21 As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2 “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”
4 This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,
5 “Tell the people of Jerusalem,
‘Look, your King is coming to you.
He is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.’”
6 The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.
8 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God for the Son of David!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Praise God in highest heaven!”
10 The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
11 And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Matthew 21:1-11
Dear God, a lot of the time I skip the explanations in the footnotes, but that is probably a mistake. There’s an important one today. For verse 9, right after “Praise God,” there is a footnote that says, “21:9a Greek Hosanna, an exclamation of praise that literally means “save now”; also in 21:9b, 15.” It’s the “save now” that caught my eye. It’s what I thought of when I first read this passage this morning. Of course, I’ve thought this before. The people that day were so ignorant. Not one of them, including the disciples, knew what was going on or about to happen. In fact, I’ll bet the disciples were getting pretty amped up too. “Yes, Jesus, save now! We’ve spent the last three years priming the pump. It’s go time!” They just didn’t know what they needed saving from.
How do we make that same mistake today. We pray to you to save our country. To give us power and influence. To give us provision including rain for our water and food (crops and livestock). We pray that you make us feel better about ourselves. That you make us happy. What we miss is that that’s not what you came for that day. Somehow, we still try to put you back on that donkey and get in line both ahead and behind you shouting, “Save now!” But we misidentify what we need saved from.
So what do I think I need saved from? Myself. My selfishness. My own agenda. My sin. My hate. My lust. My covetousness.
This is a deep thought for me. When I am critical of Christian Nationalists in our country, or any other country for that matter, what I think I’m critical of is that they are trying to put you on that donkey and join the crowd that day. Ready to follow you to personal glory and power.
That brings to mind your behavior after the resurrection. Okay, so, sure, leading in to the crucifixion, yes, that had to be what it was because we needed your death and resurrection to save us from our sins. But after the resurrection and our sin is paid for, that’s when it will be “go time,” right? When you rise again you’ll show yourself to Caiaphas, supplant him as the high priest of Israel and then work things so that Israel removes Roman rule. Surely that’s how this will work!
No. No, that’s not how it will work either. How it will work is you will selectively reveal yourself to a few hundred people. here and there. You will leave after 40 days, send your Holy Spirit, and then allow each of the original 11 (excluding Judas) to be, at a minimum, persecuted, and all but one of those 11 martyred.
Father, help me to identify today the areas of my heart that still cling to the error of Palm Sunday. The part of my heart that identifies “saving” as power instead of “saving” being redemption and reconciliation with you. I am a citizen of this world, but it is not my home. You are my home. I give you my praise and worship today not for what you are doing for me, but simply for who you are.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 