Palm Sunday: Victory

Scripture


Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Devotion

Palm Sunday is victorious.

During the shining Holy Week of Easter, most would look to Easter Sunday as the day most victorious of all. After all, Jesus has conquered death, risen again, and brought new life to all who find and follow Him. All of this is of course true, and its significance should never be diminished. I would posit, however, that there is another day of great significance. That is Palm Sunday, when Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, and a crowd greeted and honored Him. 

It is a quick glimpse of the glory and victory that awaits, and most impressively, Jesus did it all with great humility. 

Not only did He enter without much spectacle; he entered knowing a week of great suffering would befall Him. 
Jesus entered Jerusalem not on a white stallion with a procession with throngs of adoring people, cheers resounding, all the while getting crowned with flowers. He humbly made His way on the back of a donkey with ordinary people waving palm fronds. And He chose this humble entrance even while knowing a painful crown would await Him; he entered knowing a friend would betray Him, and that He would suffer a horrific death at the hands of those He came to save. 

The incredible amount of strength and humility this would have taken should drive each one of us to peer inward at our motivations. In what ways do we in our own lives search self importantly for triumphant glory? How often do we turn our eyes to the one who moved through us to allow our victories to occur? In the painting Twin Crowns, we see a ruler peering at the true victor, Jesus Christ. Even surrounded by earth’s glory, His focus is upward. All glory to the King. We should mirror the humility Jesus portrayed on Palm Sunday whenever we conquer or are victorious. In our own lives, when faced with opportunities for greatness, we should always remember the ones who came before us to make it possible, most importantly our Lord.

Palm Sunday is a wonderful marker of the joy and victory that awaits within the next seven days. Jesus’ glory is not fully revealed and those surrounding Him do not know entirely what is to come. He had unlimited power and might and He chose to wait and conquer death at exactly the right moment, when many thought hope to be lost. 

Liberation is yet another promise beginning to be fulfilled on Palm Sunday. The most important freedom mankind will ever receive; is the freedom from sin, death, and decay. 

And with this promise, this precious Holy Day is a preview for that insurmountable hope of Christ’s perfect victory the following Sunday, all the while being done with abundant humility.

Artwork

"Twin Crowns" by Sir Frank Dicksee 

The painting "Twin Crowns" by Sir Frank Dicksee was painted in the 1900s in oil paint on canvas sized at 2860 × 2355 × 240 millimeters. Although the painting does not show a particular historical event, it does not take away from the truth the painting conveys. It shows a prince coming back to his home country riding on a white stallion covered in gold and riches. Young women surround him and throw flower petals at his feet and from balconies. There is a banner on his left that has VS VINCI written on it, which translates to “conquer” or “to be conquered”. Despite the wealth and women surrounding the young prince, his eyes are on the image of Jesus hanging from the cross with the crown of thorns above him. The king humbled himself under Jesus, his eyes only belonging to God, not on the worldly positions around him or his earthly kingdom.   

Poetry