Praise to Our Humble Savior

 

Luke 19: 28-40

Philippians 2: 5-11

 

We hear of Jesus procession into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. As I read this passage along with the Philippians one, I note that Christ, who could have claimed equality with God, didn’t ride on a beautifully decorated white stead onto a red carpet which in his royalty he truly deserved. But as it says in Philippians, he emptied himself by taking on the form of a man – the form of a slave. He rides instead on a borrowed donkey and it’s not the paparazzi and the rich, famous and beautiful who praise his divinity but the everyday people – the poor folks laying down their cloaks and grabbing palms branches to wave and honor this Savior who had healed so many people and performed miracles.

 This joyful procession is the beginning of Holy Week, but who would have predicted that it would end in the Lord’s crucifixion. His humility is not only shown in his riding a donkey but in becoming obedient to death, the cruelest death – death on a cross. Christ in human form suffered the agony of this death to bring salvation to all.

 Due to this humbleness, God exalted him – resurrecting him and giving him the name above all names. True praise shall come to him, not just for the miracles he performed, but the miracle of salvation he paid for by humbling himself to death on the cross for our sins.

 Philippians tells us that by the power of his name every knee shall bow down in worship, not only on earth but in heaven and those under the earth.

 Paul encourages us to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. If you remember nothing else about Palm Sunday, remember the humility of Jesus riding a common donkey into Jerusalem. He who could have commanded a gold paved path and to ride in on a golden chariot, didn’t do so. He who prayed that the cup of his suffering death to come be taken away, still was obedient to God. Because of this humility, salvation was accomplished.

 A lesson we can learn from Palm Sunday is that the praise of humans can be quickly taken away. Let us strive in humility to seek the mind of Christ. Amen

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