palm trees in hawai'i

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.”  1 Peter 2:24

On Palm Sunday I was looking at trees in Hawai’i, and specifically the fronds of palm trees that tower above.  Who climbed up these stately trees to get palms by the hundreds to give Jesus a royal welcome, laying branches on the road as the Messiah entered Jerusalem on a donkey’s back?  And as they welcomed him as a conquering king, did they notice the storm clouds gathering, the winds of anger and retaliation building?  In a few short days he would be sharing a last meal and then hours of agonizing prayer with his most loyal followers.  After that he would be seized, tried unjustly and led off to be tortured and killed on a cross, the very trees he created cut down and fashioned into a barbaric executioners’ tool. 

And why?  For you and for me.  That we might see it and weep, knowing that he who was God and perfect godly man rolled into one would suffer and die.  He had committed no crime, but he died so that we who cannot help but live self-centered and even selfish lives would not have to be executed for our own bad behavior, ou own judgmental thoughts, our own crimes of commission and omission.  

He hopes that experiencing the wonder of this unbalanced exchange, we might “die to sin and live to righteousness.  By his wounds you (and I) have been healed!”  (1 Peter 2:24) 

Get ready.  Easter is coming!  Hosanna!

Love, Liz
your Holy Week correspondent in Hawai’i

O God, you know my foolishness…in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon himself our nature, to live the life we cannot live and die the death we would wish not to die, so that we might live for You, sharing in his resurrection forever.      
                                   From the Holy Week Prayers of Grace Pasadena