Palm Sunday: A Glorious Walk
Read Matthew 21:1-11, and feel free to lead worship in your home!
Christ's entry into Jerusalem was a triumphal moment of walking with God. It was reminiscent of Eden, where the creature of God made in His image would honor Him and enjoy His glory. Glory, in its purest sense, is being in the presence of God; and, it was truly a glorious moment when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The passion of Christ was unfolding and as a result the relationship between life and death would be rewritten.
In this Palm Sunday message, we are going to discuss the idea of having a real, physical, walk with God. Let us ponder the Jesus’ triumphal entry and the looming the change that would come through a sorrowful and victorious event. Those who walked with God through the streets of Jerusalem on that day did not understand the meaning of the moment they were living in, and many of those who laid down palm branches would later call out “crucify Him!” Where do we see ourselves on this Palm Sunday?
If we go to the most ancient stories of God and His people, we find that God is often described as walking on the earth. In the Garden, Adam and Eve enjoyed blissful walks with God as they tended creation with their Master. It is truly a blessed thing to walk with one’s Creator, but history tells us that we have a hard time appreciating its value. Jesus walked with us that we might know Him, and experience transformation into a new creature that could appreciate the honor of being with God.
The term “glory” is one that gets thrown around in English to signify things of excellence, but the idea has a very important meaning. “Glory” has the precise meaning of marking the presence of the divine. When we say that something is glorious, we are saying that it is so excellent, it is as if the very presence of God can be found in it. When this word is shifted into “glorify,” this word then means to perform an act that makes the presence of God known. It is an act of revelation, announcing God’s presence to the world.
It does not take much imagination for us to see how life in the Garden of Eden was a glorious existence. Adam and Eve were given the humble vocation of walking with God in the Garden as servants of the Master. It was glorious and beautiful to behold. However, the sinful heart of mankind would ensure that the moment did not last.
Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem was likewise glorious. The joy on that day was as real as the innocence of Eden. The crowds came out to set down their coats and palm branches before Jesus as He rode through Jerusalem before the Passover. Life was vibrant and excited with anxiety, and it seems as if the spirit of humanity could feel rattling at the gates of Heaven. However, this moment could not last, for the sin of mankind would lead Jesus to the Cross, where the great climax between life and death would reveal itself.
The walk with God has been a fleeting moment throughout human history. It takes the power of God to appreciate such a moment, for the hearts of mankind will quickly discard it. With Adam and Eve's fall into sin, the world shifted as humanity's innocence was cashed-in to satisfy a momentary desire. The ill-prepared couple was forced into a long toil with the world, where they would eventually die. With Christ Jesus, the triumphal entry would bring about another shift; however, this would be a shift from chaos to order, as opposed to the fall into sin which moved from order into chaos.
This shift is truly a beautiful and glorious thing. Jesus has been with creation along, He is God the Son, begotten by the Father before time began in some inexplicable way. Christ Jesus is the Word of God incarnate, the very thing that gave order to creation in the beginning. With the work of the cross, the order of God’s Word can come into our personal lives and make us new creatures capable of understanding our value in creation.
God did not create us to be miserable creatures who would lay palm branches down for Him in one moment and cry out “crucify Him” in the next. God knows that our fallen human nature has corrupted us into petty beings that are made into monsters by our whims and desires. Nonetheless, God gifted us with the opportunity of redemption.
Adam and Eve did not understand their own innocence, and therefore could not appreciate the joy of being God's personal servants in Eden. The disciples, and even the curious crowds who laid down palm branches, did not understand the truth of Jesus as God. Yet, today we are living in a time where the work of the Gospel has been revealed. God has opened the door for us to turn from our monstrous ways of sin and to leave the Way of Death and to start walking with Him on the Way of Life.
As fallen creatures we need regeneration as individuals to live righteous lives. Jesus was walking through Jerusalem on that day to provide us with the long-awaited means of transformation. Moreover, this transformation begins in the heart, soul, and mind of the individual. God wants you to live a holy life where your life is organized for righteousness, and He wants you to realize how personal this is.
Jesus went by the Temple when He rode through Jerusalem among the palm branches. It was a symbol for God's glory and the fact that God’s presence was among you; but, it also was a warning to beware. The holiness of God cannot occupy the same space as anything defiled. The Temple was both a sign that God would be with you and a warning against sin and chaos. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the Temple was torn. One no longer needed the physical building, because its significance passed to the hearts of believers.
As Jesus went past the Temple it became obsolete. God desires to live in the temple of your heart. However, just as Adam and Eve failed to appreciate their walk with God and the crowds would forget the joy of their palm branches, many today will choose not to walk with Way of Life with Christ Jesus.
The cost of walking with Jesus is high, and it demands discipline. Walking the Way of Life requires that you organize your entire life around the righteous commandments of God and allow the Holy Spirit to convict you with a Christlike attitude. This is not easy, and it demands the hard work of cleaning up our life and abiding in the disciplines of Christ.
As we close, I want you to reflect on your relationship with God and ask the question of whether or not you appreciate the opportunity to walk personally with Christ Jesus. Are you willing to let the Holy Spirit organize your life around Christlike living? Are you willing to let go of the things that hold you back? God has such great blessings in store for us, but they are not the desires of the world. They are the blessed mercies of God that require perseverance and faith.
1. Is it easy for people to appreciate the opportunity to walk with God?
2. What is demanded of a Christian in their walk with God?
3. How do we tell the difference between the desires of the world and the blessings of God?
4. How is it that people had the joy of walking with Jesus to crying out “crucify Him” within a week?
