Who is Jesus to you? Palm Sunday Reflection

On Sunday morning, the Yorkshire Divisional Youth Chorus led the meeting at Castleford Salvation Army. I always feel incredibly privileged to lead this amazing group of young people, and they did a brilliant job. As we enter Holy Week, I thought it would be helpful to take a little time to reflect on what we shared with the congregation at Castleford.

Palm Sunday is a strange kind of celebration.

On the surface, everything appears as it should be.

The crowds are loud, the atmosphere is full of expectation, and Jesus is welcomed with praise as he enters Jerusalem.

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“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!

(Luke 19:38)

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The shouts of praise from the crowd are joyful and wholehearted. Yet when we take a moment to sit with the story, there is a sense that something is not quite right.

By the time Jesus enters Jerusalem, he is well-known.

People have seen him, heard him teach, and noticed the way he meets them where they are. They have watched him welcome the outsider, eat with sinners, heal the sick, and even perform miracles.

Through all of this, they have begun to form a picture of who Jesus is.

Their response is genuine as they celebrate and call him king. Yet they are still working out what kind of king he is. They are holding on to their own expectations, hoping for power, for change, and for victory in the way they understand it. Without even realising it, they begin to shape Jesus into the kind of king they are looking for.

Jesus does not meet those expectations.

He enters the city riding on a donkey, not with power or force, but in quiet humility.

Luke then gives us a moment that doesn’t quite sit right amid the celebrations. Jesus looks over the city and weeps.

While the people are praising, he is grieving.

He can see what they cannot yet see.

Even after all they have witnessed, they have not fully recognised him.

Unlike the crowd, Jesus knows where the path into Jerusalem will lead.

This is where the story begins to speak into our own lives. It reminds us that it is possible to know a great deal about Jesus, to follow him, or even worship him, while still growing in our understanding of who he truly is.

Our response can be genuine, yet incomplete.

Palm Sunday holds these two realities together.

There is real praise, but there is also partial understanding.

The crowd responds with joy and expectation, rooted in what they have already seen and experienced, yet they still hold on to their own ideas of who Jesus should be and what he should do.

As we move into Holy Week, the question becomes more personal. It is no longer simply about who Jesus was in the story, but who he is to us.

What have we seen of Jesus in our own lives?

What have we experienced?

What do we know to be true of him?

These are not always easy questions to answer, but they matter.

They take us beyond what we have heard about Jesus and help us to reflect on what we have come to know for ourselves.

It is worth asking whether we are shaping Jesus into who we expect him to be, rather than allowing him to show us who he truly is.

The one who is welcomed with praise on Palm Sunday is the same one who walks the road to the cross.

He is the one who gives his life, forgives us, restores us, and calls us to follow him.

As we journey through Holy Week, may we take time to pause and recognise Jesus more fully, not as we expect him to be, but as he truly is.

Who is Jesus to you?

Kay Moorby