Growing up in a Jewish home, I have indelible memories of our yearly Passover celebration—the intense preparations of removing all leaven, cleaning, shopping, and cooking the special meal, followed by the long Seder in Hebrew. Even back then, as ceremony and song recounted Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt, God was preparing my heart to meet Jesus, the True Passover Lamb.
Each Lenten season has become a time of preparation for me—cleansing my heart from the leaven of sin and journeying with Jesus towards Jerusalem as He prepares for His Passover and the culmination of His Father’s eternal plan of salvation. As I prayerfully read today’s Scriptures for Palm Sunday, I imagine myself as one of the disciples who eagerly follows the Master’s instructions to find Him a colt and a place to celebrate the Passover.
Yes, I do want to be an obedient, helpful disciple! Yet I also realize that even after all my time spent with Jesus, like His first disciples, I need more of His Spirit to comprehend His mission and remain faithful.
I imagine myself in the house of Simon the leper, watching as a nameless woman breaks open a costly alabaster jar of perfumed oil, and prepares Jesus’ body for burial. Like her, I want my life to be characterized by an unrestrained devotion to Jesus and tender compassion to care for the Body of Christ.
Finally, I join Jesus in Jerusalem and enter the unfolding love story that God has prepared from the beginning and revealed in the fullness of time. Through Mary, He prepared a body, emptying Himself and taking on our human likeness. His perfect obedience to the Father’s will prepared Him to be the Lamb of God Who takes away our sins, and as our great High Priest, He made a way for us to enter the Holy of Holies.
Today, as we cry Hosanna, our King prepares a Heavenly home for us.
He made a way for us. // Debra Herbeck Click to tweet
Walk your way through today's Gospel with your spiritual imagination and pause where you feel the Holy Spirit wants you to just listen.
LOVING GOD, LOVING OTHERS
A NEW WORKSHOP
COME BACK TO FIRST LOVE
