Surface Praise

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives , the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” Lk 19:37,38    
   
Consider:
   
It is what we call Palm Sunday. Jesus is being hailed as a conquering king as he enters the city of Jerusalem.   The other three Gospels report the crowd crying “Hosanna” which means “Save Lord!”   They see Jesus as their Messiah who has come to deliver them from the might of Rome.   Instead he has come to deliver them (and us) from the might of sin, but they aren’t bothered with that.   They see him as one who comes with supernatural ability to perform miracles and they hail him as king.   Both Luke and John pick up the fact that the crowd are as excited as they are because of the miracles that Jesus had performed (see also Jn 12:18).   
   
It was particularly the miracle of the raising of Lazarus from the dead at Bethany, just before coming down to Jerusalem, that had excited them. It was rather akin to the excitement after the feeding of the five thousand when they had wanted to make Jesus their king (Jn 6:15).   It was an excitement born out of self-interest – what this man could do for us!   And so, as he enters Jerusalem, they herald him as their king hoping that he will go up to the fortress and deal with the Roman garrison, but instead he turns the opposite way and turns and goes up to the Temple and proceeds to cleanse it of the tradesmen.   Jesus has come to restore communion with God (which is what the temple had originally been for), not deal with national institutions – they will be dealt with after men’s hearts had been dealt with.
  
So, here on this glorious day, the Son of God enters the Holy City in such a manner that will yet further provoke the authorities to rise up against him and bring about his death.  Without realising it, they will be the ones who will sacrifice the Lamb of God, an offering for sin.  Of course we now know what followed, which makes the events of this day, at least by the people, seem so shallow.  There IS going to come a time of great glory and great rejoicing at the achievement of the Son of God, but not because of some miracles, as wonderful as they were, but because of the incredible thing he does at the end of this week.
   
Throughout this coming week, we will examine Jesus’ last words on the Cross. Technically this is the end of the fasting period of Lent but, being the beginning of Holy Week, we will continue to meditate on these things through to their terrible but glorious conclusion.
   
Prayer:
  
Lord, in this week ahead, help me even more to understand the incredible nature of these things that were happening, that brought about the basis for my salvation.