Matthew 14:30 “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.’”
Like it or not, we are entering an election cycle and all that it entails will. I find it inter-esting that there seems to have developed one thing you can count on happening. After the election is over, the losing side will begin to regularly level a criticism at the new president: “He is not acting very presidential!” (Whether or not the winner’s behavior or manner could ever be satisfactory to the losing side remains to be seen!)
Jesus has been going toward Jerusalem for some time now. All along the way He has been preaching, teaching, healing, and performing miracles. As He has done this in various towns and villages, His entourage has grown. He has made it clear that He is going to Jerusa-lem and even told them why (though they couldn’t bring themselves to believe Him.) They had their own ideas!
Finally, the day has arrived! He is at the outskirts of Jerusalem and ready to make an entrance! The day they had longed for was here! There were those there that day that had been dreaming and praying about this day all their lives! Now they will see the Messiah arrive! How will He choose to do it? A large, imposing, white war horse! That would be impressive! Or, could they even dare dream it?, a chariot! They can hear the crowd noise swell as He comes into view! On a young donkey?!?
What was He thinking? That certainly didn’t look messianic! They expected an entrance that make the Romans shake with fear, not tremble in laughter! It could well be that Jesus’ unusual choice of entrance was the beginning of the crowd turning against Him. “I guess He wasn’t what we hoped for after all.”
We might look back at those crowds and be critical for not seeing Jesus for Who He is. But the same thing goes on today. Many people have an idea of how Jesus should act and they will be the judge of whether He comes through or not. They may ‘come to faith’ hoping that Jesus will fix their relationship. They ‘bow at His feet’ hoping that He will address their financial need. They ‘get saved’ hoping for a miraculous reversal of a terrible medical diag-nosis. But then Jesus surprises was again and doesn’t perform up to expectation. “How can He get it so wrong when we are so specific laying out the expectations?”
If I create an image of what Jesus should be like, haven’t I sort of swapped places with Him? If I’m the creator, shouldn’t I be the provider?
Jesus entered Jerusalem in humility - certainly not very presidential! But the level of humility He was prepared to assume would be seen fully on Good Friday when He would ascend, not to the throne some hoped for, but the cross. The real crowning would come three days later! His plan was better than ours could ever have been!
blessings,
Pastor Russ
