[This reflection by Dazz Jones was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 02/Apr/2023]
Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry. Jesus was arriving in Jerusalem and the people went mad. They threw a party and laid out the “coat carpet” for him.
Though it is a relatively humble entrance, I get the impression from the Bible that the welcome was extraordinary and vibrant! The people seemed desperate to let Jesus know they were excited to see Him arrive in their town. They threw the clothes off their backs and pulled down branches from trees almost out of necessity so that they might not let the moment pass without paying tribute to their king and Saviour.
But not everyone was excited to see him, so I don’t think everyone was there to welcome him. Which begs the question, who were these people? Doubtless, there were the notably absent ‘Jesus haters’, the high priests and schemers who would later plot to have Jesus executed. Yet, were there also perhaps, some who were simply a little sceptical or perhaps some who were just a bit nervous to associate themselves so openly with Jesus just yet, until they’d seen him in action?
The next question I ask myself is then … would I have shown up? Would I have grabbed what I could and thrown it all out in the street to scream and shout and get excited? Or would I have watched from a distance and consulted with others first?
If Jesus came to Horley, would you go to the welcome party? Would you get involved and throw your coat on the ground and wave palm (or maybe oak tree) branches? Or would you keep your head down and check in with those who went afterwards about whether he seemed like ‘the real deal’?
It’s not a fair comparison really, because if we’ve read the Bible we know Jesus rose again and went to heaven to be with God; so if “Jesus” came visiting Horley we’d have good reason to be sceptical. The question is though, how willing would we be to be very publicly associated with Jesus, would we be willing to literally parade out in the streets for our friends and neighbours to see?
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Contributed by Dazz Jones; © the Author
