Palm Sunday a journey to Good Friday

Matthew 21:7 (NIV)

They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

What if Palm Sunday happened like this…  Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a beautiful white stallion that was kicking up a cloud of dust as he rode along. He was looking for trouble. The people that he passed on his way were in awe of such a beautiful animal but they were even more awestruck by the man who was riding it. As Jesus passed by, you could hear the people say, "Who was that masked man?"

There were bad guys on the loose and Jesus had a job to do. As he rode into Jerusalem he quickly sized up the situation and formed a plan to capture the ringleader of the troublemakers. His name was Diablo or Satan. There was a short scuffle and Jesus won handily over Diablo. He hog-tied the devil and threw him in jail.

As a large crowd of people gathered to see what the commotion was all about, Jesus mounted his horse and pulled on the reigns. The stallion stood on its hind legs, neighed loudly, and pawed the air with its front legs. When it stood as tall as it could stand, Jesus leaned forward in the saddle. Holding the reigns with one hand while lifting his white hat in the air with the other.  As Jesus road off into the sunset, you could hear the William Tell Overture in the background. Du du dunt. Du du dunt. Du du dunt dunt dunt.

But that isn’t what happened.  As Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on the first day of Passover week, the crowds are looking for someone to rally around, someone to carry the banner of freedom and liberation for the Jewish people.

But Jesus was not traveling the road to a revolution; He was traveling the road to Calvary.  He did not come to Jerusalem to hear the crowds shout “Hosanna.”  Nor did He come unaware of the opposition to his ministry.  Jesus came to Jerusalem not for the first part of the week, not for Palm Sunday.  Jesus came to Jerusalem for Good Friday.

As we go through this week let’s take the time to remember what our Lord went through for us so that we may be saved.

Dear Lord, thank You that You came to this Earth to face Good Friday so that we may be forgiven for our sins. We pray that we would remember that as we go through this week. Help us share Your love with those around us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.