"What's Pom-Pom Sunday Mama?"
Knowing that my little Bright Girl meant Palm Sunday, I smiled to myself, but didn't correct her. I wanted to cherish all her little sayings before time flew by and, she was nearly as tall as me.
Still, it was a great question, requiring a childlike answer.
"It is the day we celebrate when Christ Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people waved palm branches like pom-poms and cheered for their King!"
It was truly a triumphant day, yet there were those who despised our Lord, rejected Him as King and even wanted Him dead.
The Pharisees.
Why?
What did He ever do, but love, heal, and teach people about God, our Father in heaven?
Why did the Pharisees want Jesus dead?
Well, they were already jealous that all the people were following after Him.
His followers even called Him the Christ or King, the Son of God, making Him equal with God.
And, now they were worshipping Him as such.
That was the last straw.
Christ Jesus was entirely not what the Pharisees pictured God to be like.
He was poor, welcoming toward sinners and undesirables, and didn't present Himself to them, the religious leaders of Israel, as their long-awaited King.
And, He said things like, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, but through me." (John 14:6)
The Pharisees weren't about to submit themselves to Jesus, someone they had absolutely no reverence for. And, He was saying that He was their only access to God.
He was essentially saying that they were damned because they didn't believe in Him.
No matter how well they obeyed all the hundreds of Jewish laws, they still needed a Savior. The problem was that they were trusting in their strict adherence to the law as their savior--as if they had the power to save themselves.
And yet, we aren't even nearly as religious as the Pharisees.
How can any of us expect to save ourselves?
All of us have very clearly broken God's laws, if not outwardly, than inwardly.
And, we do it everyday.
"All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way..."
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be like the hardened, unrepentant religious leaders who trusted in themselves to save themselves.
By the grace of God, may I always bow the knee to Jesus, the Christ, the One who truly never sinned outwardly nor inwardly.
By the grace of God, may I always bow the knee to Jesus, the Christ, the One who truly never sinned outwardly nor inwardly.
"But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him." (Isaiah 53:6)
How beautiful, how wonderful it is to know that if you've trusted in Christ, all your sins are forgiven.
And, on top of that, He bestows on us His righteousness, His perfection and holiness, making us completely justified before God.
Christ Jesus is our King, the One prophesied from the beginning; He is the One God promised would crush the evil one and restore all things (Genesis 3:15).
And, that is cause for us to celebrate!
Like on Palm Sunday or as Bright Girl used to say, "Pom-Pom" Sunday.
May we lift up our palms in humble reverence to Jesus, our King, the One with nail-scarred palms, who gave up His life so that we might live eternally.
May His Kingdom come.
May His will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
"The reward that wrong ways give is to die. But the gift which God gives is to live for ever. Christ Jesus our Lord has done this for us." (Romans 6:23, Worldwide English Version)
