Our church’s Lenten journey is in its last week before Easter, and so this post  comes a wee bit early. I write a piece for our church newsletter that’s due tomorrow, so here it is :

Remember the hosannas (John 12) as Jesus rode the donkey, with palm branches laid out before him. And people’s cloaks on the ground. All the honour the crowd bestowed upon Jesus?

But then the crowd turned.

How can one turn an angry mob scene and the mocking trial of that week into something of redeeming quality? The disciples didn’t know then what the outcome would be, but they feared the rulers and the ones who laid hands on their leader. And they must have been very frightened. People who had followed were looking for a different kind of Saviour, one who would rescue them from Roman rule.

But Jesus knew.

The plan was different than the people expected. Jesus came to serve (John 13), not to conquer like an army, thus his ride on a lowly donkey, not a war horse.

The crucifixion (Matthew 28) wasn’t the end, although it surely must have looked that way to people at the time who truly loved Jesus. Such an excruciating experience for their Saviour they’d come to love. The religious leaders thought they had put an end to his teachings, ones that excluded them.

After the crucifixion, Jesus’s disciples gathered and locked all the doors where they were in fear, questioning if they’d be the next ones on trial.

Then the morning came (Matthew 28), when it seemed safe to lay spices at the tomb, and what did they find? A stone rolled away and someone in white, shining brighter than the sun.

The women who came to lay spices, and the disciples who didn’t believe their words, learned that Jesus had been raised from the dead, gladdening the hearts of followers and putting fear and uncertainty into others.

We come to Easter, glad to sing Hosanna again, with glad hearts that the Saviour has risen. And we are redeemed because of his sacrifice.

He is risen indeed!