In this culmination of Lent, we enter into Holy Week and we begin with Palm Sunday. For us and many sister congregations, we will celebrate with joy and process into our sanctuary as a way to remember the parade of acclaim that accompanied Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Yet, we also cannot forget (and neither could Jesus) that He was coming into this city one last time in His life. He was about to experience the worst that humanity could do. Many churches also see this day as Passion Sunday; as the first footsteps on the harrowing journey to the cross. As we follow the Narrative Lectionary’s prescribed journey through scripture, Jesus’ trial is finished in John 19. He has been handed over to be crucified, and the inscription on His cross reads “King of the Jews”. Judea’s ruler Pilate has ordered that to be so, much to the chagrin of the religious leaders who consider this blasphemy. Yet we believe it to be true. How does the horror of the cross show who Jesus really is? How do our own struggles and suffering show who we really are? Don’t skip ahead too quickly to Easter. There is something for us right here in this hard and Holy Week.