Jesus Arrives for Us: A Meditation on John 12 for Palm Sunday

On the next day much people that were come to the feast,

when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried,

Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,

Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

 These things understood not his disciples at the first:

but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things

were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave,

and raised him from the dead, bare record.

For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.

The Pharisees therefore said among themselves,

Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:

 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee,

and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.

 

And Jesus answered them, saying,

The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall

 into the ground and die, it abideth alone:

but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life

in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

If any man serve me, let him follow me;

and where I am, there shall also my servant be:

if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour:

but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Father, glorify thy name.

Then came there a voice from heaven, saying,

I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered:

others said, An angel spake to him.

Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

This he said, signifying what death he should die.

The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever:

and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?

Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you.

Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you:

for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.

These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

 

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake,

Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

 These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him;

but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him,

lest they should be put out of the synagogue:

For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

 

With Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the Church once again enters into her remembrance of the most momentous week in the history of the world since God first spoke the universe into existence.  From the dawn of time and the Fall of man, God had been promising to send a Messiah who would deliver the people from their sins and an eternal fate condemned with the devil’s murderous horde.  On this Palm Sunday we read of that Messiah entering the city He guided David to establish as the center of worship in ancient Israel a thousand years before.  It was a city that knew victory and defeat, glory and infamy, faithful and unfaithful rulers, building and rebuilding.  Yet on this particular Palm Sunday, the King of Kings has come to visit His people and to complete a work He began in the Garden of Eden millennia before even David set foot in Jerusalem.  Now the stage is set for the most climatic battle that was ever waged, where the eternal fate of every soul of every people, tribe, and tongue rested on the shoulders of the Word of God made Flesh.  Now would be marshalled every dark power of human and demonic hearts in every height of society, politics, and religion, that the Lord of Glory would show His victory over all.   Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

 

There is much worthy to ponder in Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, including the analogies of yesterday’s fickle mobs to our own, the fecklessness of leaders in every corner of society, the darkness of our own nature that is so quick to persecute the coming of the holy because of the sin which blinds the eyes and dulls the ears and hardens the heart.  Yet veiled behind all the human marks and signs of this event, we see something that has never been done since the universe came into existence, nor has ever been done since:  Immanuel, God-with-Us, has entered our fallen world to save us, and to cast out the devil who has enslaved us since our first parents yielded to his temptation.  In this moment of Palm Sunday, the infinite God who surpasses and upholds all created things across a cosmos more vast than any modern telescope can see, has entered time and space for the purpose of saving His people.  After His Incarnation and birth from the Blessed Virgin Mary, He has walked among His people for 33 years, full of grace and truth and wisdom.  He has taught them the Way of everlasting life, and shown them the Father through the person of the Son.  And now, at the fullness of time in the climax of the ages, He has entered His City to work the redemption of every soul in every city on the face of the globe:  those present, those gone before, and those yet to come.

 

The Church walks in faith and repentance with our Lord through Lent each year, that we might walk with Him once again into this most holy of weeks.  In the space of a week, our Lord will be celebrated, plotted against, betrayed, convicted, tortured, murdered, and rise again from the dead.  In this week ahead, our Lord will make a capstone of His teaching to His Apostles which will carry them through the rest of their lives, and inspire their authorship of the New Testament.  He will take the ancient Passover meal He gave to Moses as a remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt, and fulfill it by making it His Holy Supper in which all people will remember our deliverance from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil.  He will stand before religious leaders bent on destroying His witness from the world, and before political rulers who behold him with either ambivalence or malevolence.  He will have his life traded to the mob for a murderous robber, bear the scourging of a vicious Roman legion, then be compelled to drag the means of His own execution up the hill of Calvary.  He will be nailed to the tree and lifted up, that all might behold the Author of Life trampled by suffering and death.  From His Cross and before His breath is given up, He would save the repentant soul of a condemned thief hanging alongside Him, commend the care of His mother to His disciple John at the foot of the Cross, and pray to the Father to forgive His betrayers, slanderers, abusers, and murderers who did not know what they were doing.

 

In one week, our Lord would finish the work He had foreknown before the foundation of the world, and set in motion by His promise to Eve that of her lineage would come a Son who would destroy the demonic serpent who enslaved them.  In this Holy Week would be restored what had been brought into being in that ancient and primordial week of Creation.  In this week above all weeks, we will see the love and grace of God conquer every machination of evil, sealing the fate of all enemies of our Savior and Lord.  In this week we will see the Author of Life suffer and die for the sins of the world, and we will see that death is not able to contain the Lord of Life.  In this week we will know the power and presence of God’s love for the world, and the fullness of the saying that no greater love has anyone than to lay down their life for their friends.  In this week we will be restored to fellowship and friendship with the God of all Creation, both as individuals of faith and as a whole human race.  In this week, we will hear the Word of the Risen Christ speak peace and blessing and forgiveness upon us, with the power of His Holy Spirit giving us a new life from above that can never wane.  In this week the Word and Spirit of God will abide with men, and the powers of darkness will be forever broken.

 

Hear the Word of the Lord as He calls to you this day from the streets of ancient Jerusalem, inviting you to walk with Him as he accomplishes for you, your salvation.  Walk with Him, abide with Him, and hear Him, that His Word and Spirit may open your eyes to see, your ears to hear, and your heart to believe, all that the Lord your God has done to seek and to save you.  Trust in the One who has defeated your demonic enemies, silenced your infernal accusers, and freed you from slavery to sin and death.  Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world has come to rescue His people, and His people cry out in exuberant reply, Hosanna!:  Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord!  Amen.