The journey…
He rode the donkey, into a crowd, who placed their coats on the road and their palms on which the King of kings would ride.
The shouts of praise were loud, the sense of triumph palpable, as Jesus sat on his humble steed.
God doesn’t need much to work with. Surely not gold and wealth and military power.
No, those things do not constitute a God we worship — not at all.
Nor do we worship traditional victory, for we know what Jesus does on this auspicious journey.
Soon enough, there will be a Last Supper with the disciples for which there is a betrayal.
An arrest will take him before Pilate and Herod who cannot find him guilty and yet they send him to be crucified because the crowds have been fomented into an angry, frothing, furious mob created by misinformation about this gentle Savior, Son of God.
There will be a brutal flogging, a crown of thorns pressed on his head, gambling for his tunic, nails in his hands and feet and finally a spear thrust into his side.
He cries out, is given vinegar on a sponge, entrusts his mother to John, then says, “it is finished.”
Soon, enough on Easter, there is resurrection, new life and hope, when he appears to his disciples.
We make this journey with him each year, to remember and reflect on such a gift as this to us, the unworthy, yet made worthy to be saved and made whole from our broken lives.
Will you be with us for the journey to the cross, the tomb and the announcement of Jesus glorious victory in resurrection?
Moving to the deeper places,
Jeff