In Danger of His Life
Our Lenten walk has brought us through the month of March and now we are following Jesus to Jerusalem. Is it out of devotion -- or maybe curiosity -- that we follow? Maybe it is with high hopes that we too will benefit from his presence. Will he give us our deepest desires those things that we certainly deserve? There certainly were many emotions that day he entered Jerusalem. The air must have been filled with great expectation. Word had gotten around about Jesus. He had healed the sick, raised the dead, and had defied the authorities on bread-and-butter issues. Now he was coming to the place where God met God’s people – the ancient seat of the king of Israel. Was he now going to show his power and bring the great Kingdom of Israel back? In less than a week the people reject him. They went from gloriously receiving him and spreading their cloaks on the ground for a royal pathway to shouting “Crucify him.” What went wrong? Who is it to blame?
This savior did not live up to their expectations. This supposed-king was not bringing back some ancient time that nostalgia had distorted in their minds. Had they forgotten the prophets who shared God’s promise of a new covenant -- a new relationship -- that was not cemented in the palace or temple but in the heart? They were not looking forward to anything new or glorious. They were looking backward at something that did not satisfy. They were hoping for a repeat of their earthly lives.
We often find ourselves in the same situation. We receive Jesus in our lives but expect that he will do our bidding – make us healthy, wealthy, and wise. We expect Jesus to change our situation and not our hearts. Often, we do not want our hearts to be changed. That would mean we would have to love our enemies, clothe the naked, house the homeless, feed the hungry, comfort the dying. . . It was us. We are what went wrong, we are to blame. We are the ones who turned on Jesus so quickly and demanded that he be crucified. Little did we know that through our desires God made Jesus to be our salvation. This month we will walk with Jesus and experience once again the journey of God’s son. Come with me on this amazing mixed-up emotional journey so we can walk together with Jesus.