WHAT ABOUT THE TREES?

When I read the Palm Sunday Story of Jesus' Triumphant Entry, I wonder if any one thinks of the trees. The environmentalists of today would not have been happy. The trees along the path down the Mount of Olives had their limbs exploited by the people looking for something to lay in the path of the donkey of the King or to wave in the air in celebration of Him. Could it be that the trees gave their limbs and fronds as an offering to that King? Could it be that God grew those trees along that path for that very purpose? Jewish worshippers recognized that worship of God was all about giving something. Every time they went to the Temple, they went with a sacrifice or offering. Even the word "offering" connotes giving something. The advent of Jesus' Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem was accented with the spontaneous rejoicing and worship of His attending followers. That worship involved giving: The villager gave up the use of his donkey that Christ might ride it. The donkey gave his back. The disciples gave of their coats to make a saddle for the Lord. The people gave of their garments: They laid them in the path of the donkey as a customary sign of obeisance and worship of a King. The crowd also gave of their time and energy. To accompany Christ to Jerusalem demanded that the people leave their trades, their work, their leisure, and make the steep climb up the east side of the Mt. Olivet. Then there was the one sacrifice that we often forget, the trees gave their limbs and branches. The people cut fronds from the neighboring trees. The trees gave this part of themselves that the Messiah might be worshipped and heralded with Hosannas. All that the people gave that day in worship could not begin to compare to what Jesus was about to give for them. He was headed to Jerusalem, to Calvary, to give His life a sacrifice for our sins. Even there it was a tree that gave its timber to be used as the instrument of Jesus' death and to be soaked by His blood in His sacrifice of Himself for our sins. Whatever we give in worship is a small token response to what Jesus has given us. What will you give in worship this Palm Sunday? Remember on that first Palm Sunday, even the trees gave of their fronds. What they gave, they could never get back. It was a sacrifice indeed. Can we not learn from the trees' example?