Palm Sunday Triumph
When life is satisfying you, you won’t jump on something different. The change would cause too many ruffled feathers with friends. There are so many questions to answer, with most of them starting with ‘What if?’ The logic of it puts the rest of your life on its head.
I grew up in the age of do-it-yourself and the phrase of pulling yourself up by your boot strings. Lots of hard work went into learning how to do my job well and finding the next step up. I made it to engineer and project manager of projects that had the company VPs showing up at the meetings. This came with an income that allowed for the American dream house and car. I had no worries other than most of it came with loans which fit inside my income.
I spent so much time achieving cultural dream goals and trying to please people that I finally got angry with how it never truly satisfied. It worked until I was thirty-three. Then things started feeling superficial. I’d tried far too many things that I could not stick to. All were based on either my power or having the right responses from people. Well, as a fellow human, I know we are fickle. We go after the next best shiny to find the one that fits some need. Most times it doesn’t work and we’re lucky if we stick to it for three months.
I pose the following. What if Jesus is the answer we all need? Would it be so bad if life changed radically for us if we found the answer that satisfies all the needs and cravings?
Jesus had his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. People came because they knew how he had raised Lazarus from the dead, let alone all His other miracles. They saw him as their king that would answer all their problems. Many of the rulers believed in Him. Something stopped them from publicly professing the belief. When Jesus did not prove to be the type of king they wanted, they fell away.
What stopped so many people? For the rulers who loved their spots in the synagogue and they knew the Pharisees would remove their favored positions there if they professed belief in Jesus. Others wanted Him to be a conquering king that saved them from Roman rule. They got stuck in stepping firmly into belief because of what everyone else would think of them and what they could lose. They had it good and felt satisfied with how life had been going for them despite some things they did not like. Who wants to throw away what is comfortable for something that would uproot everything? Or run after something that is not what they expected at all?
I didn’t see Jesus as the answer when in the cyclic search for what truly satisfied. Most of the Christians I knew didn’t live any differently than the non-Christians. Then there were just enough well meaning Bible thumpers to confuse the issue more. I did not have a proper view of Jesus because I did not interact with Christians that showed Jesus to the world. Christianity came across as a rule book with an ultimatum with no love in it. Oh, there are rules and that ultimatum is a real thing, but using that as their evangelistic first step pushed everyone away.
Before I became completely frustrated with the cultural rat race, I wound up with Christian friends that showed me who Jesus was. However, I was comfortable with life and my job. I had all the things I thought I needed. They talked to me openly about Jesus and life without making me feel bad. They accepted where I was, but did not push. Their testimonies matched what I read in the Bible once I decided to give it a serious read. I accepted Jesus in my mother’s church, but I knew I had to be in a church back home to stick to the choice. The church I went to was the one with the Christians that made me feel welcome even when I was a pagan.
I had my triumphant entry into the kingdom as a child of God. It all made sense. I saw all the wrong things I’d been doing. Some things I changed immediately and others have taken a lot more time. The process resembles the peeling of an onion. The first layers come off easy and don’t make you cry too much. However, they reveal new things you need to peel away to be the child of God the Bible says you were meant to be. All that peeling has been worth it and it has revealed more to do.
I lost a lot in that first year of being a Christian. Some of it had nothing to do with my choice, but I’m sure glad I had Jesus when those things happened. I wound up starting completely over single and with a low-level job in a factory after all that American dream job and living. I wouldn’t go back and change it. I truly live the triumphant life now because of sticking to my relationship with Jesus and learning who I was meant to be.
There are a lot of things I would like to change in this life, but there are far more I would have never been blessed with if I hadn’t chosen Jesus. This Palm Sunday, I continue to claim my triumph in knowing that I am a child of God. I have my dream job of being a published author and writer because of Jesus. I’d never be here in a new marriage with the right setup to share my testimony and the truth, as I do now without Jesus. I am marching on because of the love of Jesus, not the accolades of the world. I had to die to myself in order to raise in Him. Now that brings us to next week because I’ll be sharing about how this is all possible because Jesus died and rose first.
To learn more about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem by Jesus and the differing ways people reacted, read John 11 and 12. I added chapter 11 here because many came because of what He did for Lazarus, as I mentioned above. May you see what I saw when I finally sat down and gave the Bible a try. The change it brings is worth it.