Tag: palm sunday

From Palms to the Cross

From Palms to the Cross

Adapted from a sermon by Dr Adel Magdy

After the Lord entered into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we map every step He took in the hope that we see what He saw, we hear what He heard and we feel what He felt in this final week.

The ultimate aim is to reach His Cross, to stand at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday. We start with Palm Sunday where thousands of people surround Christ to get even a glimpse of Him. By the end of the week, there were only a handful that remained at the foot of the Cross. Even His disciples, His closest of friends, had deserted Him.

For the special few that made it all the way to the Cross, indescribable blessings were given from our compassionate Lord. If we consider what would’ve happened to St Mary after the death of her only Son, with no husband, life would have become extremely difficult for her in those days. He gave her John the Beloved to care for her. As for John the Beloved, the gift of having the Mother of God in his own household was a huge blessing and shows how much the Lord trusted him.

St Mary Magdalene received the honour of being the very first person that the gospels record the Lord appearing to after His resurrection. She was the first to see the risen Christ. Even those that were not at the foot of the Cross deliberately still received blessing. The Centurion, for example, had his eyes opened. It is even believed that this man became a martyr for the sake of the Lord.

There is power in being on the foot of the Cross on Good Friday. For us, we begin a journey this week. The ultimate aim is to power through right until the foot of the Cross.

There are a lot of tests and milestones along the way that we must pass to reach the foot of the Cross. The first milestone we encounter on the night of Palm Sunday. On Monday Eve, Christ asks the disciples a few questions – who do men say that I am? He then follows up with a more personal question – who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15)

It’s an unusual question. Why would the Lord care about what people were saying about Him? He knew that His disciples knew who He was. For us, we ask the Lord, “who do You say that I am?” Not what I think of God, but what does God think of me. It doesn’t matter what the world thinks of me. It doesn’t matter how I outwardly appear to the world. It doesn’t matter if people look at me and think I am a great ambassador of the Lord. What matters is what the Lord thinks when He looks at my heart.

Lord, who do you say that I am?

It’s not a comfortable question for any of us to ask. We’re not sure what the Lord will say of us. Will He say that we were like John the Beloved, loving Him and always drawing near to Him, or if He will say, you’re like Judas, someone that betrayed for any price. We don’t know that the answer will be. We fear so many hidden things in our life that if people knew, they wouldn’t want to know us.

As uncomfortable as this question is to ask, it’s crucial for us if we want to make it to the foot of the Cross on Good Friday. Even if we don’t ask this question, we will hear the Lord’s answer on Judgement day. The Lord will tell us what He thought, and we will either enter the joy of the Lord or we will be cast into eternal condemnation.

In His mercy, we are given the opportunity to ask this question tonight while we have a chance to fix it. On Judgement Day, there will be no further opportunities to change, but now we have a chance. We have a chance to ask the Lord what we need to do to fix ourselves and draw near to Him.

Monday of Holy Week is the cursing of the fig tree, this is where the thousands that surrounded Jesus on Palm Sunday begin to drop off. The Lord is hungry and He sees a fig tree from a distance, full of leaves. The Lord makes the effort to draw near to the fig tree but when He arrives He sees that there is no fruit, just leaves. Apart from its appearance, there is no good in it. The Lord curses the fig tree, the very next day it withers away and dies. The church fathers teach us that this is a symbol of hypocrisy. There is nothing the Lord hates more than hypocrisy. The Lord was only firm with the Pharisees and scribes because of their hypocrisy.

We get on our knees in Holy Week and beg the Lord to show us what we are doing wrong and what we can do about it. We ask for His grace to change our life this year. We can make a change this Passion Week.

A life changing sermon was given by Fr Matta El Meskeen that outlines the steps toward answered prayer. Beg the Lord day and night to reveal your sins and weaknesses that keep you from Him. Pray for nothing else in one month, but day and night repeat this prayer – reveal the sins that are keeping me from coming to You, Lord. We can only ask this question if we are prepared to act upon what the Lord teaches us, to learn to fix our hearts and to see through the Lord’s eyes.

Lord, may You grant us clarity to see what separates us from You so that when Good Friday comes, we may see You in full clarity. May we increase our love for You, that it becomes easy to stop the sins we once loved that block us from You. My Saviour, may You help me reach the Cross so that I may sit at the foot of the Cross all day and see the depth of Your love for me and the depth of Your sacrifice. May I hear You say, “Enter my Beloved child in whom I am well pleased.”

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The Unsung Hero of Palm Sunday

The Unsung Hero of Palm Sunday

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

During this time, the love of humanity is shining. Everyone looking out for their neighbours. Do you need anything? How can I help? Among all this, have we asked God if He needs anything?

Theologically, can God even be in need? God is the Provider, what could He ever need from me? 

In the gospels of Palm Sunday, Jesus expresses His need for a donkey. The donkey holds a prominent position in all four of the gospels. While the palms of Palm Sunday are only mentioned in one of the four gospels, the donkey gets mentioned in all four. And there are specific requirements that Jesus had for the donkey.

If we focus on the gospel of Luke – the donkey had to be tied up. This is essential and is mentioned five times. He tell the disciples that they will find a colt that was tied. Not any colt, but this particular one had to be tied. He tells them to loose the colt and bring it to Him. If anyone was to ask why they were taking the donkey, it was because the Master was in need of it;

“Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’” 32 So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. 33 But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”34 And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” – Luke 19:30-34.

The emphasis throughout the account is on the tied-up donkey that needed to be loosed before it was brought to Jesus.

Why were these requirements emphasised so strongly in the Gospel accounts? What was the purpose of the donkey? At the time of the Passover, thousands of Jews would travel into Jerusalem for the feast. They would all walk into Jerusalem from all the surrounding towns and villages. 

But Christ doesn’t walk into the city, he takes the donkey that he insisted upon. This reflects Zechariah’s prophecy that is mentioned in Matthew’s account of the gospel;

Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey – Zechariah 9:9

When the people saw the scene of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the One who had just raised Lazarus from the dead, they could see the fulfilment of the prophecy. They began chanting the royal psalm as Christ entered; 

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord,
Through which the righteous shall enter.– Psalm 118:20

It continues,

[Hosanna!] We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
27 God is the Lord,
And He has given us light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.– Psalm 118:26-27

Christ was coming to bind the sacrifice to the altar. He doesn’t do it in the way we expect. He binds the sacrifice to the altar of the Cross. The donkey was not the sacrifice. The donkey was already bound, but then loosed out of necessity.

When we ask the question, does God have a need for anything, we see the need He had on that day and the one that He still needs from us today. He needed a donkey to fulfil a prophecy that He had come in peace and humility. This was a sign to the Jews that their Messiah had come.

Today, Christ still needs a donkey. We are the donkeys, but not just any donkeys, the donkey that Christ needs before He can enter into Jerusalem. We are the ones tied up. Tied to problems, tied to sin, tied to this earth, tied to worries and anxieties. There are so many things that tie us down.

But God has need of us, He has a need for us to be untied for His use. Donkeys are the most stubborn animals and like to remain in their place, without changing, but under the right guidance they can travel through the harshest of conditions. Christ orders the disciples and the church to loose the donkey and bring it to Him, for He had need of him. 

We are called to be set free, and to take Christ on our shoulders and walk into Jerusalem. When the Lord entered Jerusalem, He began the week with a need. A need of a donkey. A donkey that was tied. He has the same need today. He wants us to be untied and set free. He wants to take us on the journey with Him through Holy Week. He wants to untie us so He can tie Himself to the Cross for our sake. As we begin this week of Holy Week, let us contemplate on the one thing that ties us to the world. What is tying us down that we need Christ to untie us of so that we may enter into Jerusalem joyful under the guidance of our Master?

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