Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord - Reflection by Jeff Koch
Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2:6-11; Matthew 21:1-11
“Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”
I believe that the Old Testament is full of the reality of the coming of Jesus. Someone once said that; the Old Testament is Jesus hidden, the Gospels are Jesus revealed, and the New Testament is Jesus explained. Basically, the whole Bible is about Jesus! This is never better seen than in the prophecies of the coming ‘son of David,’ the Messiah. But there is something that we see fulfilled in Luke that is first mentioned in Isaiah. In Luke 9:51-53 we hear the writer tell us that soon after Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus, “and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Immediately following that it we see in Jesus, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” Isaiah says, “The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.” Jesus knowing what he was about to walk through, let nothing dissuade him or turn him away, but He trusted that God would care for him and sustain him through what he was about to go through and that as he entered into death, there was a resurrection; for he WAS, the resurrection and the life!
Jesus could ride into Jerusalem, on what we know as Palm Sunday, knowing what he was about to endure, because he knew from Isaiah and David in the psalms that as he went through this difficult time of self giving love and service for the world, God would be with him, he would not reject or turn his back on him, even if it felt like it. In Psalm 22, the suffering servant moves from, “my God my God why have you forsaken me” (v. 1) to “the Lord did not forsake me . . . he has not hidden his face from me, but has heard me” (v. 19, 24)
And Isaiah says, of the Messiah, “He was given a well-trained tongue to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. And an open ear that may hear morning after morning to I have not rebelled, I have not turned back. . . but . . . I have turned my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who have plucked my beard, my face I didn’t shield from buffets and spitting to . . . The Lord is my help I will not be disgraced; I will not be put to shame. In Paul’s letter to the Philippian church it says, “He Emptied himself knowing that God would lift him up and give him a name that every knee would bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God.” Wow! That is a great faith!
Thinking about this week and what lies ahead for Jesus is difficult. What he went through for us, so that death can be defeated, sins forgiven and the restoration of all things would begin. But what he went through this week also brought to us amazing realities that we can live in and live for, in which we can rejoice. But as we live this life, we may also have some difficult things ahead of us. We can at times feel, My God, My God why have you forsaken me, but he has not, “he has not hidden His face from you, and he is not far off and will deliver you.” He is a very present help in a time of need and trouble. No matter what we walk through, “He is your help, you will not be disgraced or put to shame.” And because he emptied himself, as you bow the knee and confess the name if Jesus, you will be saved!
There is an interesting passage that I would like to share and explain a little to you. In Galatians 2:20, the Greek literally says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So, the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NET) The literal Greek says that it is not my faith in which I live, but in the faithfulness of the Son of God. Now, I have faith in God, and I live in it, but as I live, I find my place in life to be lived in all that Jesus accomplished for me, His faithfulness to what God asked him to do. His presence, which is present with me and will come to my assistance; His life, which sets me free from the fear of death and assures my resurrection; His forgiveness, in which I know that I have been set free from my sin and condemnation; His immortality which gives me life, eternal life. In that reality, in the faithfulness of the Son of God in which I live, I can ride into my Jerusalem and face all that will come into my life and know that He has paved a way, and He is with me! Praise be to the King of kings and the Lord of lords! So, let us set our face toward our Jerusalem.
Almighty ever-living God, who as an example of humility for the human race to follow caused our Savior to take flesh and submit to the cross, graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering and so merit a share in his resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen!