Holy Week: Monday
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, ‘The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.’”
Psalm 92:12-15
Certainly, during this week leading up to Easter, many of us are following closely in the footsteps of our Savior. Yesterday we remembered Palm Sunday—the day Jesus entered Jerusalem. And I can see myself back there on those dusty streets waving palm branches, shouting hosannas, and cheering for Jesus. Can’t you?
More than any other time of the year, it is this time of preparing for Easter when I hear Jesus saying to me, “Joni, follow me.” Yet while it’s easy to follow Jesus in times of celebration, like on Palm Sunday, it’s much more difficult to follow him to the cross.
No, we don’t want to follow Jesus quite that seriously. Oh, we’re all for the heroics—the sentiment, the intimacy, the adventure, and the romance of following the greatest man who ever walked the earth. We love the joy of Palm Sunday.
But in real life, Jesus asks us—he beckons us—to take up our cross and follow him beyond Palm Sunday into a self-denying, suffering life. When Jesus says, “Follow me,” it’s to a place of painful sacrifice.
Are you willing?… wiling to embrace the joy of Palm Sunday and follow Jesus today and through every day of this upcoming Holy Week? Let’s link arms, join our prayers, and follow him together.
Joni Eareckson Tada’s 7-Part Holy Week Devotional
Download our Holy Week guide and prepare your heart for Easter.
