Monday, April 6, 2009
Luke 19:28-44 —
Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey amidst of shouts of, “Hosanna! God save us!” The people gathered have Messianic fever! They want to be saved! They want out of their bondage! They want to be free! In Matthew’s Gospel it says that the entire city is stirred…shaken up, when Jesus enters the city. Something was up…something was going to happen.
But wait, let’s back up just a tad. Luke mentions something important, I think. Just as Jesus is getting to Jerusalem, he stops, looks over God’s holy city, and Jesus weeps.
“If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace….”
“Hosanna! God save us!”
“…but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you…because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
“Hosanna! God save us!”
Oh, but God, do it my way if you please…
The Jews that day shouting, “Hosanna! God save us!” wanted political deliverance.
And Jesus weeps, because he knows the road he is on will bring so much more than freedom from an oppressive government. His is a spiritual solution not a political solution. And Jesus weeps, because he knows that they just don’t — won’t — get it. Jesus enters the city weeping for the city, not for himself, though he knows what the end of the week will bring him.
“Hosanna! God save us!”
Was Jesus thinking, “uh, I would if you would let me! Why don’t you let me do it my way?”
I cry out, you cry out, “Hosanna, God save me!” I want God to save me from my enemies; to save me from “bad stuff.” The question is, I think, am I really willing to let God save me from that which enslaves me the most…myself?
cholley's musings 