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Palm Leaves

by Jerry Ousley  
3/14/2009 / Holidays

We've been talking about the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Easter is now only a few weeks away. In Luke 19:29-40 we read about His entry into Jerusalem. Debbie and I made an entry into a city one time. I may have made reference to it before but when I had finished my AIT training at Fort Monmouth New Jersey while in the U.S. Army she, our then infant son Jeremy, and I made our way to Washington DC where I was to be stationed. While at Fort Monmouth we had lived in her Dad's Airstream camper. We needed a car with enough power to pull it so we were also driving his very large Oldsmobile pulling the camper behind us.

We had never been to Washington DC before and really had no idea of how to find our way around the city there were no GPS's in those days. We were trying to find the base to let them know we were coming, and the next item on the "things to do list" was to find an apartment to live in. We had the address of the base we were to report to and so we found a map of the city and began driving to where we thought we were to go.

We got deeper and deeper into the city and finally found ourselves driving right down Independence Avenue. We got a grand tour of the monuments and the Capital Building pulling that long camper behind that large automobile. We were such a spectacle that we got almost as many looks as the monuments did. We may not have known exactly where we were but we certainly made a "monumental" entry into the city.

Jesus' entry was much more significant. We saw how that He rode into the city on the young donkey. As He rode in people began taking off their outer garments and throwing them on the ground for the donkey to walk on. Some pulled the leaves from palm trees lining the road and threw them on the ground as well. It was a magnificent day.

They began to honor Jesus as the true King that He was. They sang and danced as He entered Jerusalem mainly because they were looking for a king who would finally rid them of their suppression by the cruel Roman Government. They had no concept of the real peace that Jesus was bringing to them or they would have seen the bigger picture. Certainly it would have been a good thing if Jesus had freed them from Rome. But He was preparing to free the entire world from suppression far greater than Rome or any other government. He was getting ready to bring the world peace from the slavery of sin.

Today Jesus is riding into another city. You can't see tall buildings or even highway markers because it's a spiritual city. He rides amidst the throng of people. There are many responses. Some reject Him, curse at Him, accuse Him of being a false prophet while others spiritually throw down their coats and pluck off palm branches to carpet His way through their part of the city of souls. He is making His way even now and if we listen and look with our spiritual eyes and ears we can hear Him. We can even hear the shouts both from those who reject Him and those who accept Him.

Which side are we on? What is our response as Jesus rides through our lives? On the day He rode into Jerusalem I'd say that there were many who joined in the celebration just because they wanted to fit in with the crowd. Many of those were crying "crucify Him" only days later. But Jesus wants us to find real peace in Him. He doesn't want us to just go with the crowd. He doesn't want us to worship Him against our will. Instead He wants us to come to Him; He wants us to worship Him because we have seen the significance of this humble King who was God in the flesh riding into town. He wants to ride right into your heart. What is your response? Will you throw your coat or pluck palm leaves to carpet the road as the King of kings rides by or will you be one of those a few days from now crying, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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