WEEK SEVEN--HOLY WEEK  
TITLE: THE ROAD TO CALVARY
March 28 - April 3

It is with a spirit of humility that we approach Holy Week, as active participants in the remembrance and enactment of Christ’s accomplishments—divine deeds that changed the world forever. During the next seven days we will walk with Christ on the Road to Calvary as we experience his great compassion in taking upon himself the collective sin of mankind—past, present, and future. It is at the cross where heaven and earth came together establishing God’s Kingdom in the most miraculous victory of all time. It’s significant that Jesus predicted and taught about his death throughout the Gospels. “For this purpose I have come to this hour. Father glorify your name,” Christ states in John 12:27-28. 

The “Suffering Servant” we encounter this week calls us to enter into his sufferings by “taking up our cross and following him” (Matthew 16:24). This trajectory of suffering and glory epitomized by Christ is to be our calling as well. Saint Peter wrote, “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13). In his book Rejoicing in Christ Michael Reeves writes, “For Christ and his people, joy precedes, follows, undermines, and encases all suffering. Christ had joy before all pain, and that joy then strengthened his resolve to suffer. That is what he shares with us: a preceding joy that enables us to bear hardship…. The more we find our pleasure in him, the more willing we will then be to suffer with him.”

Day 40 - Sunday, March 28
PALM SUNDAY 
Title: “IF THESE BECOME SILENT, THE VERY STONES WILL CRY OUT”   
Scripture: Luke 19:29-40
He sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord has need of it.” They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the very stones will cry out!”

Poetry:
The Poet Thinks about the Donkey
by Mary Oliver

On the outskirts of Jerusalem
the donkey waited.
Not especially brave, or filled with understanding,
he stood and waited.

How horses, turned out into the meadow,
            leap with delight!
    How doves, released from their cages,
            clatter away, splashed with sunlight.

But the donkey, tied to a tree as usual, waited.
Then he let himself be led away.
Then he let the stranger mount.

Never had he seen such crowds!
And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to
     happen.
Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark,
     obedient.

I hope, finally, he felt brave.
I hope, finally, he loved the man who rode so lightly
     upon him,
as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped, as he had to,
     forward.

HOSANNA! LORD, SAVE US!

Many know this Sunday before Easter as Palm Sunday. Others refer to it as Passion Sunday. The difference in titles encourage us to focus on the distinct aspects of the events of this day. It is as though this day’s events fall on two sides of a coin.

On one side of the coin, we remember and celebrate when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah,

Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech. 9:9)

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus and many of his followers journeyed the two miles from Bethany on that Sunday, arriving just outside of Jerusalem. This journey down the hill from Bethany, through the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane, into the Kidron Valley, and up the hill into Jerusalem would have been clearly visible by those in Jerusalem. As was the custom, pilgrims that had already arrived in the city went out to greet newly arriving groups. There were some who had undoubtedly come into contact with Jesus at some point. Others had never seen Jesus but had probably heard about him because of the miracles he performed, and they were caught up in the excitement. As a result, a sizable crowd of people gathered to welcome Jesus. Some laid their cloaks down. Others grabbed palm branches and began waving them (a Jewish national symbol conveying the notion of victory over one’s enemies). Their actions were accompanied by loud shouts of praise directed toward Jesus, hailing him as king.

Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (Matt. 21:9)

Their exclamations echoed the words of the psalmist:

Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. (Ps. 118:25–26)

Previously, Jesus had intentionally avoided public acclamation, most often even fled from it, but this time, upon entering Jerusalem, he accepted the praise of the people. Yet even in this moment Jesus responds in a way different than the people expected. He doesn’t present himself as a rival to Caesar; He doesn’t claim to be a political messiah or the warrior king the multitude had hoped for. Instead of entering Jerusalem on a majestic horse or chariot, he enters on a donkey, a sign of peace; and not just any donkey, but one on which no one had ever sat (Mark 11:2), which is the prerogative of a king.

There is no doubt—this was a time of great celebration! Shouts of praise . . . symbols of victory . . . a kingly, albeit unconventional, entrance. The celebration was magnificent, but we must not stop at the waving of palms. We must read further. In his Gospel, Luke shares the event immediately after Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem. As the people raised their voices, the Pharisees became upset and demanded that Jesus silence the crowd. Jesus responded that he would not quiet the crowd because if he did, the rocks would cry out in praise (Luke 19:39–40). It is what happens next that should cause us to pause and reflect. It is the “passion” side of the coin of this day. Following the shouts of praise, as Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem, he wept.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it. (Luke 19:41)

This was not a good cry. This was a grieving cry, for Jesus understood the path that was set before him—a path that began with this entrance. Jesus knew that by the end of the week, the shouts of praise that were ringing in his ears would turn to malicious cries for his death. He saw the sin in the people’s hearts and their own refusal to allow him to cleanse them. He knew that their shouts of “hosanna,” meaning “save us,” were words that they fully did not comprehend. They didn’t really understand what they were asking . . . at least not in the sense that really mattered—spiritually. In fact, unbeknownst to them, their cries of “hosanna” were directing Jesus to the dreadful moment and place where he could actually fulfill their appeal to save them—the cross. And so, Jesus wept.

Palm Sunday was the “beginning of the end” of Jesus’ earthly work. As Jesus entered Jerusalem, he neared the culmination of a long journey toward the cross. Now was the time, beginning in this place, to secure that salvation. It is within the events of this day that we see the “passion” (suffering) and the “palm” (praise). This was, and is, the journey of Holy Week.

Prayer:
Hosanna.
Lord, save us.
Lord Jesus, save us, your children.
Lord Jesus Christ, save us, your children, from our sin.
Lord Jesus, forgive us our sin and help us to reject future sin and the power it may have over us.
Lord Jesus, save us, your children, from sin.
Lord Jesus, save us, your children.
Lord, save us.
Hosanna.  

Steven D. Brooks
Pastor, author, and professor
Founder of Worship Quest Ministries

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.