Jesus’ entry is really a mockery of the way powerful emperors and kings did things. They would take over a whole city, requisition the best horses and chariot for the spectacle, insist on the best food and the best wine as they were received by the local leaders. All this at the locals’ expense, whether they wished that or not.

Jesus requisitioned one donkey and its baby, locals cut down a few palm branches, and the city leaders and priests kept far away. They weren’t going to honour the one the crowds named ‘The prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’ The watching Roman soldiers, on constant high alert during the crowded Passover Festival, saw nothing to make them take action.

Prophets speak truth into situations. When situations need to change, or vital things are being ignored by those in power, prophets can pay a high personal cost. For Jesus, the cost was his very life, given up on the cross, as a sacrifice to take away the sin of the world.

The truth is that there is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There is nothing you can do, or have done  to make God love you less. Trust that love. Hold it joyfully. Let it be the foundation of your life. Let that love hold and guide you this week.