Are you noticing Jesus more each day as we collectively move nearer to Easter? If you are like me life is entirely too busy and fast-paced. So as I ask myself I ask you too,
“how might you simplify and slow down so you can ponder the Lamb of God?”
Palm Sunday will be here in two weeks; the official start of Holy Week, the last week of Jesus’ earthly life. It’s a perfect time to plan for pauses in your day, in the busyness of family life, to think more about Jesus.
Throughout the centuries Christians have set aside time during this Holy Week to remember Jesus’ journey to the cross and to worship Him for His sacrifice for us motivated by unfathomable love.
Do you have a plan for Holy Week?
A simple reading plan can guide your personal thinking, your family’s collective anticipation, as you remember His words during this week. Our Holy Week Advent cards (formerly titled Behold the Lamb) can guide you and your family to grow in appreciation for this unfathomable gift.
I encourage you to order a set for your family to use this year and every year during Holy Week. They are inexpensive yet beautifully designed. Used with our free DIY candle wraps and templates, you can create an engaging daily 5-minute experience for your family, helping them grow in knowledge and wonder at the magnificence of Christ’s act of love for us. And they make an easy gift to send to family and friends who live too far away to join you on Easter Sunday. (If you already own our Easter Advent Banner and Calendar, the same content is found in the last 8 days of the calendar.)
If for some reason you can’t buy a set, you can read this short story, taken from the original content I wrote for Behold the Lamb.
Behold the Lamb…
{Read this with your family on Palm Sunday for a more meaningful discussion about who Messiah is and what His arrival on this day means .}
One day Jesus met a woman at a water well, “The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he’” (John 4:25-26).
Very plainly, Jesus said to this woman, “I am Messiah.” Interestingly, He did not make this proclamation to a large congregation, or to His disciples, but to this one lonely woman, a woman with a history of bad choices and unhealthy relationships.
Do you know what Messiah means? (Answer: It means Savior, the one who would take away our sin. When John the Baptist introduced Jesus, he called Him, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29.)
In Jesus’ day, there were two ways a king entered a city. If he was going to war, he rode in the city gates on his chariot with his soldiers all around him. But if he was coming to a city in peace, he rode in on a donkey.
The prophet Zechariah wrote, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey…” (Zechariah 9:9 NASB).
The Lamb of God arrived on Palm Sunday riding on the donkey. The people gathered around Jesus as He entered Jerusalem. They saw Him as their long-awaited king. But He was not coming to Jerusalem to declare His sovereignty but to die as their sacrifice. They thought the Messiah would rule. They didn’t see or hear the prophets’ words about Messiah becoming their sacrifice for sin.
It was the tenth day of the month of Nisan, the day prescribed by Jewish law on which, “every man shall take a lamb…for a household…” and “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old” (Exodus 12:3, 5). As Jesus rode into the city, the sacrificial lambs were also being led into the city to be purchased by each family in preparation for the Passover.
The significance was enormous, but no one noticed.
Will you take the time to notice Jesus this week?
Admittedly Christians are at a disadvantage in celebrating Easter because schools and businesses usually don’t close like they do for Christmas. All our efforts to prepare and make Easter special have to be sandwiched in between regular life duties and responsibilities. The entire world celebrates Christmas but only Christians make much of Easter.
That’s why your decision to elevate Easter is so important! It’s an annual opportunity to be used by God to influence your children and others to grow in their faith. What a privilege!
As Easter approaches, take the time to teach your family about the God who came and then rode into Jerusalem as our Lamb of God. Set aside time as a family each day during Holy Week to learn together about Jesus the Messiah. Praying together will get you started in the right direction, even something as simple as, “Lord, help us to focus on You this week so that we can be ready to celebrate the resurrection of the Savior.”
