The reality of what happened on Palm Sunday is often overlooked.
Jesus’ Triumphal entry into Jerusalem could be considered the highest point of his earthly ministry. The events of Palm Sunday, with thousands of adoring worshipers laying down robes and palm branches in the road, seemed glorious. Aside from his Transfiguration on the mountain, it is the closest Jesus came to revealing His rightful stature as the King of Kings.
In Luke 19:39 the Pharisees saw all his attention and told Jesus to rebuke the crowd, to which he responded, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”
In reality...
Jesus didn't enter Jerusalem to make a show of his Divine birthright. It wasn’t an act of boasting or a chance to bask in people’s praises. It was just the opposite – it was arguably the greatest act of humility that the world has ever known.
Jesus wasn’t entering the city to accept a crowd’s adoration. He was willingly riding towards the painful death that awaited him just days later. With unimaginable resolve, He would soon take upon himself the wrath of God, so that sin's slaves could be set free. His entry was the act of a Redeemer – He was the greatest liberator of all time.
That is why the rocks would have cried out – creation itself was at stake in the redemption of the world.
Some could ask, this happened two thousand years ago, what does Palm Sunday mean to anyone now?
That’s a really important question. It asks how our heart responds to the coming of the king. Some respond the way the Pharisees did, with disregard, jealousy, or contempt. Some are willing to accept other people’s right to welcome Him but see no need to bow themselves.
Those who bow know the full meaning of that day – it’s the day their Redeemer took the final steps that committed Him to the greatest act of sacrifice of all time. An offering for sin that would spell victory over sin and death. An act that would redeem all of nature.
No wonder the rocks would have cried out!
1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” MEV
Have a blessed Easter!