Palm Sunday: Rebuilding the ruins
This is the final week of Lent with this past Sunday being Palm Sunday. During Holy Week we notice that only a few days separate the celebratory entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem and his long walk of shame and suffering as he made his way to the cross. This Sunday we looked at Isaiah 61 and Mark 11:1-1. The Isaiah passage is the one Jesus read out to announce his ministry. It’s a message of hope for a people under oppression; it’s a threat to those who have political and religious power.
The hope that the prophet Isaiah offers to a people in exile is just a glimpse of the hope that Jesus is announcing. Because Jesus doesn’t just speak a message of hope; he gives tangible hope through healing the sick, loving the outcasts, and setting prisoners free from demonic and religious oppression. Through the resurrection Jesus embodies hope. This way of hope came through the cross, ultimate suffering and sacrifice. God's plan of rebuilding the ruins came in this way of humility. God invites us to partner with him in this rebuilding.
Thankfully, the invitation to rebuild the ruins with Jesus comes at God’s initiation. It’s his agenda to rebuild what was broken once and keeps falling down around us and inside of us. God is in control of this rebuilding strategy, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to respond and act. Doing this God’s way is the only possibility that it will be accomplished. Jesus demonstrated that for us. He modeled for us what it means to lay down our lives for something better. He showed us what it looks like to pay attention and care deeply when it’s easy to be busy or unaffected. This is our challenge. He is our hope.