Palm Sunday was the most glorious day in Jesus’ life. When he entered Jerusalem with his disciples, a large crowd followed him, waving palm branches and singing “Hosanna: Salvation Now!” But as triumphant as that day was, it also was short-lived. Within a couple days Jesus was in serious trouble, by Thursday evening he was arrested, and on Friday he died by crucifixion. All the disciples, and we as well, are shocked beyond description. But that is not the last word. Let us now worship the God who always has the last word.
Pastoral Prayer
Lord God, today we join with many millions of other Christians worldwide to sing the praises of Jesus, whom we believe to be Thy Messiah, as he enters Jerusalem in a triumphant processional. We echo the hosannas of his first followers, we proclaim him as king, we hail him as our redeemer. But we also question the strength and validity of our commitment, as did all Jesus’ followers, when he ended up on a cross. Where is our devotion then, loving Father? What happens to us when major disaster strikes, and we are left stunned and terrified, supposing that Thou hast forsaken us, and also Jesus?
Help us to remain steadfast through the end of the story, our own personal stories and the final story of Jesus. Move us through this Holy Week with renewed understanding and hope. Grant to us, even in the midst of tragic adversity and death, a trust which reaches beyond our deepest despair to the loftiest faith Thou canst give to us. May we, who like the original disciples forsook Jesus and fled, in the end recover our courage and conviction, and emerge, as did they, stronger and wiser and infinitely more deepened in faith than could otherwise have been the case.
We pray for all who enter this Holy Week with heavy burdens: the mentally or emotionally or financially stressed; the assaulted in body or spirit, who feel ill-equipped to experience the solemnity of these days or the inexpressible joy which shall sweep over us next Sunday; the broken of heart or spirit who question whether they shall ever again fully feel the joy of either Palm Sunday or Easter; the stressed of faith who wonder whether they are capable of ever knowing again what these days truly mean. We pray, O God, that for all of us Holy Week may be above all else holy, and that Easter again may really be Easter. We ask it in the name of him who comes to the holy city as Thy monarch, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now as Jesus taught, we join together in prayer, saying, Our Father….