For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’
At the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the multitude welcomed Him by laying down palm branches and spreading their cloaks on the road. The symbolism of such grand welcome, was only reserved for the King who is to come, the Messiah Himself. The crowd who cheered Jesus, was expecting Him to be the nationalistic leader of the Jews, to usher in the new Kingdom of Israel, to set them free from the bondage of the Roman masters.
The truth of the matter was, Jesus was ushering in an entire different Kingdom. His Kingdom is a borderless, boundless Kingdom extending over all the earth. He did not just come for the Jews, but for the Gentiles. “having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two (Jews and Gentiles), thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” (Ephesians 2:15-16). Jesus came to set the people free from a bondage greater than that of the Roman Empire, the deadly bondage of sin and darkness.
Today, this Jesus whom we remember on Palm Sunday, is still calling to us to look beyond the temporal “bondage” and look at the spiritual bondages of sin and darkness. He is the Saviour of the world, saving us from ourselves, from our folly, pride, greed, and moral corruption. The evidence of the existence of this Saviour of the world, is manifest in the Bible, in history and in the countless testimonies told over the centuries. So many have testified (and continue to testify) the reality of His love, His healing and saving grace. As in His days after His entry into Jerusalem, the Pharisees and rulers of the Jewish people, refused to accept His identity as the “One who comes in the Name of the Lord”, and therefore failed to see who Jesus really is – the One who will set them free from the deepest bondage, to experience the greatest freedom. So it is today, with the overwhelming evidence of this Jesus, who speaks God’s truth, loves like nobody else, transforms lives and set people free, yet the world continues to reject Him.
Truly, until we acknowledge His identity as the Son of God, the Saviour of the world who comes in the Name of the Lord, we will not “see” Him – we will not encounter the reality of His saving and healing grace!
Will you welcome Jesus today, as the Son of God, as the Messiah, through whom alone we can be saved?