The Kingdom You Enter by Dying [Palm Sunday 2026]

Today's passage deals with the scene of Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a young donkey. The crowds at the time welcomed him eagerly, wanting a king who would solve their practical problems, but Jesus declares the way of glory, in which the nations are saved through his death. This shows that it was not simply a festival but the starting point of Jesus' journey to the cross to atone for the sins of humanity.

Jesus says that a grain of wheat must fall into the earth and die in order to bear much fruit, revealing that the kingdom of God works on the principle that only by dying do we live. This means that we must turn down the path of comfort and consolation that we want, and walk with Jesus the path of self-denial and the cross that he walked. Such a life begins not with some grand resolution, but with small training in which our first reaction when we face a problem changes from complaining to calling on God.

Before Jesus' call, we must not answer with our lips alone but answer with our lives and resolve to walk that path. Can our desire to walk with Jesus toward the kingdom of God, where only by dying do we live, lead us onto the path of true discipleship?