I’ve often wonder what was going through Jesus’ mind as he entered the last week of his earthly life. I get the feeling he must have been experiencing the same kind of emotions that first world war soldiers did when they were ordered to ‘go over the top’. War poet Wilfred Owen described it well when he wrote “The sensations of going over the top are about as exhilarating as those dreams of falling over a precipice when you see the rocks at the bottom surging up to meet you. I woke up without being squashed. Some didn’t”.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday He knew what to expect. He had been preparing for it for years. It was to be a week of confrontation, humiliation and ultimately brutal execution. But He went ahead and entered Jerusalem because He believed God wanted Him to do it and because He was convinced that he would not end up ‘being squashed’. How right he was, because He was raised to life again, and in so doing offers us hope in the face of our final enemy also.

But in doing what He did Jesus challenges us to live a new kind of life too. I was reminded of this when I came across a very moving interview with a Palestinian Israeli theologian who suggests that the resurrection reassures us that love, mercy, and equality all point to a new “civilization” that is on the way. I was delighted to read that because I have a soft heart for the Palestinian people, and I am at pains to highlight the challenges, and some would say the injustices that they encounter on a daily basis. That theologian hit the nail on the head: the Easter story is God’s guarantee that love and justice will ultimately prevail.

Yes, we must forgive people who hurt us, and yes, we must love our enemies, and we may well suffer too. But that does not mean we cannot speak out against the things we believe are wrong. I read this week for example that Humza Yousaf, the new first minister of Scotland, is on record as saying that ‘he is in favour of decriminalising all abortions – in effect allowing abortion on demand up to nine months for any reason – including sex selective abortions.’ If this is true, then I believe we should do all we can to condemn this evil stance and do so confidently too, because we know that we will ultimately win the battle.

Jesus has given us a preview of the future and that means we simply can’t lose. It’s where history is heading and nothing can prevent it. The statistics may tempt us to think that the UK church is in terminal decline, but Easter Day shows us Jesus can do some incredible things in a graveyard. And if you don’t believe that at the moment you will have to come to terms with it on the day He returns when we will all stand before Him to give an account for the way we have responded to Him.