Palm Sunday – Preparing Our Hearts for Jesus

Most of Israel’s existence has been spent surrounded by antagonistic countries both big and small. Whether in modern or biblical times, super powers like Egypt, Babylon, Assyria or Arab nations have threatened to wipe it out of existence. Or smaller harassment’s like Philistine giants, terrorist bombings and daily barrages of rockets threaten the lives of its people. Despite this, the people of Israel have almost always had a hope of a deliverer.

Like every nation, this hope is kindled whenever a new political party comes into power. The possibility for positive change and freedom from oppression entices the hopes and dreams of its people. Hope can easily interpret other changes as signs that deliverance may come. Take, for instance, the possibility of the U.S. embassy moving to Jerusalem. Could that be a sign that more positive things are still to come? Or what about the hope of years ago: Is this prophet going to deliver us from the Romans?

When something happens in any national capitol, people across the nation take notice. When events cause a stir in Jerusalem, the whole country looks expectantly. A number of years ago, about this time of year, a charismatic Jewish leader came to the city that carried with him the hopes of a greater Israel. Many Israelis crowded the streets to get a glimpse of him. This man brought new ideas to Israel, was ethically sound and confronted the old guard, which seemed powerless to help Israel. This man seemed to have all the promise of a revolutionary that would bring real change.

When the crowds flocked to see him, he was not in a motorcade or a limo. No. He was riding on a young donkey. He wasn’t a political activist wielding military power. He was a rabbi, who healed the sick and cast out demons. People waved palm branches—a symbol of Israeli nationalism—in excitement to welcome the Galilean, Jesus of Nazareth.

But how is it that within the span of a week, those very same people would crucify their hero? The last week of Jesus’s life is filled with drama: driving people from the Temple with a homemade whip, filling people’s hearts with powerful teaching, thwarting arrest, confounding his opposition with wisdom. All this back and forth … until one of His closest, most trusted disciples betrayed Him to death.

The people were desperately longing for a Messiah. He came. They killed Him. How could it happen? The people of Israel wanted their Messiah to do something He wasn’t intended to do and wanted Him to be something He was not supposed to be. Their agenda was not His agenda; they wanted Him to establish their earthly kingdom, but He came to establish a spiritual one—and they crucified Him because of it. As believers, we know ourselves to be God’s special people, His chosen ones, but so did Israel, and we can be just as susceptible to agendas that are contrary to God.


Competing Agendas

In our modern world, we thoroughly understand the idea of competing agendas. There is never enough time, energy, money, etc., to meet all the demands on our lives. Multi-tasking was once heralded as an ability that people had to master in order to succeed. “Work-life balance,” the ability to properly prioritize the demands between home and work, has surged in success literature as people climbing the corporate ladder burnout more often than not.

But even if we learn the secret of living a peaceful life within a world of constant bombardment, there is often a subtler competition of agendas that we don’t see happening. This competing agenda is the very thing that could move a nation to kill its long anticipated Savior. We long for our God to bless our lives so we can juggle everything that competes with Him for our time, energy and focus.

As we get sucked into prioritizing all these secular demands in our lives, we don’t see that keeping God in our lives has become only one of many priorities rather than the only priority. The Messiah as King of the Jews had become a means to a secular end for the people of Israel, not the end in itself. So in this last week of Jesus’ earthly life, they rejected Him. How do we keep from doing the same?


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