03.30.2026 | Monday in Holy Week

Change Is Gonna Come
 
I was listening to the great Sam Cooke singing, “It’s been a long, a long time coming, but I know a change gonna come. Oh, yes, it will.” That song has been echoing in my mind as I have been reading Matthew 21, the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
 
A triumph.
Hosanna in the highest.
For the first time in His short life, Jesus is publicly honored as King. The crowds finally acknowledge the King of Kings.
 
But we know a change is gonna come.
 
It did not take long.
The betrayal.
The plots.
The plans already in motion.
 
Those same voices that cried, “Save us! Save, we pray!” soon turn and call for His death. Change comes quickly. It always does.
 
I have been thinking a lot about those crowds. The ones who shouted “Hosanna!” on Sunday and “Crucify him!” by Friday. And I wonder where I would be in that story. I am afraid I might be swept up in the crowd, carried along by fear, anger, confusion. I am afraid I might be one of the ones calling for suffering, for death, for the horrors of crucifixion.
 
Holy Week is a week of change.
Triumph to tragedy.
Palm branches to a cross.
Shouts of praise to shouts of violence.
The anger, the frustration, the manipulation by those desperate to keep their power.
Does any of this sound familiar?
 
And yet here is the good news.
 
We know how the story ends.
 
Change comes.
Love wins.
The crucified One rises again.
 
So, we keep the faith.
We hold on to hope.
We love one another, no matter what.
Love your neighbor as yourself, no matter what.
 
Love wins.
Change is gonna come.
 
Scripture for the Journey
John 16:33
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
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