STXWM Blog

Palm Sunday is the start of Western Christianity’s holy week or the week leading up to Resurrection Sunday. I specify Western Christianity because the Orthodox Church and many other Eastern churches celebrate at a different time in the Spring. This didn’t affect me as a native born Texan until I moved to the Middle East, and there was a constant comparison of dates and celebrations with everyone trying to calculate when we were to come together. 

My amazingly talented husband was preaching, in his second language, to a group of new believers on a Palm Sunday a few years ago. For almost every local attending the service, it was their first time as Christians to “enter Jerusalem” with Jesus as their Savior that year. I remember the joy on their faces and the delight when we handed them paper palm leaves to wave and how precious those paper cutouts were held and treasured. Yes, this was the start of their first Easter as followers of Jesus, and we had prayed and planned and practiced so that it would be perfect. 

As my husband shared the history of and biblical references to Palm Sunday with the church, everyone waved their paper palms and smiled and offered “amens”. When he began sharing about the feelings of freedom that swept through the ancient crowds, confusion started to come to ours. A few people began murmuring amongst themselves, and phones and Google Translate were pulled up. My husband pushed through and kept repeating and emphasizing the freedom that we have in Jesus. Finally, a brave soul asked him to clarify, “ Was Jesus riding the freedom, or did he just bring it with him? I can’t find it in scripture.” Riding freedom? Suddenly, the murmurs and confusion made more sense; somewhere, there had been a misunderstanding.

After pausing the sermon and with much back and forth, deep belly laughs rang out from all in the small underground church. You see the Arabic word for freedom and another word are incredibly close. Like, just roll your “r” sound, and it’s a completely different word.. Now, mixed with the tears of joy were tears of laughter. Instead of saying freedom, my sweet husband was saying mermaid. These sweet believers had been imagining a mystic sea creature and their Savior being cheered into one of the oldest cities in the world instead of Jesus and the freedom that a life surrendered to Him brings. 

It takes a heart full of humility to mispronounce a word in front of a group of native speakers, have your entire message laughed at, and then continue preaching. We wanted our new brothers and sisters to have a first Easter that they would never forget, and they definitely got that, just not in the way we were planning. 

And isn’t that exactly how the first Holy Week started? Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling Old Testament prophecy to cheers and joy….only to have just about everyone desert him a few days later? I imagine Jesus hearing the same voices who extolled happily, “Hosanna in the highest!” jeer “Not this man but Barabbas!” and “Away with him! Crucify him!” on the day He gave His life for them and all mankind. 

I’m sure there was great confusion in the crowds that week. Wasn’t this Jesus? Wasn’t He coming to free us? In a few short days, joy led to unmet expectations that turned into confusion that morphed into anger that bled into…Jesus hanging on a cross. 

What we can’t forget is Jesus’ willingness to walk both roads and stand in both crowds. The one who laid down cloaks and praised Him as well as the one who cursed, beat, and marched Him to His death. We couldn’t have Good Friday, Black Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday without first having Palm Sunday.

Even though we know what is coming this weekend, let us stand and cheer as our Savior enters Jerusalem this week. Let our voices ring out loudly and stand audaciously as our King begins the last week of His earthly ministry. Ask yourself, how can I ‘cast my cloak’ before Jesus? What will I shout out for all to hear? Take whatever time you have with Jesus this week and ask Him how you can live out your faith in a way that brings Him glory and then ask Him to embolden you to do it. Even when we pray, plan, and practice-mermaids still tend to sneak up on us, but if we can humbly seek, Jesus will still get the glory.  

MaKenzie V. is a global worker who has faithfully been serving the unreached in the Arab World while growing her family. Almost every moment of the day is spent chasing Jesus and her toddlers- usually with a cup of hot tea or coffee in hand. She enjoys learning languages, deep belly laughs, and connecting with others where God has them.