Palm Sunday

Read Mark 11:1-11.

“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Mark 11:9

There will be moments in our lives as Christ followers when we need to take a stand. These moments may involve standing for faithfulness in our personal relationships, being honest in our business dealings, or acting with integrity in matters of morality. In the wider public arena, taking a stand could mean facing issues about inequality between the haves and the have-

nots, race and gender inequality, or issues of violence and lack of justice. In these areas and countless others, we can discern what response will most express the greatest command and then act.

This is what Jesus does that first Palm Sunday. He makes his decision to enter Jerusalem. He offers witness to God’s kingdom there in the Holy City. He enters the city in such a way that no one will be able to ignore him. He takes on the messianic role, the role foretold by the prophet Zechariah in the Old Testament. He arrives humbly and vulnerably, riding on a colt.

This is how Jesus takes his stand, whatever the consequences. He knows that as he does this, he is not alone.

When Jesus rides into Jerusalem amid the cheering crowds, he is saying in effect, “I stand for God’s kingdom. Even if I am destroyed, I will be faithful to God and to myself.” Jesus can no longer condone the massive structures of evil that surround him. He knows he has to face the evil in the temple and the evil in the world, no matter what happens to him personally. If he does not, he will fail in his calling to be God’s Messiah for both Israel and the world. He takes the essential first step in his final action to save all humankind.

Followers of Jesus seek to live their lives as he would.

Often Lent is a good time for us to identify those things, both in ourselves and around us, that Jesus would like us to confront.

Jesus decides that first Palm Sunday to take a stand for his deepest convictions. Will we do the same? We will need a combination of courage and faith. But we know that we are not on our

own; God is with us.