PALM SUNDAY EXPECTATIONS

The Jewish people have just observed and celebrated Passover! (This last Friday) This is their annual commemoration of God's deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage! After nine horrific plagues that God had sent to Egypt to convince Pharoah to release the Israelite slaves, the stubborn ruler finally relented at the tenth. This was when God caused death to come to the first-born of everyone in Egypt EXCEPT the Israelites. They were spared because they had placed the blood of the sacrificial animal around the door of their homes. "When God saw the blood, He passed over" and the first-born of His people was safe! Let's remember it still takes the blood of the sacrifice to save us from our sins today! Jesus is that blood sacrifice!

And now on this Sunday the Christian world celebrates the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; we call this Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week! "Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the palm trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him were shouting, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!' And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, 'Who is this?' And the crowds said, 'This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.' " (Matthew 21:8-11). They were so full of expectations.

EXPECTATIONS - those hopes and desires we have in our lives and relationships are very real! People have expectations about everything in their lives. They may expect their families to be close and loving to each other; they can expect their jobs to provide them satisfaction and a comfortable living, they expect relationships to provide acceptance, love and affection on various levels. They even expect their STUFF to serve them properly when they use it and hope that it will make their life better. What happens when YOUR expectations are not fulfilled? Do despair, discouragement, and a sense of hopelessness grip you? Do anger and resentment show their ugly faces with some kind of "pouting?" One of the strongest "let downs" in life happens when we plan, work and wait for a big event to occur only to walk away from the event feeling like it didn't do for us what we thought it should. We have that nasty feeling of being un-fulfilled and disappointed!

The Triumphal Entry was a joyous event taking place in the lives of the crowds in Jerusalem. It was an event that was filled with potential life-changing expectations on the part of many people. These expectations were bound up in one person - JESUS! As Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem one final time, He too was fulfilling some expectations, even to having His disciples acquire the necessary transportation. A Donkey! Why? To fulfill God's plan as prophesied. . . . "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey," (Zechariah 9:9 - a prophecy made 500 years before Jesus was born!) The crowds did rejoice greatly, shouted aloud and hailed Jesus as the Son of David. They expected Jesus to save them from Roman oppression as they cried out "HOSANNA", the Hebrew plea for divine help, salvation and deliverance.

In the Triumphal Entry, it was time for Jesus to reveal Himself as the fulfillment of these "expectations", which were rooted in the Divine Prophecies that told of God's greatest deliverance from sin and death. When Jesus rode intentionally into the city on the donkey, the people had good reason for such great expectations of Him, since He was telling them by His actions that He was their promised King and Deliverer - THEIR MESSIAH! Certainly, the potential of life-changing expectations! With such expectations at stake, is it any wonder that the people responded to Jesus' coming into Jerusalem as they did? They gave Jesus a royal king's procession into the city, by spreading their garments and palm branches on the road and loudly shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David." The nationalistic concepts of the crowd's expectations to restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6) and defeat the Romans, makes it very obvious that their life-changing expectations of Jesus were simply EARTHLY. Now, think about what you are expecting from your relationship with Jesus. Is your first desire for Jesus to provide things, position, prestige, money, happiness, less stress, something physical, emotional stability, OR IS YOUR VERY FIRST PRIORITY FOR JESUS TO HELP YOU PREPARE FOR ETERNITY? Jesus said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth . . . but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21) We are commanded to make sure we are prioritizing spiritual riches over earthly possessions and concerns, emphasizing that only our heavenly treasures we will be able to keep for eternity; all else will be gone! Again, Jesus commanded us, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these (all our other needs) will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33)

Here is the case in point. The crowds rejoiced, shouted loudly and cried "Hosanna". A very few days later, this same crowd cried out for His crucifixion and death. Five days after His entry into the city, Jesus was executed for being their king! What happened? Could it be that Jesus did not fulfill their life-changing expectations in the way that they wanted? It was probably during that first Holy Week that in their minds Jesus had failed to meet their expectations in the way they desired Him to and so they ended up rejecting Him. Like some of us, the crowds walked away blaming, accusing and rejecting Jesus because they just could not accept that their expectations of Him failed to be fulfilled to their satisfaction. Unfortunately, some of us too demand that Jesus meet our expectations on our terms. We must come to grips with the fact that Christ Jesus did not come into our world to fulfill our expectations on our terms, and He did not come to remove our struggles at our whim. Rather, He came with His own expectations of us, and He enters into those struggles with us! Whatever those people on that first Palm Sunday may have been expecting with their shouts of "Hosanna in the highest!", they could have experienced YAHWEH'S salvation in HIS WAY, by HIS POWER, according to HIS PLAN! And in the same way, whatever you are expecting the LORD to do for you this Palm Sunday in your prayer of "Hosanna in the highest!", you can experience in HIS WAY, by HIS POWER, according to HIS PLAN of salvation for you through personal faith in Christ Jesus!

We can experience the spiritual life-changing power of the LORD everyday! Why? Because Jesus did not give in to fulfilling human expectations but remained faithful to fulfilling God's expectations for our lives to be holy, righteous, God-centered and thus to be changed eternally! So, we need not fall into the trap of defining our relationship with Jesus based on how we interpret our life in the midst of our "world" with all its struggles. As we yield ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus in humble repentance and faith, we can expect the Holy Spirit to empower us to live in the midst of "our world" as He enters our life everyday through His presence, His written Word (the Bible) and our obedience to His will, plan and purpose.

"So, we do not lose heart. Though our outer being is wasting away, our inner being is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all com-parison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (II Corinthians 4:16-18)

LET'S BE SURE OUR PALM SUNDAY EXPECTATIONS ARE IN CHRIST WHO FULFILLS ALL THINGS BECAUSE HE IS GOD!