Palm – Revisited from April 2019
Palm Sunday. Can you picture Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and a colt? Do you see the crowds praising him, following him, adoring him, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heavens!”
As Jesus rode into town the people waved their palm branches as a sign of victory. To give honor to Jesus. To announce that he was something special.
How often do we wave our own symbolic palm branches at church on Sunday’s? Singing our songs of praise, just as they did.
How often do we shout praises to God when life is going good? Telling others how good God is. How powerful He is. We bless Him because we have our economic security. We praise Him for the gratuities we receive through family, friends, health and possessions. We adore Him because life is just so good!
But it took less than a week for these same people to throw their palm branches down. To silent their praises. Instead of waving their branches, they raised their fists in anger.
Instead of crying “Hosanna!” They screamed “Crucify!”
Instead of adoring Christ as a hero, they denounced him as a common criminal.
How quickly things can change in one week. How quickly people can turn.
How quickly we too can turn.
We go to church singing praises to God and yet sometimes minutes later disrespect His child who waits on you at lunch. It’s often said that restaurants hate the Sunday crowds, not because we are kind and loving, but because we act entitled and hypocritical.
How sad how quickly we lay our palm branches down from announcing “Hosanna” from our pews to picking up the soldiers hammer in the church parking lot.
But in hurting those around us, we not only hurt them, but we hurt God. He sees all we do. He sees how we treat one another with negative Facebook posts, disgruntled road rage, rude comments in the grocery line, backstabbing at work, and backhanded comments to our loved ones.
How quickly we all lay down our palm branches and pick up the crucifying hammer to pierce Christ’s palm with the nails.
You may think you haven’t swung the hammer. You may say you are blameless from striking the nail through His hand. You may think, but we often think wrong.
We all have held the hammer. It’s just sad how often we grasp the hammer and slam the nail. We love God when life is great but curse Him when life gets rocky. As if God is only God during the good moments of life.
We need to praise Him in all circumstances.
It’s during the hard moments when we need to praise Him more. Not to change our circumstances as if thinking, “If I sing this song, God you will change this in my life.”
No, it’s more like, “I will praise my God because He is worthy to be praised. I may have hit rock bottom, but God is still God of my highs and my lows. He is with me on my mountaintop and He is beside me in the valley. He is my healer when I am healthy and He is my comforter when I am sick. He is my sustainer when I have plenty and He is my provider when I have nothing. He is my all in my all and He is my all in my nothing.”
May we wave our palm branches in all circumstances, all trials, all over comings, all difficulties, all pleasantries, all blessings, all curses, all good times, all bad times, all seasons of growth, all periods of drought, at signs of life and at moments of death.
He deserves praise at all times.
We all mess up. When you throw your branches down to pick up the hammer to pierce His palm, you can lay down your hammer as well and pickup the palm branches.
It’s your choice how you want to live and be remembered. A palm is in both.
Peace
May you have a blessed Palm Sunday.
