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Dear Grace Family,
What Christians celebrate as Palm Sunday begins a week like no
other. Jesus, whom the Bible, Christian faith, and hundreds of
millions worldwide, believe to be God in human flesh (the miracle of
Christmas) entered into Jerusalem (the heart of God’s people, Israel).
Expectations were high. For three years Jesus traveled the back
roads, and main roads, of the nation preaching a message like no
other. As He walked and taught He healed physical, spiritual and
emotional brokenness. He confronted self-serving pastors and Bible
teachers, calling them hypocrites.
Frustrations were high. The people of Israel, like other conquered
nations of the Roman Empire, endured abuse, humiliation, the
presence of the Emperor’s army, and the crushing burden of taxes.
The people longed for a savior, a victor, someone to rally the nation,
lead a rebellion, throw off the burden of their oppressors.
Frustration and expectation met when Jesus rode into the city.
Would Jesus seize this moment, galvanize the nation, rally the troops,
and give the people what they wanted? He wouldn’t. He would give
them much more than they wanted, and exactly what they needed.
But first the shouts of excitement would become shouts for blood, His
blood. The joy and hope of many that first Palm Sunday would lead to
great sorrow, great darkness, great pain, great injustice, and the
greatest display of love this world had ever seen, or will ever see.
A final Thursday meal, betrayal, a kangaroo court, an astute politician, a
sentence of death, an execution by crucifixion, a burial, and then the
grand miracle of Easter. That is the week ahead of us. That is the
promise of God for each of us. This is where our frustration is
answered way beyond our greatest expectations.
In Christ,
Curt McFarland
Go to Sunday Livestream
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