Teasing my mother never gets old. Now in her eighties, it is probably somewhat perverse that I still get a kick out of yanking her chain. I’m not sure how it started, but one consistent joke has been to claim that I never had a birthday party when I was growing up. My family never really made a big deal out of birthdays, and I have capitalized upon that in teasing my mom that she would forget my birthday. Of course, she would squirm and protest that that wasn’t true, which made it all the more fun.
In reality, I am the one who doesn’t really care to celebrate birthdays—as a testimony of that, ask Kelly sometime how I reacted to a surprise 30th b-day party. Not pretty. I do not have anything against birthdays, and am grateful that God has given me as many as He has, but the party atmosphere, the festive nature of the day, is just kind of lost on me. I think that it is more an issue of the “party” than the “birthday”; I think my hesitation is about artificially creating a big deal about something. Birthday parties lack a certain spontaneity that I think is more in tune with a true celebration.
Have you ever been caught up in a spontaneous celebration? An impulsive outpouring of joy and excitement? Kelly and I just happened to be in downtown Pittsburgh when the Penguins hockey team first won the Stanley Cup in 1991. Now, that was a party! People pouring out of their homes, cheering, horns blaring, impromptu dancing. Nothing manufactured, no false platitudes and smiles, just pure excitement and joy. For all those celebrating, this was a heartfelt explosion of happiness, gladness and glee.
This Sunday is Palm Sunday—a remembrance of a true celebration. For many of us, there will be a ritualistic, formal quality to our “celebration.” We know we are supposed to wave palm branches and say “Hosanna,” but there is little real excitement about the whole thing, kind of like “celebrating” your 50-something birthday. Ho hum.
But, that certainly was not the mood during that first Palm Sunday. Here was truly a spontaneous celebration full of gladness, excitement and joy. Multitudes lining the street, crowding in on one another, singing familiar songs and shouting their excitement. The people spread out on the ground their cloaks and palm branches symbolizing victory, peace and triumph. Everyone so excited to see, to participate, to be in the presence of the coming King!
When I think of this kind of party, I get really thrilled—to be so taken by what is going on around me, to be so filled with passion that it overflows and to be part of a crowd all cheering together! This is the kind of celebration which greeted Jesus on His way into Jerusalem.
How must Jesus have felt? Was He moved by the celebration? Did He share in the excitement of the crowd? Or, did He realize that their motivations for praise were misguided, that the crowd’s excitement was based on a misunderstanding of who Jesus is and what He came to Jerusalem to do?
And, what should our celebration be like today? Palm Sunday, after all, is the beginning of the Passion Week—a time where Jesus will be betrayed, abandoned, brutalized and crucified. How do we “celebrate?” After all, Good Friday rolls into Easter Sunday. How do we do justice to the coming of the King realizing what that coming has cost Him? This Sunday, we have the chance to celebrate something truly amazing—the coming of our Savior … and all that cost Him. Let’s celebrate together!
To prepare for worship this week, read Psalm 118.
- There is a progression in verses 2-4. To what does this progression speak? Why the three different groups identified here?
- What is translated here, “steadfast love” can also be translated “covenant,” “mercy,” “loving kindness,” “loyalty” or “faithful love” among other ideas. Given this range of word choice, what do you think the author is trying to communicate? Perhaps a single English word does not suffice!
- Verses 5-7 provide the historical background of this psalm—what led the author to write it? What can you draw from this short explanation? How might this describe situations you find yourself in as well?
- Verse 25 is the “Palm Sunday” verse, the text that the Jews sang when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Why would you sing this to Jesus? Can you now do that?
- The “rejected stone” of verse 22 is taken by the New Testament authors as Jesus Himself. From the surrounding verses, can you see why this connection works?
by Henry Knapp