Jesus was just born! We celebrated Christmas!
Now, this week, we read in scripture that Jesus is riding into Jerusalem, where he will eventually be ridiculed, wrongly accused, put on trial, be crucified and die.
In the scripture we read this week Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover in the Holy City. On the way there he asks his disciples to grab a donkey. He then rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with people lining the streets waving Palm branches and praising him as King.
Jesus knew his life would end soon and it would be in Jerusalem.
If I were Jesus I would probably have aborted this plan immediately.
I would have told the donkey to go in another direction and told all the people around me to act like they never saw me. Then I would go into hiding and hope that after a few years people would forget about me.
My reaction may be similar to yours if you knew your impending death was around the corner.
Jesus did not stop, Jesus did not turn around….what did Jesus do? Ride.
Jesus rode right into the midst of what would be a conflict.
Jesus rode right into what would be a hard situation.
Jesus rode right into his impending death.
Jesus did not get “off the bike” but kept riding.
Thank God many of us are not in the same position Jesus was in and we do not anticipate our demise.
BUT, we each do have places of conflict and confusion and hard situations.
Today, Jesus reminds us that we can keep going and ride into hard situations.
Today, Jesus reminds us that we do not need to turn away from hard things but walk toward them because with God’s help we can overcome them.
This week we celebrate Palm Sunday and Jesus walking into his death but next week we celebrate that Jesus Rose from the dead. Riding to his death was not the end of his story. God got him through it to resurrection.
May we hold onto this promise as well as we enter into this Holy Week.
See you on Sunday!
Pastor Audrey