Every Palm Sunday, Dad would cut two palms and patiently weave them into the shape of a cross.
Years later, I still carry on this tradition. Patients will often make mention of their display in the exam room. It stirs up conversation.
It’s interesting that I sometimes use outward expressions so that people might know I’m a Christian. It would be more telling if they simply said, “You must be a Christian by the way you act.”
The original Palm Sunday included both ways. There were palms that were a sign of majesty. But then, there was Lazarus.
No one knows the percentage. However, a large portion of the Palm Sunday crowd came to see Lazarus - not just Jesus. They wanted to see the proof that Jesus was God.
Occasionally, I’ll post my blogs and devotions on high school and college Facebook pages because those old classmates knew the dead-me. Perhaps they’ll not open the post to read about Jesus. But they might draw the conclusion that I have been raised from the dead-man they once knew.
Palms, bumper stickers, t-shirts, necklaces and other outward signs can stimulate conversations. But the Lazarus-in-me is the proof that Jesus still raises the dead.
PORTAL TO HEAVEN: We are the portals to heaven for others. The most beautiful gold cross necklace over a chest can never take the place of the most beautiful cross-driven life worn within our hearts.
Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him…Your beauty should not come from outward adornment…Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.
John 12:9-11 NIV, 1 Peter 3:3,4 NIV