Palm Sunday
Luke 19:38, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord…“
Yesterday most Christian churches in the U.S. and around the world celebrated Palm Sunday. The day that Jesus triumphantly rode into Jerusalem on a foal-a baby donkey. There were crowds of people there to celebrate the arrival of the Messiah. Palm branches were laid on the ground in front of Him to show honor for what He was about to do. However, most people then and now don’t truly understand what He did.
The Jewish people were so wrapped up in their selfish needs that the majority of them missed what they had been waiting on for years. Even though their own prophets had spoken about Jesus, and His triumphal march into Jerusalem, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even a colt, the foal of a donkey!” (Zecheriah 9:9)
But, most people of that day were blinded, and they could not or would not recognize that their Savior that they had been praying for was within their midst. What blinded people then, and what blinds people today is essentially the same 2 things. 1) They were (We are) too preoccupied with our own problems that we miss seeing the answer that is right in front of us, 2) Those people that we respect are rejecting the answer therefore we also think it is absurd.
Today, the United States and the world in general is in the middle of one of the worst economic crises in history. I relate it to an economic bubonic plague, many people are losing everything that they have. The nation of Israel was in a similar situation; they had been under the thumb of the Roman government for years and years, and even though a handful of people had made the system work for them; most people were still suffering. These individuals were so wrapped up in their problems that they could not recognize the answer that God had placed in front of them.
The Jewish leaders, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, etc., were the religious leaders and if they did not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah from God then certainly the average person would not recognize Him. Today there are many religions that say they have a path to God, and some of them even say that Jesus is a way to God, but they do not say that He is the only way. Listen to Jesus’ response to that statement, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.” John 14:6 Jesus Christ is the answer. He is not an answer like many people would have you believe, but HE IS THE ANSWER!
As you reflect on Easter, and you think about the problems that you may be going through just remember that God in His Grace provided an answer for every problem that you may have, and you only need to look at Jesus to find it.
The image above from the web can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinlabar/2079385/
Yes, You Can Ministry 