Can I pray for you in any way? Send
any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on
Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests
to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian
Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
As they approached Jerusalem and came to
Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go
to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there,
with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything
to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
This took place to fulfill what was
spoken through the prophet:
“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king
comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a
donkey.’”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had
instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks
on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the
road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The
crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed shouted:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole
city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the
prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Matthew 21:1-11
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Today
marks the start of what is referred to as Passion week as Jesus makes His entry
into Jerusalem where He will meet His earthly end before being resurrected to
life in power and into authority, defeating death and the grave.
So
let’s go to where it started and an even that has been called Palm Sunday and/or
the Triumphal Entry, whichever you prefer. Let’s look at Matthew’s account of
this event:
As
they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus
sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at
once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and
bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them,
and he will send them right away.”
This
took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
“Say
to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
The
disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey
and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large
crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees
and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that
followed shouted:
“Hosanna
to the Son of David!”
“Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna
in the highest heaven!”
When
Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
The
crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matthew 21:1-11
I
think the first thing we need to note here is that this wasn’t a random, impulsive,
happenstance kind of event.
Like
so many other aspects of Jesus’ life, prophecy had predicted what was to come
and in this instance, the prophecy had come from the prophet Zechariah who
foretold of a future king who was coming, righteous and victorious, a king who
was worthy of their shouting and rejoicing.
As
we look at the scene painted in our scripture from the Gospel of Matthew, we
see that Jesus, the prophesied king, had now come to Jerusalem but I wonder:
Did
the people really know who He was?
Zechariah
had said that a king was coming, a king that deserved all the pomp and
circumstance of any other king who had come to Jerusalem. And so the people
followed all the customary traditions when royalty would come to the city. Some
spread their cloaks out on the road while others cut branches from trees and
placed them on the path Jesus would travel on. There weren’t just a few people.
God’s word tells us there were crowds there who went ahead of Jesus shouting
and proclaiming praise to Him. And we aren’t left to wonder what they were
saying because the scriptures tell us:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
The
people who came to welcome Jesus to Jerusalem knew something about the man who
was riding across the cloaks and branches on a donkey. They acknowledged Him as
David’s son, a man in the lineage of their beloved former king who had a
reputation for being someone who was after God’s own heart. They declared Jesus
as being blessed because they saw Him as coming in the name of the Lord. They
called for adoration in the highest heavens because of Jesus’ coming.
But
did they really know who He was?
We
read that the clamor of Jesus’ arrival moved from the road leading to Jerusalem
into the city itself. His coming caused quite a stir and the commotion led
people within the city to ask:
“Who is this?”
They
truly didn’t recognize this man who had come with great fanfare, this man who
had been predicted through prophecies of old. And in answer to the question of
the people in the city who had just seen Jesus, the crowds who had greeted Him
and given Him a royal welcome replied:
“This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth
in Galilee.”
That’s
how they saw Jesus.
Not
as the Son of God who had been sent to save them and all mankind but rather as
a mere messenger who had been sent from God to speak to them.
When
Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly, the people did not really know who He
was. It’s little wonder that in just five days, they would be taking a
different stance in addressing Him, shouting the word “Crucify!”
Today,
we have so many people in our world who think they know who Jesus is but they
really don’t know Him. If they did, they would be respecting and revering Him. They
would be bowing down and worshipping Him. They would be striving with every
ounce of their being to live like Him in all that they do. And they would
realize that without Him, they have no hope in this life.
Friends,
as we enter this final week of Jesus’ life, let our prayer be that all would
come to really know Jesus for who He is:
The
Good Shepherd who was willing to lay down His life for us, His sheep (John
10:11).
The
Lamb of God who gave Himself up freely as a living sacrifice to take away the
sins of the world (John 1:29).
The
Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), the Savior of all who would come to save
all who would place their trust and believe in Him as the only way to God the
Father (John 3:16, John 14:6).
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment