Palm Sunday: Who Is This Who Comes?

But Jesus also walked that road as the firstborn of many children, the children of God. He walked that road as the leader of that great parade in which you and I also participate. We follow in His train.

That traditional spiritual captures the meaning of this great personal truth:

Jesus walked this lonesome valley,

He had to walk it by himself,

O, nobody else could walk it for him,

He had to walk it by himself.

We must walk this lonesome valley,

We have to walk it by ourselves,

O, nobody else can walk it for us,

We have to walk it by ourselves.

If we are to be the bearers of Christ's spirit in the world, you and I must also walk that road through the crowds who shout and claim our attention. You and I must pass through the temptations to power, and prestige, and honor. We must continue to walk on toward the fulfillment of the purposes of God. We must walk toward our very own times and places of total commitment, taking up our own crosses of self-giving.

Who is this who comes? In a special manner, it is you and I. Who is this who comes? It is all of us, walking together toward our future with God and for God.

A couple returned to their missionary assignment in India. They left their twelve-year-old son under the care of the grandmother in the United States so that the boy could continue his education. They expected to return shortly. They were no more settled in at their mission station that fall of 1941 than the war began raging, and the parents were separated from their son for eight long years.

The parents finally arrived on the West Coast, and telegraphed their twenty-year-old son, now a student in college. They told him of their pending arrival and asked him to meet them at the train station.

It was almost dark when the train finally pulled into the station. The missionary couple were the only ones to leave the train at that station. The son could hardly see them in the evening haze, and it was dusky enough that the parents could not see their son well either. They embraced in the semi-darkness.

Joining hands, the three walked toward the station where there was more light. With tears streaming down her face, the mother looked and looked into the face of her son. Then she exclaimed, "Arnie, our boy's gone and looked like you. He looks just like you."1

Palm Sunday challenges all of us to the fulfillment of the purposes of God. Palm Sunday calls us to a life with Christ. Palm Sunday challenges us to complete that journey with our Lord which leads us to full commitment and discipleship in His ways.

What a glory awaits us! What a future is before us when we move from the side of the road, from being spectators, to following after Him! Perhaps the most stunning shout to us from those who remain at the side of the road will be, "Why, those people have gone and looked like Jesus! Those people look just like Jesus!"

Who Is This Who Comes?

It is Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet from Galilee.

It is Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Could it not also be, must it not also be, you and I? Must it not also be each of us on the way to a life that makes us like Him?

1. From a sermon by Donald Shelby, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Santa Monica, California, published privately.