The Week That Changed The World: Palm Sunday

The Week that Changed the World: Palm Sunday

John 12:1–10 NKJV

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.

But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”

Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also,

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We now come to our observance of Holy Week, in which we remember the week that changed the world. It is traditionally observed starting with Palm Sunday where the triumphant Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey to the accolade of the crowds who strawed both their own outer garments as well as palm branches. This morning, children will parade down the aisles of the church waving palms and hinging “Hosanna.” The palms will later be burnt, and the ashes used for next year’s Ash Wednesday.But what if I tell you that this was not the first event of Holy Week. We as Westerners begin the day at midnight like the Romans did. For practical purposes, we begin the day when we rise from bed. It would only seem natural for us to think that the Triumphal entry begins Holy Week. But the Hebrew Day actually begins at sunset on what we think is the day before. So what event happened at sunset on what we call Saturday and the Jews “Sabbath.” Jesus and His disciples were lodging at what the Gospel of Mark says was a house owned by Simon in Bethany, who was probably the husband of Martha, who in turn was a sister to Mary And Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. It was with these friends in the Village of Bethany that Jesus spent His last Sabbath on earth, resting up before what would prove to be the most momentous week in human history.

We all know that God established the Sabbath to give our bodies and minds rest from labor. Jesus would need all that physical energy for that week where it would be drained along with His life-blood. As we could see from His fainting under the burden of the cross, that this rest was needful.

Another aspect of the Sabbath was upon reflection and prayer. God Himself availed Himself of this time of reflection on the seventh day in which he reflected upon what He created and declared it good and very good. God repeated this idea of rest daily when He communed with Adam in the cool of the day in His palace garden of Eden in which He had placed Ada

m and Eve to care for. So this idea of God’s creation of the heaven and earth is implicit in the Sabbath itself.

Evening had come. The Sabbath was over, and the new day came. The reflection of the previous week and recovery of strength was over. A new week was begun, a week which would change the world forever. It would begin with the evening meal with His host, family and the disciples. Cooking was forbidden during the Sabbath Day, so this was the first opportunity to eat hot food. Normally, this would not be noteworthy in itself. What would be eating a meal be in comparison to the Triumphal entry? did Jesus eat breakfast before setting out on this journey as well. does it matter.

However, it is what happens at the meal which is significant. During the meal. Mary took a alabaster flask of very valuable spikenard, broke the neck of it and began to anoint Jesus’ feet and wipe it off with her hair. The fragrance filled the place. This was more than extraordinary hospitality such as washing the feet of the guests with water and wiping them with a towel. We would have a foot washing later in the week, an ordinary thing which has great meaning in the light of this week which changed the world.