Jesus: fully God and fully man

 New Testament reading: Luke 19:28-40

   Today is Palm Sunday when we reflect on Jesus' ride through the crowd into Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover and the days leading to his death. Jesus' arrival was filled with excitement and praise from the crowd. However, the crowd's temperament will change over the next few days. A crowd will gather in just a few days and call for Jesus' execution.

   Reverend Dr. Tony Campolo, the former spiritual advisor to President Bill Clinton, once said, "Jesus really did abandon power when he lived among us. He wasn't simply holding back and pretending to possess our physical limitations; He truly was one of us." 

   Many Christians, however, react negatively to this fact and seek to suppress Jesus' humanity. "They want to think of Jesus as a God who disguised himself as an ordinary man but, at will, could step into a phone booth, rip off his robes, and show us who he really was, a first-century Superman." 

   Palm Sunday is a time to remember Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, humbling himself by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey not to overtake the city but that through Christ, by the grace of God and power of the Holy Spirit, the city, and the world, might be saved.

   Something to ponder on the Lord's day!