Those who followed Jesus into Jerusalem had been with him for some time.
They knew what might happen but their hopeful hearts grasped onto the fact that Jesus asked for a donkey that had never been ridden. Only a king rides a donkey that never had been ridden.
Perhaps the ever-wondering followers of Jesus felt a burst of hope that this passive, loving prophet of prophets
would suddenly change and become a powerful king who would overthrow the Roman oppression and bind up those who were against this person who had transformed thousands of Jewish lives.
Hope rose high as throngs of people ran before Jesus and laid their cloaks at the feet of the donkey and waved palm branches as
Jesus entered through the Jerusalem gate.
Perhaps they remembered the power of God working through Moses and Aaron at the first passover.
Perhaps this present passover would reveal the power of God turning the world up-side-down so that the Jews were on top instead of on the bottom of the heap of good fortune.
The last of the plagues when the angel of death passed over the homes of the Hebrew people who had sacrificed an unblemished lamb and painted the shed blood of the lamb on the posts and lintels of their doorways.
God sent one man, Moses, to free the hebrew slaves from Egyptian oppression.
Moses only had Aaron and Marion to help him and look what happened.
The first born of the hebrew males survived the angel of death passing over Egypt and almost a million people fled Egypt in the Exodus.
The powerful acts of God had been celebrated from that first passover to this one which Jesus was planning to celebrate in Jerusalem, as was required for devout Jews.
If Jesus did not sneak in, if he not only entered through the main gate but entered as a king would enter, for all to see and hail, Jesus must know something big was going to happen.
Trust, hope, assurance, a festive spirit embraced the mob.
So far so good.
The Romans did not seem bothered by this
maze of marvelous joy.
And so hope rose.
People went their way.
They knew good things would happen during this Passover feast.
Their salvation experience centuries earlier freed them from bondage.
Perhaps this would be another salvation experience . . . where new freedom would unbind the rigid laws and expectations the leaders had laid on the Jewish people.
Jesus could overcome the emperor and Roman soldiers in the same way Moses and Aaron had done so long ago.
So, with joy, the disciples found a place just for Jesus and the twelve.
They gathered together for the Passover feast.
Joy, hope and light conversation slowly crept into a solemn time of listening to their Lord and being surprised by his deep love for the ones who had spent three years with him.
The washing of feet by one whose feet should be washed, the words of wisdom that seemed too lofty to understand, the questions that met the stone heart of the deceiver in their midst.
Hope turned to conviction as Judas stormed out into the black night.
The Passover feast that usually lasts many hours became a time of instruction and prayer in the garden.
Wait, watch, stay awake.
Too much wine, so tired, sleep overtook the the disciples as Jesus prays hard, sweating drops of blood.
Hope dwindles as the few closest to Jesus see his pain and hear his agonizing words to the Father.
When is Jesus going to turn the world up-side-down?
When is he going to free those enslaved by a government that denies the Jewish people so much freedom?
And then hope is dashed when Jesus is arrested and tossed from one leader to the next and moved about all night and mocked and scorned and then . . .
Hope is smothered when this sinless man is condemned to the most wretched of deaths, death on the Cross.
The worst part is seeing the disciples flee, implode and deny
their bond with Jesus.
The betrayal may have been the most hopeless moment for Jesus.
Did he spend three years mentoring these leaders for nothing?
Jesus’ hope is in the Father.
Through the Father, all that is . . . should. . be. . . as. . . it. . . is . . . Prophecy must be fulfilled.
Each phrase of scripture the hebrew people knew well was being fulfilled as Jesus was flogged and led to his death.
And Hope bloomed for those left behind when Jesus breathed, “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
As Jesus hung on the cross, slowly dying, hope rose from the abyss as the man hanging next to him asked if he could enter paradise. “Jesus, remember me, when You come into Your Kingdom.”
Hope breaths life into another who is dying.
Hope died on the cross so that others might see, feel, know, understand . . . the hope that was and is and is to come.
All is dark … silent . . . empty.
But hope never fails.
God so loved the world that He gave us his only Son to die on the Cross.
Any and all who have a swirl of faith and can believe in God’s Son will not only have eternal life but will dance in everlasting hope by faithfully believing in the love of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen
