Blessed Is He!
Scripture for this Week: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16;
Philippians 2:5-11; and Luke 22:14—23:56
 

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the day we hear again of Christ’s ride into Jerusalem on a donkey to the acclaim of what must have seemed like the entire city. “Blessed is the king!” (Luke 19:38), cried men, women, and children, putting their cloaks both on the donkey on which Jesus rode, and on the road before him. The city burst with joy (Luke 19:37) because of the hope Jesus provided for the people. He who raised the dead—the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11-16), Jairus’s twelve-year-old daughter (Luke 8:40-56), Lazarus (John 11)—what would he do next?
But Palm Sunday is not Easter. There is, in fact, a world of events between this Sunday and next. Joy will come again, joy greater and deeper than any Palm Sunday cry. But first, Jesus will be handed over to the authorities. All who put their cloaks on the road before him will rip them from under his feet. Jesus will stand alone, abandoned even by his closest friends. First will come suffering, crucifixion, death. On Palm Sunday, Jesus is the savior the crowd senses he is. But he will not save as they anticipate he will—by making Israel a great nation once more, by throwing off their Roman oppressor, by going toe-to-toe with power, and declaring victory in the fight.
Blessed is this Lord, indeed. He will save in an entirely unexpected way. He will save by pouring himself out for others, by answering hatred with love. Blessed is he! He will do this for love, by love, in love. Blessed is he. Death will not contain him—the one who brought a son, a daughter, a brother to life will himself be raised, the first fruits of all of those overcome by death themselves.
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