Entry of Christ into Jerusalem - Anthony van Dyck
You would be forgiven for not realizing that this Sunday is Palm Sunday. Without the rhythm of ordinary church services, the seasons of the church year seem to be in a muddle. The fact that much of life has ground to a halt has given us a particularly frustrating form of Lent that won’t end, and it seems like Easter should not come until we are allowed to return to ordinary life. How can we enter Holy Week, with all of its church services that culminate in the celebration of the resurrection, while waiting impatiently in our homes for a new day to break? Yet this Sunday is still Palm Sunday, and next week is still Holy Week, even if it doesn’t feel like it.
Perhaps there is a blessing for us in this. Perhaps not the one we would choose, but the one we need nonetheless. Consider the following with me:
We normally have an easy time celebrating Palm Sunday, because it is enjoyable to watch the kids wave palms and march around, and Easter is a delight because of the weather and egg hunts and big meals. In other words, we celebrate Holy Week because life is obviously good in these moments. It is like celebrating the birth of Christ—it is easy to rejoice in the fact that God became man on our behalf because Christmas itself is so delightful. And this is a good thing! It is a blessing from God to have these wonderful moments when it is easy to celebrate! He gave Israel feasts, numerous feasts, to help them know him and delight in him.
Yet it is altogether too easy to lean on and delight in the wrong thing. The joyous moments help us celebrate, but they aren’t what we are supposed to rejoice in. There are times when we need to relearn how to delight in God, and not just in the good times. As St. Augustine said, “our hearts are restless, until they rest in You, O Lord.” One of my chief prayers these last few weeks is that I would rest and delight in God alone. I have been praying this for you all, as well.
Palm Sunday serves as a reminder of the one in whom we are to rest and delight. Jesus entered Jerusalem as king—the triumphal entry was a coronation ceremony! The history of Israel, even the choice of a donkey as a vehicle (read I Kings 1:32-34), point to this reality. The prophecy that lies behind the procession (Zech. 9:9) makes this clear. Jesus is the rightful King of Israel and the world. We are supposed to be resting and delighting, in him, because he is our king!
We all know this, but it is still too easy to rest, delight, and trust in the circumstances of life rather than the one who is king. And so there is a blessing for us, a chance to learn to delight in the king alone this Sunday, because we don’t have everything else in life just the way we want it. In other words, we have nothing else to cloud our vision (like the good gifts of time with friends and children waving palm branches). I pray that our hearts would see and love the king clearly this weekend, perhaps more clearly than normal, because we aren’t distracted by anything else.
In Christ,
Steven