Passion Week- Palm Sunday

As we are entering into this passion week, I will be writing to inform you about all that we know as Jesus walked throughout this week primarily for that Maundy Thursday and Good friday, and then of course Easter. (due to my schedule I will probably  be writing everything all before friday... but I have felt this on my heart the past few weeks that we really need to pause our lives and remember what Christ went through during this time. Even amongst our busy lives, and even if it is an "old" story, we can still feel the "passion" during this time and we can try to understand what Jesus went through, all for us. I want us to really embrace what all happened during that week, not go straight from Palm Sunday to Easter Morning....  they are significant aspects of the week, but I really feel that there is so much more there, that we really should understand.

So, Im starting from the "beginning" of that passion week... Palm Sunday...


Mark 11:1-11
1As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.3If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' "4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!^a " "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"^b10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!"11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.


Yesterday at my church the church service was filled with everyone waving palm branches and we began to sing a hymn "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" It was much like what the people of Jeruselum were doing, except that they had the real deal - Jesus on a colt walking down the street... as they were placing palm branches and coats and such in the street...
The crowd has no other way to pave the path, so they threw down clothes and branches, saving some of the palms to wave in the air. They shout words which are both praise and prayer: Hosanna! Save us now! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!Blessed is the King Who comes to save us!

They had heard the stories about Jesus, how he gave sight to the blind,  healed the sick, fed thousands with very little food, and of course a recent miracle just a few days before he came, when he was in Bethany, where he raised a man, Lazarous, from the dead and they were so excited because they thought that Jesus would be performing miracles to save them from the corrupt.... But He is not saving by performing more miracles... He is the King who saves us all...


I read a sermon that could not have described it better : (" A Royal Welcome" by T. Micheal Crews, sermoncentral.com)

He is the King Who saves us all, but He will not save by performing more miracles. He will not save them by seizing Herod’s crown of gold, but by wearing a bloody crown of thorns. He will not save them by building an army to fight for their freedom—He will save them by allowing evil men to bind Him and nail Him to a Cross. He will not save them by shedding the blood of His enemies, but by allowing His enemies to shed His blood. He will not save them by demanding acceptancefrom others, but by being abandoned by His Father. They do not understand His secret ambition is not to take over the world by force, but to win the world by love.
They welcome Him as Savior, but they do not really understand what kind of Savior He is. The same city that welcomes Him now will soon hear cries of crucify Him! This royal welcome will be short-lived.