Some of my earliest memories of church recall receiving palm fronds on Palm Sunday. My maternal grandmother, Emeline Clapper, used to place her fronds over a painting of Jesus that hung on her bedroom wall. It was a small version of the famous painting by Warner Sallman, Head of Christ, completed in 1940. She would leave the fronds there for the entire year and replace them with new ones each Palm Sunday.
As Christians, Holy Week should have a special meaning to us. Holy Week begins with the Triumphal Entry, transitions to the Last Supper, witnesses the horror of the Crucifixion, and culminates with the glory of the Resurrection. The week was filled with excitement and fear, with energized crowds and isolated disciples, with the jarring reality of death, but with the amazing triumph of eternal life. That one week delivered the lowest of lows and the highest of highs for all of humanity. Following Jesus through that week will change our lives. Are you willing?
This week, Christ will take you from the Mt. of Olives, through the city of Jerusalem, to a cross outside the city gates. But it does not end at the cross. At the end of the week, you will stand before an empty tomb that has forever changed the world. The question is, “has this journey changed you?” I can answer that question with a resounding, “yes!” The events of Holy Week have changed my life in this world and the empty tomb has changed my eternity in the life to come. Praise God it al starts today… right here… right now… on the Palm Sunday road.
God before government,
Rit