One week Jesus rides triumphant into town. He is honored and celebrated. The mood is full of hope and celebration. The next week He is ridiculed, spat upon and executed on a cross. All this by the same people who a week prior had been full of hope and celebration.
What happened? Who is this Jesus?
This week, my desire is to stay "awake" to the journey and the story of Jesus and the events of his last week. I invite you to do the same. I want to explore and ask questions. I want to know Jesus more. Could it be that even I am as fickle in my faith journey as the Jerusalem crowds were? What about you? Will you join me in pressing in this week? Let's ask the same question that was asked all those years ago: Who is this Jesus?
Is he a political figure? Is He a king? Is he a suffering servant? What questions have you been holding on to that you might ask Him this week? Are you willing to be open and honest? Are you willing to come out from any hiding you might be doing? Are you ready for true intimacy with Jesus Christ?
Jesus, how did you carry both joy and sorrow as the people waved their palm branches? It feels like we are doing that all the time these days, i.e. carrying joy and sorrow. It's a tension. How can you balance both? How did YOU balance both, Jesus? Is there something we might learn from you in this that will help us today?
Jesus, what happened in You as you saw the temple marketplace? Jesus, how did you feel as Mary of Bethany poured oil on your feet? Would You show me how to love You with such extravagance? Jesus, how do you love even when your disciples repeatedly disappointed you? Jesus, how did you love the people who betrayed you? How did you comfort those who were disillusioned and dismayed by you not meeting their expectations?
One of the marks of intimacy is compassionate curiosity, asking great questions and giving both time and undivided attention for the answers. The mark of intimacy is wanting to know the heart of the Beloved, to hold their pain, their joy.
INVITATION: How will you journey with Jesus this week, giving Him undivided attention and asking questions and seeking answers? Are you willing to grow in intimacy with Jesus? How will you hold His pain and His joy, and allow Him to hold yours during this Holy Week leading up to Easter? Are you willing to let him know your heart?
We invite you into this week's study as we ask the question: "Who is this?" It's the same question the people were asking who surrounded Jesus during Palm Sunday and the week leading up to the crucifixion. Ultimately many of those people turned their backs on Jesus, were indignant and resisted him. Others worshiped him. What will your reaction be to Jesus? What will your reaction be to Jesus even when He surprises you by how He looks, what He does, or how he acts? What if Jesus isn't who you expected Him to be? Can you still trust him? Will you choose to still trust Him and follow Him?
MONDAY: Matthew 21:8: Historians estimate there were between 1 million and 2 million people at this annual passover feast. Pastor Adam suggested it was probably like a large 4th of July rally: i.e. very intense, with a lot of nationalistic zeal. The palms were the national symbol for Jewish people - much like the Eagle is a national emblem for the USA. Waving the palms would have been much like waving a flag on the 4th of July. In this scene, Jesus is like a revolutionary king. He had the "red carpet" rolled out for him. How is Jesus like a "revolutionary king" in your life? How might you need him to be a king in your life and your current circumstances? Many people find it helpful to try to enter into the scenes of Scripture and imagine themselves there. Have you ever thought of this scene from the viewpoint of the donkey? You are invited to read slowly through this Mary Oliver poem and see if you can imagine the scene on Palm Sunday. What resonates with you? How might you take that into prayer today?
On the outskirts of Jerusalem the donkey waited.Not especially brave, or filled with understanding, he stood and waited.
How horses, turned out into the meadow, leap with delight! How doves, released from their cages, clatter away, splashed with sunlight.
But the donkey, tied to a tree as usual, waited. Then he let himself be led away. Then he let the stranger mount.
Never had he seen such crowds! And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen.Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark, obedient.
I hope, finally, he felt brave.I hope, finally, he loved the man who rode so lightly upon him, as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped, as he had to, forward.
TUESDAY: Matthew 21:9 & Psalm 118:26: The Jewish people were oppressed by Rome. They wanted their own nation and believed Jesus would establish that. "Hosanna" means, "Save. Save now." The Jewish people were celebrating and placing all their hopes and dreams on this "revolutionary king." Do you share your deepest hopes and dreams with Jesus? How do you need to be "saved" by Jesus today? Sometimes we feel disillusionment when God isn't what we thought or doesn't come through like we hoped. Are you willing to dig deep for gifts within the disillusionment you are experiencing? Could Jesus perhaps help you trade in any false hopes you are holding on to? Are you willing to open your hands to what Jesus has for you today and this week?
WEDNESDAY: Matthew 21:10-11: The crowds had a sort of "video tape" of what they wanted and expected. They wanted "the good old days" to come back. Much of the focus these days is about trying to "get back to normal." What if that is not to be? Are you willing and able to lean into the possibility that God is doing something new and different in your world and perhaps the world at large? Are you holding too tightly to your own "video tape?" Jesus was all about spiritual revolution then and he is about that now as well. He goes for the cross, not a crown. Are you focused only on "crowns" in your life? What if suffering is God's invitation to you? How might you "share in the sufferings of Christ" (I Peter 4:13) during this Holy Week? Have you been expecting God to fulfill your own personal agenda and missed what God might be inviting you into?
THURSDAY: Matthew 21:12-13: In this scene, Jesus is the fierce liberator. He goes to the "epicenter" of the time - the temple - and turns over tables. This is not the "Mr. Rogers" or "Hallmark Card" Jesus. This is not the Jesus the people expected. He is offending the educated and the religious and inviting EVERYONE to be part of his "kingdom". He is building bridges. How are you joining Jesus in building bridges rather than cultivating an "us vs. them" mentality and practice in your life?
FRIDAY: Matthew 21:14: Jesus is the "Scandalous Healer" in this verse. Why is it scandalous? Because the blind and lame weren't allowed at the temple. Jesus is establishing that in HIS HOUSE there will be grace. The grace of God reaches out in messy ways.
SATURDAY: Matthew 21:15-16: Christ is despised and rejected (Is. 53:3) so that you and I can be accepted in the temple. We are "blind" and "lame" yet grace is extended to us. No matter what. We don't have to wait until we "have it all together." When the priests and other elites saw what was going on, they were indignant. The children, however, were worshiping. Jesus teaches about "child like faith" quite a few times in scripture. What do you have in your life these days? Resistance and indignation, or childlike faith and worship? How might you become childlike this week as you journey with Jesus?