Palm Sunday : First Hail Him... Then Nail Him

The Sunday before Easter is celebrated as Palm Sunday. The day when The Lord entered Jerusalem city with a lot of fanfare. Yes, it looked like the end which the apostles were dreaming about . They must have thought, it's just about to happen....the battle for which they had, oh so incorrectly , thought the Lord  had come. Peter must have thought "This is it. time to use my sword to its best use at last." It is probable, they must have thought it is the time take over of Jerusalem by force... a coup d'etat perhaps. How glorious, how macho...how fitting an end to the 3year long preparation for the great climax. The people of Jerusalem were rejoicing at the triumphant entry of the man who had by his radical teachings on religion & faith and not to mention by the many miracles of healing , had won their hearts. The Lord, as he entered the city, was welcomed by people with palm leaves laid out on His way. Palm leaves symbolised victory and goodness, another sign that people actually thought that the Lord would now lead them to freedom against the tyranny of Roman rule and free the Jews, just like their forefather Moses had brought them into freedom from slavery at the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh about 2000 years earlier. Yes. All they expected was freedom from a form of oppression. Sin!! well,sin had nothing to do with it. They could not have been sinful for sure, after all, they were 'The Jews', the chosen people. Sin had its hold only pagans. Right?.....How self righteous, shallow and low was their expectation. All of this, just as the whole plan of salvation, was already prophesied by a prophet, in this case, Prophet Zechariah. It seemed that people did not really take note of these prophesies much until after the resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday.

And so the procession went on, singing "Hosanna to the Most High" , "Blessed is the one who come in the Lord" and "Hail Him, hail Him". The Lord alone knew what twists in the plot were in store for them in the coming days and knowing very well that the same crowd which were exalting Him now by singing "Hail Him, hail him" would be shouting "Nail Him, Nail Him" in just a matter of few days. He knew what they were thinking but He knew He had a job to do, a task to finish  and  he moved on without complaining , going through the various stages of the plan of salvation which His Father had written for the whole world. 

How fickle crowds can be. In contemporary world you often see the likes of artists and sportsmen going through this phase of being lifted up high as demi gods one day and another day they are brought down to earth, leaving them thinking what did they do so wrong as to receive that kind of treatment. Yes, that's how fickle crowds can be. Sure, times may have changed since roman empire of the yore but crowds, they remain exactly the same.......

And need I state the obvious that I am also a part of the same fickle crowd.

To be contd.....more on the fickle crowd.