Read John 12
We continue
through Genesis but take note that this is Palm Sunday. We love the kids parading through the
sanctuary with the palm fronds.
We love the
story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey. The people laid out their coats and palm
branches before him.
They were honoring
a king. Did they know they were honoring
the King of Kings?
There were
cries of Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!
The people
were celebrating and crying out for salvation in the same breath.
The
self-righteous religious leaders were not happy about this whole thing.
C’mon rabbi,
tell them to chill. A little welcome to
town is fine, but this is just too much.
Just who do they think you are?
Jesus told
the religious leaders—some of whom were likely in attendance at the kangaroo
court that would be held later that week or within the crowd gathered before
Pilate enticing them to shout Crucify Him—he told them if the
people won’t cry out, even the stones that line the road will.
Those
entrenched in their rules had become shackled to ritual and repetition and the
respect of the people who now were praising Jesus. Jesus was cutting into their turf.
Jesus told
them that there were consequences for their blindness. Those who followed these self-righteous
leaders would fall to their earthly enemies.
There would be consequences for not having eyes to see.
They did not
have eyes to see God in his most essential form—God, love was right before
them. All they could see was a man, perhaps a rabbi, who just would not get
with their program.
Love was on
the back of a young donkey as he rode into Jerusalem. The people shouted
praises while the religious leaders plotted his death.
The week
ahead was as jam-packed as any since the creation of the world. Jesus would teach and rebuke. He would boldly
confront those offending his Father in his Father’s house.
And he would
seek one last secluded gathering with his closest friends, once for a meal and
once in the garden, where he would ask some of these men to stay with him while
he prayed.
Jesus would
ask his Father if there was any other way, knowing full well that there was
not. Jesus knew that the hour of his
death was coming millennia before the events of this week.
God’s plan
to release humankind from the shackles of sin and death had reached its
pinnacle, but Jesus still went through every human emotion knowing that a
brutal death was before him.
Jesus was
truly human.
He was truly
divine.
He was the
unblemished Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the world.
He gave up
his life freely. He could have stopped
all of this business leading up to the cross.
In a moment, he could have commanded legions of angels to protect him.
To do so
would mean that he thought we didn’t matter or at least we didn’t matter enough,
but he knew we mattered to his Father in heaven.
Jesus came
to do the will of his Father in heaven and that will sent him to the cross. We
matter to God.
Jesus was
the unblemished lamb. He went to be
sacrificed to atone for our sins.
He is our
Savior. He is our Master.
JESUS IS LORD!
On a morning
about 2000 years ago, our Lord rode into the city of Jerusalem on the back of a
young donkey and received the welcome and praises of so many people who were
looking for a Savior.
He rode
right past them. The King of Kings and
Lord of Lords came by them and they shouted HOSANNA, HOSANNA INT THE HIGHEST.
Save
us. God almighty and everlasting, save
us.
We are
continuing through Genesis. We are in
the second half of the book, but as you go through your week, let the words
HOSANNA, HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST bounce around in your minds.
HOSANNA!
HOSANNA IN
THE HIGHEST!
We will get
to Genesis 26 in the next service. We’ve
got wells to dig.
But for now
and the week that follows, think:
HOSANNA!
HOSANNA IN
THE HIGHEST!
Blessed is
he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Amen.
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