A wedding reception makes for a great party! The beauty of the ceremony creates energy as friends and family mingle, share stories, and make lasting memories. I do love wedding cake, and I bet you do as well. I must admit, my family typically sits back and watches others on the dance floor, and it can be very entertaining.
At a recent wedding I attended, the wedding party was caught up in the energy and excitement of the music and just danced away, paying little attention to the lyrics they were dancing to. This particular song is a popular dance party tune that actually sings about separation and divorce. Isn’t that ironic that at a wedding, you’d be dancing to a song about divorce? You could quickly google and find a number of popular dance songs that have sad lyrics.
Reflecting on this common occurrence, I began to make a connection to Palm Sunday. This past week we studied John 12:12-19 and were challenged to reshape our approach to Holy Week with a proper perspective on who Jesus is and what He came to do.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem the week before His crucifixion, the crowds pressed in and waved branches while shouting, “Hosanna”! Thousands upon thousands were in Jerusalem for Passover and joined the mob. His fame had grown exponentially, given the word had spread of Him raising Lazarus from the dead recently.
The sadness of this infamous day is that the crowds were celebrating the wrong thing. They were looking for a new king who could lead the rebellion of Rome and finally set the nation free. We see in a few short days that this crowd turns on Jesus and yells crucify Him when they see Him a prisoner of the very power they’d hoped He would free them from.
After His entry, the Bible tells us that Jesus went to a high place and overlooked Jerusalem to weep over their ignorance. He didn’t come to save Israel from Rome. He came to save us all from sin and death.
This is what we celebrate. Be on guard to be swept into the crowd without an awareness of what we are actually celebrating. This is way more important than a wedding dance song. We need to be aware of who Jesus is and why He came. This may help us maintain focus on this Holy Week as we consider the impact of Good Friday and the joy of Resurrection Day.