Lent: Jesus' Final Days | Mar. 24, 2024

Today marks the beginning of Holy Week with Palm
Sunday. It’s the day we remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem
on a donkey, where the streets were lined with people shouting
hosanna, save us. Palm Sunday is a day we're reminded of the
choice Jesus gives us; a choice to accept him as Lord and crown
Him as King, or deny Him and reject Him all together.


 


As Pastor Danny took us through Mark 14: 53-72, we see two things
in this set of verses; Jesus is giving up his life and Peter is
trying to save his life. Jesus is on trial and the high priest
asks Jesus if he is the Messiah. Jesus responds "I am". Jesus,
acknowledging he is the true Messiah and King, knows it will get
him killed. Peter is watching from the outside. As Jesus is
laying down his life, Peter denies knowing him in an effort to
save his own life. 


Peter’s denial of Jesus is at its core breaking the connection of
a relationship. Mark highlights the disappearance of Peter in his
gospel but if we look at the other gospel writers we see in Peter
a couple things that happen when we are the betrayer. 
Peter is overcome with guilt and shame Peter numbs the
feelings by going back to work. He returns to his old way of
life. 

And then hope breaks through. In John 21:4-7, we see Jesus on the
beach where he meets with Peter and the other disciples and makes
them breakfast. They share a meal together and three times Jesus
asks Peter if he loves him. Three times Peter confesses his love
and in doing so, Peter is restored to new life. 


Palm Sunday is an invitation to all of us and in Peter, we see
how the response to the invitation plays out. It’s an
invitation to make a choice - a choice to accept Jesus as Lord
and crown Him as King, or deny him and crucify him. Peter denied
Jesus, faced the spiritual death marked by guilt and shame and
the need to try and deal with it by covering it up or numbing it.
But in his restoration through Jesus, in his acceptance of Jesus
as King he experiences the hope that restoration brings. That
hope is marked by full transformation, full of purpose, and full
of peace. 


 


Jesus offers everyone the same choice. No matter how you’ve
betrayed him, he sits on the beach calling. That same restoration
is available to anyone who chooses to receive it. Transformation,
purpose, and peace are available in part now, and the beauty of
Palm Sunday is it’s a promise that it will be complete when he
returns again.