It is the great tragedy of the human heart that in one moment we can praise God and in the next wish him dead – and this is precisely what happened with Jesus. In this moment on Palm Sunday when Jesus came to save, the crowds praised him – and in the next they shouted crucify him!
And herein lies the great miracle of the gospel and the love of God.
God was indeed saving people – the son of David did come to save and bring peace – but the salvation he brought was not what the people were expecting. They were looking for a heroic king who would liberate them from Rome, what they got was a humble king who would liberate them from a far more dangerous foe – sin and death.
The fickleness of the human heart, broken and sick with sin, was at its worst in the death of Jesus and yet the love of God was at its greatest – ‘while we were yet sinners Christ died for us’.
And in the events that would unfold from today through Good Friday and then Easter Sunday, we will see again the great love of God reconciling the world to himself.
Hosanna to the son of David!
The reading of the Passion narrative is from Matthew's Gospel this year and we are very thankful to a number of readers from our church who read for us.
