Palm Sunday – The Parade Before the Pain

Dr. Nick’s Reflections: Palm Sunday – The Parade Before the Pain

There’s something hauntingly beautiful about Palm Sunday. On the surface, it reads like a celebration. People are waving palm branches, shouting “Hosanna!” and cheering as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. It looks like triumph. It sounds like victory. It feels like the start of something big.

And it is—but not in the way the crowd expected.

Palm Sunday isn’t just a festive beginning to Holy Week. It’s the foreshadowing of heartbreak. Of sacrifice. Of a Savior stepping fully into the pain that lies ahead. It’s the calm before the storm… and the storm before the cross.

What strikes me most is that Jesus knew. He knew the cheers wouldn’t last. He knew the same crowd shouting his praise on Sunday would, by Friday, be shouting for his death. He knew Judas would betray him, Peter would deny him, and the disciples would scatter in fear. He knew the thorns were coming, the lashes, the cross, the tomb.

And still… he rode in.

Not because he had something to prove, but because he had something to fulfill. Us.

He rode in because love demanded it. Not a soft, sentimental kind of love—but a love that endures betrayal, absorbs injustice, and carries the weight of a world that so often doesn’t love back.

And when I sit with that, I can’t help but ask myself some hard questions.

How often do I praise God when things are good, but grow silent when they’re not?

How many times have I shouted “Hosanna” in one breath and lived in denial the next?

How often do I wave my palms on Sunday and walk away by Thursday when things get hard?

We don’t like to admit it, but we’ve all had moments of turning away. Of doubt. Of fear. Of choosing convenience over commitment. Palm Sunday is a mirror—a reflection of both the joy and the contradiction in our own faith. It reminds us that Jesus didn’t ride in for a perfect people. He rode in for us—in all our brokenness, our inconsistency, our humanity.

He rode in for the betrayers, the doubters, the deniers.

He rode in for the hurting, the angry, the confused.

He rode in for the forgotten, the overlooked, the sinners.

He rode in for you. For me. For all of us.

And maybe that’s the most powerful truth of all.

Palm Sunday isn’t just about the procession. It’s about the decision.

Jesus chose us, knowing what it would cost him.

He loved us, knowing full well we might not always love him back.

So this week, I’m choosing to walk through the story with open eyes and an open heart. To remember that the Hosanna on our lips should also live in our actions. To be the kind of follower who doesn’t just celebrate when it’s easy, but who stays present when it’s hard.

Because faith isn’t proven by how loud we cheer at the parade.

It’s proven by how closely we follow when the road leads to the cross.

And thankfully, Jesus didn’t just ride in to hear the crowd.

He rode in to carry the weight of the world—including yours and mine.

That’s not just love.

That’s grace.

That’s Palm Sunday.