A Tough Road to Travel

A small child begins his or her life with a mind full of wonderful dreams and expectations for the future. At first those dreams may only be a child’s fantasy. As they mature those dreams turn into realistic goals. Many travel the course of preparation and training to achieve their desired profession. Although the journey is hard and grueling with numerous temptations to give up, they continue onward until they succeed. After the goal has been achieved they are able to look back and say, “It was worth it! Every bump in the road, every pothole, every steep hill and curve, and every detour was worth the effort!”

I guess all of us have had to travel tough roads to achieve our goals. But none of us have endured a journey like that of a man we all know. This man from the time he was a young boy knew his purpose and the goal for his future. His preparation had  begun at least by the time he was 12 years old. Jesus knew that his goal was to take care of the business for which his Father had sent him. Therefore, from the beginning as Jesus set out on that road his eyes were fixed on his goal. From the beginning Jesus’ eyes were focused on the cross. The end of his journey was the cross, and he traveled an extremely tough road to get there. His motivation? It was love for his Father. He was motivated by his uncompromising desire to obey his Father. And his motivation was his love for mankind.

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, one week from Easter. Consider if you will that on that first Palm Sunday, in what is called his triumphal entry, that as Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem he had less than a week before he achieved his goal of dying on the cross for you and me. The Bible says that people lined the street waving palm branches and crying out, “Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” For most of them their expectations of what that really meant was wrong, so in less than a week they were crying out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” But we know why he came. We understand the tough road he traveled to bring salvation to the world. As we worship tomorrow may our shouts be “Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”