Palm Sunday

Following Jesus is an extraordinary gift, and it can be costly and demanding.  As we draw near to Christ, become members of his body, and follow him more closely we become more generous, loving, and free.  In following Jesus, we become a people who are salt and light, a foretaste of the Kingdom of heaven on earth, the very hope of the world.  On Sunday we begin our Holy Week journey focusing our attention on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  The celebratory scene of Jesus riding into the city with crowds waving palm branches to honor him is in stark contrast to where the week ends when the once jubilant crowds cry for blood.  Palm Sunday is a day to consider our place in the crowd and what it means for us to follow, not merely to admire or appreciate Jesus, but to answer the call to take up the cross and follow, knowing that to follow someone is to become more like them.