By THE REV. MATTHEW D. RUESCH

Pastor, Our Redeemer

Lutheran Church,

Kingsford

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday, the church’s start to Holy Week, when we customarily hear of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey amid cries of “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” On this day in our church, it’s traditional to sing the hymn “Ride On, Ride On in Majesty” by 19th century Anglican bishop Henry H. Millman. In that hymn, Millman writes, “Ride on, ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die. Bow thy meek head to mortal pain, Then take, O God, thy pow’r and reign.”

There’s such a sharp contrast between the jubilation of a king riding into a city with songs of praises and then–just four days later–being arrested, put through a sham trial, flogged, sentenced to die, and nailed to a cross. But Jesus knows the road He travels when He goes to Jerusalem. He rides “on to die.” That’s why He came. That’s why the Father sent him. This King doesn’t enter Jerusalem to sit on a throne of gold. He enters to hang from the “throne” of the cross.

This was foretold of Jesus all the way back in Genesis 3 when, after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:15, ESV) In crushing the head of the devil, Jesus would be struck himself. It was God’s glory to work through a cross in rescuing humankind from sin.

We do well in this present age to remember that God works through crosses. He brought about the salvation of the world through the cross of the Son. Through suffering. Through death. What are the crosses that you are carrying today? How are you suffering? There’s more than likely something that Satan is trying to use to drive a wedge between you and God. Maybe financial troubles have you thinking that God’s love isn’t there. Perhaps worries over a loved one’s health make you think that God’s absent.

Remember: Our God is the God of crosses. He works through pain and suffering. He brought about salvation through a cross. And He uses every cross that you bear as a disciple to point you to the cross of the Son.

In this season where our crosses may seem heavier than normal, look at the cross of the Son who “rides on, rides on to die.” There you see the love of your Father for you. There you see the One through whom God takes “pow’r and reign” over sin and death!