Daily devotion – Saturday 27th March 2021
John 12:12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,John 12:13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’
The King of Israel!”
As a small boy attending St Paul’s Anglican church in South Fremantle, Palm Sunday was one of my favourite Sundays of all. The church would be decorated with palm leaves all around, and their scent filled the sanctuary with an authentic atmosphere that seemed to take me back to that very time being in the crowd waving my hands to Jesus.
There was something else that carried over from that time of Easter – we would receive little crosses that had been made by folding palm leaves to make the shape of the cross.
I would keep each one from every Easter and place them in my bible and use them to mark it. They were special to me with who they represented.
Everything centred on the cross, everything reminded you of the cross, and the impact of Christ’s suffering on it would constantly break my heart and bring me to tears especially when we would gather to kneel and pray on Palm Sunday.
Christ comes to each of us, and His love is constantly made available to us. It’s just that we aren’t aware of how much God loves us, and He loves us all the time!
But His love also brings with it His cross. For it was on that cross that He demonstrated His love for us forever.
Palm Sunday represents God’s touch to get my attention, to have me focus on Him and forget about everything else. Palm Sunday tells me and the rest of the world, Jesus is the Messiah, the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, that He is of the lineage of David, and in Him, the rule of the world forever does rightfully belong.
My prayer for you this Palm Sunday and the days following is that you will rightfully and passionately welcome Him into every area of your life, just as that crowd did, the day He rode into Jerusalem. Will you shout out and give Him praise, will you lay down more than simple palm leaves, and will you bend your knees to Him in homage?
He is your King too, He is your Messiah as well, and He is indeed the Son of God!