Transcript
Speaker: The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Christianity has become known for judgy people, strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members -only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible.
Speaker: Yet here I am hosting a podcast about faith. The Normal Goes Along Way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation.
Speaker: you're doing something a little different on the podcast for the next eight days. I'm Jill Devine, the host of Normal Goes a Long Way, and I have asked Laura Fleetwood to provide us with a reflection of sorts and a prayer
Speaker: for each day leading up to Easter. These reflections are fairly short, but they give you a glimpse inside what Jesus was thinking and feeling and what was going on around him leading up to his crucifixion and then what happened ultimately on Easter Sunday.
Speaker: Thank you for joining me for these short Holy Week reflections where we follow along with Jesus as he walks his final days on earth and as he enters into the journey toward the cross.
Speaker: On this day, Jesus enters Jerusalem and is welcomed as a king. As I think about what he must have been feeling and seeing, I imagine the people lined up on the roads. I imagine him riding on the donkey.
Speaker: He wasn't a fancy king, he didn't have splendid robes or jewels or a crown. And yet these people had heard stories about him. They knew there was something different about this man, Jesus.
Speaker: And they welcomed him as a sort of king with expectation about what he could do to deliver them from their suffering. But as Jesus rode that donkey that day and he saw the crowds waving their palm branches and putting their robes and their clothes on the ground for him to walk over.
Speaker: He knew what he was riding toward. He knew that this warm welcome would not last. He had already predicted his death and resurrection.
Speaker: So there was no doubt in his mind, even as I imagine he smiled and waved and greeted the children, there was no doubt as to what the end result of this journey into Jerusalem would be. And I can't help think to myself, how would I have responded?
Speaker: How would I have reacted to see these people that I knew were going to turn on me in just a few short days? These people who welcomed me with hope, with eagerness, these people that I love and yet I know are going to eventually watch my death.
Speaker: Palm Sunday is the beginning. It's the beginning of our journey with Jesus toward the cross and ultimately the empty tomb on Easter. And I invite you for every day of this week to join me in thinking through Jesus's emotions.
Speaker: on every day through every experience, because I think we often focus on Jesus as being fully God, who he was. He was fully God. He was fully divine. And yet he was fully human, fully human with human emotions.
Speaker: with human physical sensations. He experienced fear. He experienced love. He experienced anxiety. And we're going to see all of these emotions show up as he makes his journey toward the cross. And I don't want us to miss any of the moments.
Speaker: Heavenly Father, as we journey with Jesus this week, I pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts to this walk that he traveled for us. He did not do it for himself, for he would have chosen another way. He did it for us so that we could have life to the full, even though he would ultimately die.
Speaker: He smiled and waved, heading into Jerusalem, knowing that our sins would betray Him. And yet He made the journey anyway. Lord, let us not miss a moment of His love for us.
Speaker: and let our hearts be expectant, even as we travel with Him through the pain and the betrayal to the ultimate gift that He would give on Easter morning. Amen.
