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Matthew 21:6-11
6The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna[b] to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"[c]
"Hosanna[d] in the highest!"
10When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"
11The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
Such a jubulant celebration. Over the top, almost. It was enough to get the attention of the whole town. But only few knew how Jesus was going to save them. Most had their own presumptions. There was such angst and vitriol against the Romans. There was corruption within the Temple Leadership. Society needed a re-boot and Jesus had been gaining a reputation. Many were willing to follow him, to fight for him, maybe even to die for him. But they didn't realize that Jesus was willing to die for them. In fact, he meant to.
Who do we presume Jesus to be? Who do we want him to be?
HE IS CALLED | WE WANT HIM TO BE |
The Great Provider (Genesis 22:13-14) | The limitless & free Vending Machine |
The Lord is Peace (Judges 6:24) | One who makes everything easy and stress-free |
The Strong One who Sees (Genesis 16:13) | One who Tells Us All He Sees, except what might make us uncomfortable or sad. |
Savior (Genesis 2:4) | The Eliminator of the Difficult, Painful, and Inconvenient |
Consuming Fire (Heb. 12:29) | Wrath Bringer, only to really bad and evil people. |
Creator (1 Peter 4:19) | The Divine Being who may or may not have started the chemical processes that produced Earth, the universe, and all living things. |
Deliverer (Romans 11:26) | See Savior, but with more urgency. |
Faithful & True (Revelation 19:11) | One who is who We want Him to Be and Tells us What We Want to Hear. |
Judge (Acts 10:42) | Judge of everyone Else. |
OK, a bit over the top, but really, not too far fetched sometimes.
It amazes me how much we are alike the people of Jerusalem - praising Jesus on Sunday for who we think He is. And then as the week goes on we're more and more shaken (and stirred) on who He really is, how He really wants us to live, and by Friday we've all but denounced and disowned him.
I'm so grateful Sunday comes around again each week.
And then there's Monday.
2 comments:
This mindset extends to other areas of life as well. Relationships, jobs, political candidates: all things we turn to in the hopes that it will solve all our problems for us when in reality most of our problems are issues we have to deal with ourselves. These things might help 9and for you, Jesus might help) but if you just sit around waiting for something or someone else to fix everything for you, then things will probably never get better. A fine lesson.
Anivair,
I appreciate your comment. However I must challenge you. The issue wasn't about sitting around and waiting for someone else to fix your problems. The issue is the expectations we have, and specifically the perspective we have about Jesus and God. Our finite minds and humanity often keep Jesus in a selfish box, like a Genie in a bottle. He's not that. He's so much more. He came that we might have abundant life. We just need to let Him define and direct that life.
The Jews wanted Jesus to be a political, social figure but that was too small of an expectation. That is the point - our expectations of who God is and how He can affect our life is limited (understandably) by our sinful, selfish, and naive point of view. Yet He still calls on us and allows us to be part of His story.
That's what Easter's all about!
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