Palm Sunday - motivated by love

Someone put an interesting thought to me this week. She referenced the oft-quoted line that Jesus "had to die" and wondered how that worked alongside the fact the Jesus died because he loved us... How can it be that true love is shown by someone forced to do something? Well, it's not.


On Palm Sunday we see Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, knowing that he's going there to die (Luke 18:31-34). Now I don't know about you, but if I knew that entering a certain city would result in my death I'd run a mile. Jesus shows real determination and guts to enter Jerusalem and face his fate.


It's easy to forget that whilst Jesus was fully God, he was also fully man. He'd have felt the same emotions we would have in his position - fear, nervousness, perhaps even anger.


But despite this Jesus walks boldly into Jerusalem. Why? He's motivated by love. There's your "had to die". It's the same feeling I have when thinking of my loved ones. We act not out of feeling we ought, but out of a choice made deep down in our affection for another.

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us..." says John. Jesus could have turned and walked away from Jerusalem. He didn't. He could have avoided the Garden of Gethsemane, and thus being arrested. He didn't. He could have, as he was mocked about, come down from the cross and saved himself. He didn't. Why? Love.


Saying "Jesus had to die" makes out that Jesus was purely motivated by what WE needed, which is only halfway true. Yes, he was motivated by our need for a Saviour - but not because we demand it, rather it's because he wants to give it. We don't own Jesus - Jesus owns us by what he did for us and in spite of us. He chose to die for us, and we had no right to expect him to.


So reconciling those two concepts becomes easier when we see that one affects the other. It's my love for my fiancee which motivates me to care for her and to love her sacrificially. It's my parents love for me which motivates them to care for me and to love me sacrificially. Just as it was Jesus' love for us which motivated him to care for us, and to love us sacrificially. What a magnificent God we have.