One Week to Live

Today is Palm Sunday. I remember from childhood the palm branches that adorned the sanctuary to signify the importance of Jesus' triumphal entry in our faith's historical record.


I know the story well ~ go get the donkey, tell the owner The Master has need of it, and the people of Jerusalem line the road to get a glimpse of Jesus as he enters Jerusalem. Pastors across the nation will use today to emphasize our response to Jesus.

This year as I think about Holy Week, I find my thoughts on Jesus' response to the fact that he has only one week to live. As Jesus sends his disciples to get the colt, he has to know he has one week to live. What is on his Bucket List as he mounts that donkey and enters the city of David?

The popular movie The Bucket List entices us to think how we can redeem the last few days, weeks or months of our lives, if we knew when we would die. Following the lead from the movie, people have created extensive inventories as they envision projects to accomplish, places to see and people to meet, before they breathe their last breath.

This year as I read the accounts in The Gospels of this final week in Jesus' life on earth, I am struck by the fact that nothing he chooses to do that week has anything to do with his wants and desires. He does not travel to far off places. He does not seek out old friends to hang with. Rather, he moves confidently toward the cross, hoping to redeem the future for eternity as he teaches the crowds about the coming Kingdom and presses the religious leaders to recognize the Father who sent him.

In The Bucket List, Carter Chambers expresses the transformation that has taken place in the life of Edward Cole. Both men spent their short time left on earth accomplishing many things, traveling to places, and meeting with people. As the camera focuses on the mountain where Edward is buried, Carter says,

I know that when he died,

his eyes were closed and his heart was open.

Scripture records as it pans to the mount called Golgotha, that up to the very point of his death, Jesus' eyes were open to God's purposes AND his heart was open to increasing the Kingdom for eternity.

I am challenged anew by this Holy Week to not only respond to Jesus but respond like Jesus. I want to spend however many days, weeks, months or years I have left, glorifying God and peopling the Kingdom.