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| Photo Courtesy of SixthSiren |
Palms trees cannot survive the climate where I live. We ship the leaves in for our Palm Sunday celebrations. Some years, we get the branched variety and other years, we order the single leaves. Occasionally our church buys the crosses crafted from palm leaves.
That long ago Palm Sunday when Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, the spectators lining the road waved palm fronds in honor and celebration of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
That peace came at great price, but it wasn’t the kind of peace the people of that day expected.
The Jews, like many of us today, were looking for peace on earth, for victory over cruel ruling powers. However, Romans 5:1 shares the better news that “we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
The price of peace with God was Jesus’ humiliating crucifixion. “They nailed him to the cross,” Matthew tells us. (15:24).
John 20:25 speaks of the nail wounds in Jesus hands from the crucifixion, wounds that Thomas insisted on seeing in order to believe. When artists draw a picture of the hands of Jesus, our Savior, they often depict his pierced palms.
There’s that word again--palms—though this time we’re not talking about the evergreen variety. And yet, these palms truly signify victory and celebration—victory over sin; celebration over our restored peace with God—two great reasons to line the streets and shout “Hosanna!”
©2013 Pamela D. Williams
