Palm Sunday: Humility and Salvation
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Isa 50:4-9; Luke 19:38)
In challenging times as these, Palm Sunday and the Passion Week give us an opportunity to reflect on many subjects: Determination, Servant Leadership, Understanding the Times, Suffering for a Cause, and Humility among others. I will take time to share reflections on each of these in this week, starting here with humility – a delicate subject, especially in our post-modern times when the world has greatly advanced in knowledge and feelings and rights matter much more than ever before. Pride is such a rampant sin in our generation: from nations competing for global domination, to intellectuals demanding scientific proof for the resurrection before they can believe, to wrangling husband and wife, even to children who stand arrogant with such a sense entitlement – pride is the vice to fight.
Humility does not mean weakness or humiliation. The COVID-19 pandemic brings us important illustrations: when the mighty yet troubled US receives help from Russia, or when the powerful Cabinet Minister accepts to be quarantined, or when I leave my car at home and ride a bicycle or walk to the food market, that is not weakness. In this matter we may have been forced by the circumstances, but it takes humility to do all these with joy and confidence. Similarly, for King Jesus to ride on a colt, the foal of a donkey was humility that does not make him a feeble king; even accepting to die on the cross in the hands of sinners – the epitome of suffering for a cause – was humility, but it did not botch his mission or extinguish the Kingdom he announced. Weakness or humiliation should never be confused with humility.
In Isaiah 50:4-9, we find a foretaste of the Messiah’s precise humility: His fitness for his prophetic office is expressed; his obedience to his Father, and his patience in sufferings, while performing his priestly office, and his faith and confidence in the Lord are all clear. At the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the events that followed, we find in our Lord Jesus Christ a humility that should challenge and teach us. In our hard work and growth, we should remember that God has both exalted us as the privileged peak of all creation but also shown us our position before one another and before Him. In humility, love one another, do not despise anyone.
Humility before God is most paramount. As he entered Jerusalem, some received him but others rejected him. Those who sang “Blessed is the king who comes in the Name of the Lord” particularly showed their humble acceptance of the good man from Nazareth – the humble king coming in peace. I pray that you will join in this chorus today, receive your King and deepen you faith and allegiance to Him.
God bless you all.