Today is the first day of what is often named “Holy Week.”
- Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday
- Holy Monday to Spy Wednesday
- Maundy (mandate) Thursday
- Good (from the now archaic meaning of holy) Friday
- Holy Saturday (Black Saturday)
MCA Church is committed, this year, to the celebration of the Jewish feasts. Passover celebrates the Jewish people’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt and in particular the blood of a lamb as the statement of obedience. In this obedience of blood, God’s judgement passed over that home. Additionally, Jesus fulfills many of the components of Passover. For example, He is the Passover Lamb of our lives today.
In reality, this week is no more holy than every other week but is considered holy because of the commemorations and personal participation in the week of Jesus’ suffering.
Palm Sunday celebrates what is called the “Triumphant Entry of Jesus” into Jerusalem.
King Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem:
- Fulfillment of prophecy about the kingdom
- Establishes the King is in His kingdom
- Anticipates the Kingly rule of Jesus in the eternal kingdom
It is precisely the “King” portion of Palm Sunday that was troubling to the world.
Politics is an English word built upon the Greek word for city and refers to gaining and exercising positions of power and control over a community.
King Jesus was a GIGANTIC political threat to the national powers of the day.
Rome and Israel were sort of the “two party system” at the time.
- Rome’s authority was king Herod
- Israel’s authority was the High Priest, Caiaphas.
Jesus and his “politics” were a threat to Rome and Judaism.
- Political power
- Religious power
Today, Jesus and those in his kingdom are as much a threat to political and religious powers as they were 2,000 years ago.
Any attempt to separate Jesus from politics and religion is foreign to the record of our Lord’s life and ministry.
- The politics and religion of Jesus are humble.
- The politics and religion of Jesus are an upheaval of the politics and religion of power and privilege.
- The politics and religion of Jesus are hated by most people.
- The politics and religion of Jesus lead to illegal trials, false accusers, untruthful convictions, physical and mental abuse, public scorn, and crosses.
- People move in a few short days, from “Hosanna to God in the highest” to “Crucify Him!” when Jesus lives out His politic and religion.
Recommendations
- Don’t succumb to the requirements and immense pressure to keep your Christian faith private. Matthew 5:16
- Seek to learn the politics and religion of Jesus as revealed in the Bible. John 18:36
- Celebrate your citizenship in Jesus’ invisible kingdom and His kingly rule. Mark 11:9, 10