Palm Sunday

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,  
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the time we set aside to recall the fulfillment of the promise made to Adam and Eve so many years ago.  The drama of our redemption takes place during the Passover. the time when the Jews remembered the way God led them out of Egypt.  But to say that they "remembered it" is to not get it quite right.  What they strove for in their Passover meal was to relive the event as if they were there.  They viewed it not as something that happened to their ancestors, but something that happened to them and they passed this down to their children to keep on the tradition after they were gone. 

This week is the holiest week on our calendar.  The events that took place two millenniums ago are commemorated on Thursday, the day that Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist.  On Friday, the day He suffered and died for us.  And finally on Easter, the day He destroyed death.  He did all of these things for you.  Every strike of the whip was for your sins.  Every broken capillary caused by the crown of thorns caused His very blood to be shed because he loved you, personally.  Every bruise caused by the weight of the cross as it landed on Him as he fell was to cure your disobedience. The nails in hands and feet, the ravages of the insects as he hung there naked and alone on that cruel cross were for your sins.  The cry to His Father for forgiveness because they did not know what they were doing, was because you do not know the injuries you caused to the dignity of the Father.  When h\He died, he did not die with the masses in mind, He died thinking of you, and me, and your neighbor, everyone as a separate individual who was loved so much that Jesus died for each, personally.   You are blessed because you are loved by the Lord and He has proven Himself to be a true friend.