Who Is Your King?
2022년 4월 10일Who Is Your King?
< Palm Sunday Of The Passion Of The Lord >
Holy Week starts with a solemn commemoration of the Lord Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. While riding on a donkey, Jesus was greeted by people throwing their cloaks over the road, waving palm branches, and shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Worried that such an outburst would attract unwanted attention from their Roman rulers, the Pharisees were scandalized and told Jesus to tell his followers to cool it. Jesus responded, “If these are quiet, the very stones will cry out.” This means, the lifeless stones recognize he is the Messiah, so why don’t they?
On Thursday, while celebrating Passover, Jesus will institute the Eucharist as his living memorial. According to John’s gospel, on that night Jesus will rise from the table and wash his disciples’ feet, commanding us to do the same for one another. On Friday Jesus will be arrested, tortured, and condemned to death by crucifixion as an enemy of the state. The sign above his head would bear the accusation: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. (The I.N.R.I. on the crucifix is the Latin abbreviation “Iesus Nazarenes Rex Iudaeorum.) At his trial, Pontius Pilate asked the religious leaders if he should crucify their king, to which they replied, “We have no king but Caesar!” Throughout Holy Week, the different ceremonies in different ways will ask us: who is your king? Who is your Savior? Who is your Lord? And who is your God? You must answer, not just with your words, but with your life.