Follow way of Jesus to be more like him

Tomorrow is an important day in the Christian calendar as it is Palm Sunday.

It is a day when we remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem and the crowds lining the route spreading palm branches on the road before him and shouting: “God bless he who comes in the name of the Lord. God bless the king of Israel”.

They would probably be thinking back many years to the time of that great king, David, and imagine that Jesus would be an earthly king in the same mould, a king who would bring about the overthrow of the hated Romans, and establish a kingdom of peace and prosperity.

However, this was yet another time when Israel misunderstood God.

Jesus was putting into action one of the important statements of the Old Testament prophets.

He had indeed come to fulfil the promise of God that he would bring about his kingdom of peace in the world, but it wouldn’t happen the way the people wanted and expected.

Jesus would indeed be crowned the king of the Jews, but the crown would be a crown of thorns.

What should this teach us? God’s plans may not be our plans.

What does he want us to do?

Follow the way of Jesus and allow him to show us new possibilities; to show us how we might be different and more like him; and to give us the courage to change.

We may have been trying to follow Jesus for years but don’t forget – there’s always room for improvement!