A Disturbing "Calm" About "Palm"!!!

Lessons from Palm Sunday

As far as the written literature of the Christian world is concerned, somehow there appears to be a disturbing “calm” about “Palm” Sunday (one of the landmark events in the Saviour’s life) with not too many articles abounding in relation to the same. Ditto the same with the Ascension Day and the Day of Pentecost. Somehow in the Contemporary Church these two momentous events’ do not seem to be given the due significance attached to other milestone events in our Saviour’s life like Christmas, Good Friday and Easter.

In this message laced with alliteration (sub-headings beginning with the letter “P” as the word “Palm” also begins with “P”) Yours Truly feels challenged to present the significance of Palm Sunday to his readership by using the following sub-headings.

Period....

Our Lord who is scripturally called the Almighty’s Pascal Lamb (1 Cor 5:7) had said that He came not to abolish the Law but to fulfil it (Matt 5:17). . As Jesus had fulfilled the Law in every respect, it is not binding on us who follow Him in faith to observe the Law in toto (Acts 15:1-35).

Now coming back to the Saviour...as per the Jewish Law if the Pascal Lamb whose blood would save the Lord’s chosen ones’ from His wrath had to be brought to the Jewish home 4 days before its eventual slaying (Exodus 12:1-6), it follows that the Divine Pascal Lamb also would enter Jerusalem the “home” (Psalm 132:13-14) of it’s “Divine Owner”, exactly 4 days before it’s propitiatory death (1 Thess 1:10 TLB). Mind you this “4th day” for the Jews would begin precisely from the evening of the previous day of our calendars(6pm) and would end by the evening of the next day (exactly 24 hours)...so folks the atoning death of our Lord at 3 pm on “Good Friday” was not on the “fifth” day after entering His Father’s Home but at a time which was very much the part of the “fourth” day (John 18:28). Folks for the traditional Jews (especially the Southern ones’), the day starts from the evening (Gen 1:5), unlike the rest of the World for which the days starts from sunrise!!!

Prophecy...

If milestone events amongst others’ in our Redeemer’s life such as His virgin birth at Bethlehem, crucifixion on the Cross, resurrection, ascention were all prophesied (Isa 7:14/ Micah 5:2/ Psa 22 /Psa 16:10/ Psa 68:18), then what would make us think that the incidents’ which were central to the event as significant as Palm Sunday such as His arrival into God’s home (also City- Psalm148:1-3) and it’s subsequent purification fuelled by His righteous indignation would not be prophesied? Let the Scripture take over at this stage...firstly the Prophecy about His arrival...

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.- Zech 9:9

Then the one on His righteous indignation which propelled Him to undertake impromptu cleansing of the Temple

For zeal for your house has consumed me... Psa 69:9

While on the subject, we may now take the loopline (permit me to use some of the Railways-related terminology) to cast spotlight on the subject “Why Prophecies”. Remember on His single, singular life depended the very salvation of Mankind. So the Almighty God did not want any rationalist to attribute His unique life, death and resurrection to a mere accident or coincidence. Let me illustrate with a Railways related incident (sic). I had a bosom buddy by name Anandeep in my school and Junior college days. After I accepted the Lord in my Junior college days, I was particularly guilty of never having shared the Gospel “full-throttle” with him. After passing out of Junior college, we pursued different fields in education as such we almost lost completely touch with each other. With passage of time, having grown more in the Lord there was that ever-growing burning desire in my heart to share the Gospel with an old mate of my alma mater. Oh how I wanted to share about the NEW joys (I was growing spiritually, you see) of the walking with the good Lord, with the chum, I had shared so many childhood joys! So I prayed fervently about it. Some years later, when I was travelling in a train in the evening hours (Rayalaseema Express to be precise, which plies between Hyderabad and Thirupathi in Andra Pradesh) I DID MEET my friend. That night, I shared the Gospel with all my heart, soul and might. I profusely thanked the Lord for all the happy time I had in my journey with my friend and the opportunity to share the Gospel with him, what with others in the compartment listening too! Look at the Lord’s providence! May be, if I had met good ole’ Anandeep in a busy bazaar, he may not have listened to me so patiently. Boy, when the good Lord answers our prayers, He does it in the best way possible! Of course my rationalist friends would doubtless attribute this fulfilling experience of mine to an accident or a coincidence. Not for them a belief that my “train encounter” was a result of passionate prayers. Now consider for a moment…if everything about my travel on that particular day when I met my old pal had been foretold by way of writing in a certain book, would they still put it down to an accident or a coincidence? NO WAY! Ditto the same about Christ’s life…it was not by chance that everything happened in his first coming, the way it did rather behind everything that transpired in his life was the Almighty’s will! Hmmmm...didn’t one wise affirm “Prophecy is nothing but history written in advance”.