WHENEVER I HEAR THE STORY OF PALM SUNDAY, I tend to focus on the cheering crowd. What do they think the week ahead
holds?

The way they welcome Jesus by laying down their cloaks and branches on the road may seem strange to us, but it was a common way
to honor royalty and celebrate victory. The crowd recognizes Jesus as their King and cries out “Hosanna” as a plea for Jesus to save them.
They have a lot of expectations for Jesus as He enters Jerusalem, but by the end of the week, many of them would say those expectations
were unmet.

Take a moment to notice how you are coming into Holy Week. What are the expectations you’ve been holding on to? How are you expecting the Lord to show up in this season of your life? Are there unmet expectations that have distanced you from God?

As people who know how the story ends, we have the opportunity to rest in the mystery of our unmet expectations and allow them to draw us nearer to God. We know that the end of the week does not look like the “victory” the crowd was expecting, but that Jesus’ victory over sin and death is far greater than anything they could have known to ask for or imagine.

Maybe God hasn’t shown up recently in the ways you expected Him to, or maybe you’ve grown numb to the fact that you are in need of a Savior. Spend time today praying that the Lord would open your eyes to the ways He’s showing up in your life and ask Him to reveal
the depth of your need for Him.

While the crowd does not know what’s coming, Jesus does. He knows what lies ahead and yet He still rides in on a donkey to take on
all that comes next. May today be a reminder that Jesus showed up to save you and is still seeking you out, even if it’s not in ways you
would expect.

-Maddie Schnell

IN SOME WAYS, Jesus’ first actions following His triumphal entry fall right into line with the expectations of a Messiah. He drives people
out of the temple who do not belong. Yet in a very important way, Jesus does not meet our expectations. He does not drive out the
Roman powers but instead the exploitative businessmen.

During the Passover week, some 300,000-400,000 pilgrims descended upon Jerusalem to offer sacrifices in the temple. After the exiles,
many Jews are scattered among the nations, bringing with them many different currencies. The moneychangers exploit this—they are the
temple-era currency changers at the airport who offer the unfavorable exchange rate. Many of the pilgrims can only afford to sacrifice
a pigeon rather than a larger animal; the pigeon salesmen are exploiting the poor in particular. Matthew is painting a picture of injustice in
the temple. After a long, hard journey, the pilgrims are met with a clear message: you will have to buy your way into this temple, and the
poor must pay the worst rates. The temple, Jesus says, has gone from a “house of prayer” to a “den of robbers.” Jesus clears the temple,
offering a clear message: He will make a way for the poor and weary to worship God.

As Jesus clears the temple, the children cry out “Hosanna to the Son of David!” As with much of the Gospels, the children spot the Kingdom
before the priests and scribes do. The priests and scribes are “indignant” at the cleansing and the praise. As Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2, He
affirms his identity as God the Son, preached from the lips of infants! This is the work of God, making straight the way of the Lord!

On the Tuesday of Holy Week, we are confronted with a challenge and an invitation. I confess that I can be like the Scribes and Pharisees, expecting others to “buy” their way to the temple, whether their currency might be socioeconomic status or good works or any other number of things we place our identity in. Jesus’ cleansing calls us to repentance – there is no place for human currency in the Kingdom. Yet, at the same time, the cleansing of the temple is an invitation—there is a God who will stop at nothing to come near to His children. Our poverty no longer forces us to the margins. “He who has no money, come, buy and eat!”

-Kyle Schumpert

JESUS IS NOT A MEANS TO AN END. He is not a “get out of hell free” card or a ticket to get us to something else. No. Jesus Himself is
and has always been the supreme gift of the Gospel.

The Bible upholds this truth as an absolute and undeniable reality. However, the reviews concerning Jesus during His earthly life and
ministry were a mixed bag at best. For the religious elite, Jesus was a threat that needed to be eliminated (Matt. 26:3-5). For the disciples (at times), He was a ticket to glory (Luke 22:24). But, for some, Jesus was the pearl of great price—the treasure hidden in the field worth losing everything in order to gain. This unnamed woman found in our passage today falls into this final category. Her name was Mary, John teaches us, and she was from Bethany.

Throughout the Gospels, we read about this Mary on three occasions (Matthew 26:6, John 11:32, & Luke 10:39), and in all three instances,
she finds herself at the feet of Jesus—the preeminent place of humility and worship—the most fitting position for discipleship. Mary knew that Jesus Himself was the ultimate reward. She wasn’t interested in Him solely for the benefits He had to offer—she was interested in Him above all else. So, she takes a jar of precious perfume, worth about a year’s wages (Mark 14:5), and to the disciples’ dismay, she lavishes it upon Jesus. A costly sacrifice, no doubt, but she knew no sacrifice was too great to give to Jesus, especially in light of what He was soon to give up for us all.

You see, the cross ensures that we cannot out-give God. But it also ensures that He is worthy of everything we have. Mary understood, as we ought, that Jesus is worth so much more than casual acceptance or nominal adherence. He is worth our supreme adoration and complete affection. She knew that Jesus is not only the journey into paradise, He is the destination itself.

On the other hand, the disciples were more interested in being the feet of Jesus than falling at Jesus’ feet. Sure, their religious speech gave
off the appearance of compassion, but in their misguided attempt to advocate for justice, they ignored Jesus. They failed to realize that
a sacrificial love for others is a byproduct of a supreme love for God.

May we never sacrifice being with God, our ultimate reward, in doing for God.

– Chris Morgan

FEW PEOPLE ARE OKAY WITH SITTING IN DISCOMFORT. When things get hard, we distract ourselves, fix what we can, or move on quickly. We change the subject when conversations get too heavy. We avoid the hard parts of stories because pain is unsettling. But some moments aren’t meant to be rushed past—Good Friday is one of them.

Before we celebrate the empty tomb, we have to stop and take in the cross. We have to see Jesus, bruised and beaten, walking toward His
death. Because only when we understand the weight of His sacrifice, can we truly grasp the depth of His love.

Matthew 27:32-44 gives us that sobering picture. Jesus, bloodied and exhausted, was forced to carry his cross—until Simon of Cyrene
was pulled from the crowd to help (v.32). As He stumbled toward Golgotha, insults flew from the mouths of bystanders, soldiers, and
even the criminals crucified beside Him. “If you really are the Son of God, save yourself,” they mocked (v. 40). They couldn’t see that Jesus
was doing something far greater than proving His power—He was giving His life for them, for us. Yet, Jesus endured it all—without defending Himself, without walking away. He stayed on that cross when He could have stepped down. Why? Because He saw us. Because He loves us. Because His mission wasn’t to save Himself, but to save us.

It’s easy to distance ourselves from this scene. We’d like to think we wouldn’t have been in that crowd, that we wouldn’t have joined in the
mocking. But how often do we question God’s ways or ask for proof? We may not hurl insults at Jesus, but we doubt, we wrestle, we demand answers. Yet, despite it all, Jesus didn’t turn away when given the opportunity—He stayed on that cross, choosing obedience, choosing love.

As we sit with the weight of Good Friday, let’s not rush ahead to Easter just yet. Let’s linger here. Let’s remember that Jesus carried what we couldn’t—our sin, our shame, our brokenness. And because He did, we don’t have to.

Today, pause and consider: Where do I need to surrender my doubts, my fears, my tendency to take control? Jesus carried it all so that we
could lay it down

-Kelley Brown

THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE PHARISEES PLAYED A VITAL ROLE in leading the common Jew to adhere to and practice the Mosaic
Law. They certainly took this role seriously and zealously. But, perhaps it was their zeal that caused them to miss all of the prophetic signs
pointing to Jesus as the awaited Messiah.

In spite of Jesus’ authoritative teaching and His miraculous ministry, the Chief Priests and the Pharisees saw Him as an impostor, as someone who assumed a false identity, namely the Son of God, for the purpose of deception. Why and how did they miss the Messiah?
As to the why, perhaps Jesus threatened their privileged status as rulers and the way of life they had carved for themselves. In contrast,
Jesus ministered primarily amongst lowest of the low, which gained Him great popularity among all people in society, but particularly the
downtrodden, the forgotten, the neglected, the abused, and the rejected. And yet, Jesus threatened their power hold on the Jewish
populace.

As to the how, Jesus came to proclaim forgiveness of sins through repentance and belief in Him as the ultimate and sufficient sacrifice while the religious leaders proposed a salvation based on the strict adherence of the Mosaic Law. Remember, Jesus said, “I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.” These competing values led these leaders to opt for the more reasonable way out of their predicament…getting rid of Jesus.

Once they had apparently succeeded, they wanted to leave nothing to chance. They had done their homework. They knew that Jesus had repeatedly affirmed that He would raise in  three days after His death.

Although all Jews, including the leaders were under Roman control, the Chief Priests and Pharisees had significant influence with Pilate. It was a symbiotic, beneficial association. So, they appealed to Pilate to afford them a way to seal and protect the tomb where Jesus had been laid. This would absolutely have squelched any chance that Jesus’ prophesied words about His resurrection could become a reality, or even a perceived reality.

This was their best shot at getting rid of Jesus and His followers. If He remained dead, the followers of the Way would consequently also
have died. And, this outcome was what they ultimately desired as this would have preserved their unrivaled position. Jesus’ resurrection
squelched their evil plans, giving way to a new hope: salvation.

-Walter Arroyo