Read Psalm 118
In early January, the class I co-teach on Sunday mornings began to study the final week of Jesus’s life on earth. Yesterday, I looked back at that lesson in observance of Palm Sunday. When we studied the account of Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem exactly three months from the day that I sat in my living room reviewing it alone, I remembered that we were looking forward to Easter Sunday. We were beginning to think about Easter egg hunts, family gatherings, and three Easter services to celebrate our resurrected Savior. Things were normal for most of us. On that day, it seemed like “all was right with the world.” Then, before we knew what was happening, the COVID-19 pandemic turned our world turned upside down.
On that Palm Sunday over two thousand years ago, the Jews were looking forward to family gatherings to celebrate the Passover, one of their most important Holy Days. As Jesus entered Jerusalem that day, it appears that at least on some level, some knew that their Savior had arrived. For them, on that Sunday, “all seemed right with the world” as they waved palm branches and shouted hosannas. Five days later, however, the world was turned upside down when Jesus was crucified.
We know the rest of the story. God was in control on that joyful Palm Sunday. God was in control on the day Jesus was crucified. God is still in control today.
A sidebar in that lesson pointed us to Psalm 118 because in that Psalm is the prophecy of the day we know as Palm Sunday. The fulfillment of that prophecy has brought us great hope. Because God is still in control, we can join with the psalmist is saying, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.”
Father, thank You that you are still in control. You are good all the time. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.