Today is Palm Sunday, the day Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds lay down a carpet of palms. Like today, the crowds were made up of many kinds of people, and like today, they would chose Barabbas at the end of the week, leaving the Son of God to drag His own cross up to Golgotha. On that fateful Friday, darkness covered the earth, and Christ would forgive us all for what we know is wrong. Sensing the point of His death, Christ cried out, “It is finished!” I pray that it is not finished for America and the whole world.
Palm Sunday should be a jubilant day where we all recognize Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, but as the week moves towards Maundy Thursday’s Garden of Gethsemane and Christ asking His Father to take away His coming death, the Disciples fell asleep much as we have forgotten our duties to care for our fellow men and women. In American crowds, there are many lost souls, crying out as Christ did, “Am I not worthy of your love, Father?” My question to all Americans who have the means to take care of themselves is,”What are you doing to love one another?”
I am as guilty of the following questions as the next American, but I know that with Christ’s shed blood on the cross, I am forgiven my negligence. My forgiveness means that I have a duty to care for the lost. Do you hear the lost; are you listening for what they need? Do you see them; are you stopping on the road where they lay hurt and bloodied? Do you feel their pain; are the marks on their arms and legs keeping you from offering them a bed to sleep on? Do you reach out to touch them, or do you walk in the opposite direction? Do you offer a kind word; do you empathize with their plight in life? No one offered to carry Christ’s cross up to Golgotha. Are you willing to carry His cross, and in so doing, are you willing to carry others’ crosses? Do you want someone else to do your duty? God is not done with any of us yet, so why aren’t we doing our part to help others? Why have we chosen darkness over the light?
The joy I feel today, laying palms on the ground and singing loud “Hosannas!” must eventually lead to Golgotha, but with Easter morning, Christ will rise again and bring the light back into the world. I must pick up His cross and bear my duty to care of the lost, the hurt, the dying, and yes, even those who have deeply hurt me. The darkness that surrounds us cannot stop Americans from picking up the crosses of others. For every day that we do not do our duty, Evil wins and Christ does not. We must continue to fight the One who is trying to destroy our world.
I wonder what the world would be like if Christ had not ridden into Jerusalem that fair Sunday…without tears, death, blood, shame, grief, the torn flesh, and the cross. Without Christ accepting what He had to do for humanity, there would be no comfort, no life, no pardon, no glory, no joy, no healing, and no crown. By His loving thoughts, words, and actions, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, brought us salvation and sealed our hearts with grace. Christ’s tears washed our sorrows away with love, and in His eyes, our true selves become evident. So I raise my praises of “Hosanna” to my Lord and King. I know that He lives among us, and with His Resurrection, I, too, can have Eternal life. “Amazing Grace, was lost, but now, I am found.”
Anna Hartt
