Sacrifice of Praise

There is a legend about an ancient village in Spain. The villagers learned that the king would pay a visit. In a thousand years, a king had never come to that village. Excitement grew. "We must throw a big celebration!" The villagers all agreed. But, it was a poor village, and there weren’t many resources. Someone came up with a classic idea. Since many of the villagers made their own wines, the idea was for everyone in the village to bring a large cup of their choice wine to the town square. They said, “We’ll pour it into a large vat and offer it to the king for his pleasure! When the king draws wine to drink, it will be the very best he’s ever tasted!”

The day before the king’s arrival, hundreds of people lined up to make their offering to the honoured guest. They climbed a small stairway, and poured their gift through a small opening at the top. Finally, the vat was full! The King arrived, was escorted to the square, given a silver cup and was told to draw some wine, which represented the best the villagers had. He placed the cup under the spigot, turned the handle, and then drank the wine, but it was nothing more than water. You see, every villager reasoned, "I’ll withhold my best wine and substitute water. What with so many cups of wine in the vat, the king will never know the difference!" The problem was, everyone thought the same thing, and the king was greatly dishonoured.

Palm Sunday is all about a Christian tradition developed to celebrate the entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem. It uses an image of great honour and celebrates Jesus as the King of Kings. It is a time when as the people did on that we give the very best we have – for the people there on that day it was the gift of praise. This day marks the beginning of the journey to the end of Jesus’ earthly life. It marks the first day in what was to be his last week of life. At the weeks end Jesus would be taken to a cross on the Friday morning, into a tomb on Friday night and all day Saturday, then ultimately result in him being raised to life again on the Sunday morning.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem that Passover, the greatest of all the Jewish feasts when people from all over Israel made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate God’s mighty work of freeing the Jews from Egyptian bondage during the days of Moses. Jesus, already having travelled and taught and performed miracles over the past three years was making what would turn out to be his last trip to this Holy City. He knew what would happen there…how he would be treated…how he would die. But Jesus living a fully human existence had chosen to take the journey no matter what the reaction of those in power would have to his message.  

A crowd of people, probably from the group who had journeyed with him and his home region of Galilee, gather and shout Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. By Jesus’ time, Hosanna had become a common shout of Jewish praise to God. Hosanna literally meant to save – To say Hosanna was to praise. It may have seemed something like our version of rolling out the red carpet. What a scene that must have been. The Pharisees told Jesus he ought to rebuke his disciples. But Jesus told them, God deserves praise. And if people won’t do it, his Creation will continue to cry out. 

As of Jesus we are to praise and to praise means to pay Jesus a compliment - put in a good word for Him, say good things about Him and what He’s done. So we need to ask ourselves this key question: If Jesus came riding down your street, what would you, lay down before Him? Is there is anything standing in the way of my praise. We might say, “Well, by nature, I’m just not a very expressive person. When we don’t engage praise when we have the opportunity, and shrug it off as temperament, or just being reserved, we’re kidding ourselves. It’s tough to praise when you have doubts. I know this is a tough one. If Jesus came riding down your street, and something was standing in the way of your ability praise, would you at least be willing to consider laying it down?

 It could even be; Possessions, Sin, Sadness/Burdens/Worries that stand in your way of praise. Whatever it is, would you be willing to lay it down? You could be reading this today because you know that what Jesus is offering is better than what you have now…and what He is asking is better than the agenda you have set for yourself. That’s why Palm Sunday means something to you. So praise! For the people on Palm Sunday, praising Jesus might have cost them something. That sounds a little bit like a sacrifice. Fitting, isn’t it, for someone who showed us the way to salvation. Jesus showed us the way God calls us to live and through doing so in his life, despite what end there was going to be for him.