Choose for Yourselves, as I Did [Palm Sunday]

Today's passage covers Palm Sunday, when Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem, and the Passion Week that followed. The passage shows Jesus not avoiding the suffering of the cross but choosing it himself and carrying it out according to plan. People welcomed him as king and cried out Hosanna, but Jesus walked that road in silence, knowing that it would end in the whip and the cross.

The sermon stresses that this choice of Jesus was not simply suffering but the heart of God's love and plan to save sinners like us. The disciples, by contrast, did not properly understand Jesus' will; dreaming of advancement and comfort, they responded foolishly. Like Judas Iscariot's betrayal or Peter's impulsive actions, it leads us to ask whether we too often act on our own judgment, thinking it right even when it differs from God's plan.

We confess that we have a mature faith that believes in Jesus' death, resurrection and second coming. Yet we need to examine whether in reality we are living with worldly success and comfort as our priority. Following the way of the cross that Jesus chose for himself, we ask with what heart we are now living through this age of suffering, and whether we are living prepared lives as we wait for the glory of the resurrection.