TURNING THE PALMS INTO A CROSS

OBJECTS: Strips of Palm-leaves or Strips of Green Paper

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.