
Let us shout these ancient words with praise and acceptance of Jesus for who He truly is:
Our King that embraced suffering, died, and was raised to show that death and all those that hold the world hostage with it are DEFEATED.Â
Powerful words, Mariana! Thanks for sharing 💛
I love this post; my favorite line is when you compared Jesus' humility and lowliness to what we tend to choose which is military strength and physical war. I pray that I can work on my initial response, that it can be closer to Jesus' of humility and lowliness instead of feeling the need to respond on the defense and fight a physical war.