Love and reconciliation will bring peace to all nations
I WONDER who was in that crowd of joyful praise that first Palm Sunday?
The woman healed when she touched the hem of Jesus’s cloak and the widow of Nain whose son had been restored to her must have been there.
So too the centurion whose servant had been miraculously healed and Jairus the synagogue ruler whose daughter Jesus brought to life.
The adulterous woman spared from the zealous legalists who would have stoned her to death could now look her accusers in the eye. And what about Mary and Martha who in Bethany had seen their brother Lazarus emerge from the grave. Many that Palm Sunday had seen their lives wonderfully changed by God’s power and now was the time to give Him praise!
How, then, was it that by the end of the week the cries of Hosanna had changed to ‘Crucify Him’? The religious hierarchy’s response was typical of all who even today breed hate and division. Within days Pontius Pilate had washed his hands, the disciples were scattered and the proclaimed kingdom of God’s righteousness and justice seemed well-trodden underfoot.
The likes of Caiaphas and others of the religious elite smugly content that they had succeeded in turning praise to hatred and mob rule.
This past week the world has looked on in horror and sadness as the news emerged of atrocities against innocent civilians in Ukraine by Russian forces. Such abject wickedness has no conscience, no regard for the innocent as it bombs schools, hospitals and abuses and murders the innocent.
This Holy Week affirms that such evil will be judged by the Cross of Jesus where all manifestations of death, cruelty, torture and untold suffering led to the victory of the empty tomb. It was such evil that led Jesus to the cross, but it was the power of God that raised him from the dead.
God will punish evil and reward faith, which looks to a day when the Easter message of love and reconciliation will bring peace among all the nations of the world.
This Sunday why not join the celebration which will resound around the world? Christ is risen – He is risen indeed!