Article as published in the Central Fife Times on 5 April 2017
This coming Sunday is special. On Palm Sunday, the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem for the last time. As He rode upon a donkey the crowd shouted “Hosannah” (Save now!) and children tore down branches of palm trees and threw them before Him to provide a pavement for their King, the Messiah. A few days later when the religious leaders felt their power threatened, they manipulated the same crowd to shout “Crucify Him”. After a mock trial where even Pilate the Roman Governor said he ‘could find no fault in Him’, they took Him outside the city of Jerusalem and nailed the Son of God to a cross. On the cross, as they gambled for His clothes and abused the Saviour, He prayed loudly and with compassion, “Father forgive them”. These incredible events would remind us of human fickleness and how affected we are by popularity, and not truth or evidence. It also reinforces the dire consequences of religious hatred, so prevalent today. More fundamentally, however, it would show how Jesus Christ came into the world to bring love and forgiveness to those that had broken His commandments and rejected Him. On the cross He took upon Himself the sins of the whole human race, and His death and resurrection is God’s great plan of salvation for everyone. It was foretold in the Bible 1000 years before Palm Sunday happened. That was why His name was called Jesus – ‘for He shall save his people from their sins’. Out of the darkness of those days comes the light of the divine plan to us today, giving joy, hope, and forgiveness to all who are willing to repent of sin and trust Him as Saviour and Lord.