This verse from Psalm 118
is a quote from Moses’ victory song in Exodus 15. The Children of Israel had
just escaped what looked to be certain death when God parted the Red Sea,
allowing them to escape Pharaoh’s army.
The words
became favorite praise lifted up to a victorious God who saved His people from danger
and the oppression of slavery. A Psalm that reminded of the past while giving reassurance of the future.
Now, we celebrate Palm Sunday, a worship service that
retells the story of Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem. The people welcomed Him into
their city with songs of praise and the waving of palm branches. They praised
King Jesus as a victor, but the victory He would win on our behalf was still to
come.
Yet, the crowd
was mistaken. These people welcoming Jesus with song saw Him as a savior from
hunger, from grief, from oppression. They saw Him as an earthly king with an
immediate purpose to relieve them from the evil they endured. The mistake and
misunderstanding of the Jerusalem crowd became a prophecy of what God intended to
do for His people. God takes even our weaknesses and uses them to point to His
saving grace.
Jesus’
act of Salvation was for so much more than victory over earthly concerns. Jesus’ goal was not the elimination of
temporary oppression but permanent separation, not of momentary pain but eternal
death. His death and resurrection would not be a victory as humans understand, but His sacrifice
was the only victory we would need.
In these
strange days of sheltering in place, we feel a different kind of oppression. We
must stop ourselves from taking advantage of the freedoms we typically know. We
must do this to promote safety for ourselves, our loved ones, and our
community. We find the need to do ministry in a very different way. All of this
difference carries with it uncertainly, weariness, and fear. We lift our
prayers to God and ask Him if the victory over this virus is ours.
God hears
our cries for help; He knows our worry and feelings of inadequacy. He is eager
to help us to do the work He sets before us, despite its unfamiliarity and our
weakness. We cry to Him in fear living
with the strange burden of quarantine oppression, and God’s response is victory
over sin and death.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
he has become my salvation.
Psalm 118:14
Jesus is our strength.
He knows our needs better than we do. He does not give us the strength for which we ask. Instead He IS our strength. We can put all our burdens on Him and rest.
Jesus is our
song.
His love and
care for us remind us that His victory is so much more than conquering a virus.
He has conquered sin – something with a 100% fatality rate. We can sing in
every situation, because of this victory.
He is our
Salvation.
In the
fullness of time, He will welcome us to a home with no fear, no restrictions,
and no knowledge of social distancing. The Church will be reunited in His presence.
It matters
not where we celebrate Easter. The
victory is ours through Him. That victory is even greater than what we ask for, more
amazing than what we can imagine.
Come, Lord
Jesus.
Amen, amen.
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