Stepping Into the New

As we anticipate Palm Sunday this Sunday and Easter Sunday the following week, I hope you will carve space to remember the enormous cost and impact of this critical week. While time may blur into the tenuousness of pandemic restrictions, God is not waiting. He is in all and over all, and if there is anything we can learn from the trajectory of history, it is that any time the world experiences great upheaval, we can anticipate God to bring forward change in new and unexpected ways. How will we be transformed this time? How will we step into the new rather than longing for what used to be?

What if you start by pressing into the excitement, anxiety, and complexity of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem? His disciples had experienced his miraculous power, and the gathered crowds could feel something different about his presence. Listen to the story, pondering the monumental change about to rock the globe:

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. (Mark 11:1-11)

You can also read the story of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem in Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19. How will you move into this final pre-Easter week attuned to God's voice and anticipating rather than lamenting what has been lost, trusting the Lord's providence rather than anxious about what could go awry?

Blessings on your week,

Jennie