Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. As a child I always knew it meant Jesus was greeted by people waving palm branches saying "Hosanna!" I was one of the little kids walking down my church's center aisle waving palm branches. Like a celebratory event before the week grows darker.
When you hear shouts of "Hosanna!" you might think it means "hurray!", but it means "save us!"
That kind of alters my way of thinking about Palm Sunday, the beginning of the last week of Jesus' earthly life. He enters into Jerusalem (on a donkey, nonetheless. Not some grand parade of horses, camels and fan fare. Humbly entering on a donkey) by way of a small crowd of people who cry "save us!" These people must have been expecting Jesus to come into town with the plan to spark up an overthrown of the government. They wanted Him to rise up, perhaps, and show the power He has.
The way up is down.
The last shall be first. The first shall be last.
Many times our way of thinking is completely opposite of what is best. We think power is good. Jesus tells us blessed are the meek. We think wealth is good. Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit.
Jesus throws our world upside down and shakes all those presuppositions out of our pockets. As we pick up the pieces of what we thought we knew, we think about what Jesus is saying and how He is acting toward those who hate Him. How He knows what is coming, and that it is a result of the evil in this world, and how He still chose to love us.
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