Have you ever noticed on the Sunday before Easter that some of the
boys and girls wear in their coats a cross made out of strips of
palm-leaves? It always seemed strange to me that the palm-leaf of joy
should be turned into the cross of tears, but that was just what
happened one day in Jerusalem. Jesus was to enter the city as a King.
The people were very glad because they thought that he would deliver
them from the Roman rule, which was very cruel and hard for them to
bear. They were all very much excited at the thought of seeing Jesus,
for they had heard so many wonderful things about him. They thought
he was coming to do wonderful things for them also, so they flocked
around the gates of the city to welcome him when he came. They all
sent forth great shouts of welcome, and the children stripped the
beautiful big leaves from the palm-tree and made a pathway of them
for Jesus, and the children sang and shouted their praises. It was
the first junior choir we ever read about in the Bible, a choir of
boys and girls praising Jesus.
Secure, if possible, a long green leaf which you can call a
palm-leaf, or make one out of green paper, and pin it on the
blackboard. Teach them the Hosanna cry which the children used to
welcome Jesus. After this is done, say: "But in a few hours a great
change came over the people, and they no longer showed their joy, but
were silent, then angry.
"He did not cast out the Roman governor. He did not end the wicked
rule of the government. They did not understand that his kingdom was
to come first into the hearts of men. They could not grasp this
truth. They wanted a new law. Jesus had come to give them a new life,
and they must patiently wait God's time. So their hearts grew cold,
and then they grew angry. They listened to evil men who wanted to get
rid of Jesus, and so it came to pass in a few days the crowd rushed
into Pilate's hall and cried 'Crucify him,' and went to Calvary, and
with hard hearts saw him die."
This is how a palm-leaf was turned into a cross. Here add a shorter
piece of leaf and make the cross. Some of us are doing the same thing
today. We say with glad words we will follow Jesus. We sing with glad
strains "O Happy Day that Fixed My Choice!" We join his holy church
and say we will live for him forevermore. Then, soon after this glad
hosanna, when Mother asks us to do things we do not want to do we
answer back in bad temper and ugly words, and often refuse to obey at
all. Sometimes in the game we don't play straight, and often cheat a
little in our examples. Then we have stopped our hosannas, and Jesus
is sad because he sees us doing wrong and making a cross out of the
palm-leaf, for when we act in that sinful way we are crucifying
Christ the second time.
Sometimes there are older people who once lived happy Christian
lives, worked in the church, gave in their glad testimony, and lived
the glad game of the Christian life; they were waving palm-branches,
and their life shouted "Hosanna!" Then they grew cold and lost their
testimony. They slipped back into the old path of sin. They did not
go to God's house any more. They made close friends of the world.
Hosannas languished on their tongues, and they lived without God;
their palm-branches had been turned into crosses. They had crucified
Christ afresh, put him to open shame in the eyes of the world. That
is another way in which the palm-leaf is turned into a cross. Keep
your palm-leaves for Jesus, always living a consistent life, and
never let the world grip you, and your palm-leaf will not turn into a
cross, but into a crown.
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