Officially, this morning marks the start of Holy Week. Holy Week: Jesus final week of life, as he steadily, and intentionally, moves toward his death. Someone once said something like this: “If you knew you had a week to live, how would you, then, live? You’d do the important things! So, Holy Week shows us what was important to Jesus.” Perhaps, so. However, it is our last week before the crucifixion and resurrection, two of the three most important events in Christianity, that should be our focus as we continue to look inward. If we do, I believe our outward celebration will be greater than ever come the weekend. Each day, as the Lord allows, I want to do just that, get ready for Friday, so Sunday’s coming will be a true day of rejoicing. Would you join me? This will be a bit unusual, I’ve not done a daily blog before…it’s been hard enough to get out the once a week entries…
Last summer, I began going through the book of Matthew. Somedays, I get no further than a verse, or maybe a handful of verses. There has been no rhyme or reason, no plan other than to just read until I sense the Lord stopping me. There have been times, I’ve spent two or three days on a passage, just soaking in it. It’s been slow, and sometimes tedious in its conviction; and, there have been times of comfort and encouragement. All that to say this: on Friday, I reached the passage in Matthew about The Triumphal Entry. The Triumphal Entry, also known to us as Palm Sunday! Coincidence? Not in God’s timing!
I didn’t have to read very far into the account that Matthew gives us, before I stopped. Jesus had just given his disciples some direction, and then Matthew quotes Zechariah (Mt 21:5). Here are the words as Matthew quoted them (NASB):
Here’s what I read:
Let’s look closely at our King.
Most importantly, he’s coming to me. He sees….he knows….me! He’s watching, and waiting, for the right timing, and when it’s “that day” he comes. He doesn’t wait on me; he just comes. The King comes! It speaks volumes to me about how much this King cares. He cares about the people in his Kingdom. Even though he left us for a season, he left us in the care of his own very Spirit – the Spirit of God, who is ever present, when we need him. One day, he will come again…but oh, how different this entrance will be. This is a King who comes (and is coming again!) – just LOOK!
The first time, our King came, he rode a donkey. It’s important to note that it wasn’t a prancing steed. It wasn’t a pure-bred horse fit for royalty. He wan’t putting his trust in horses or chariots…he was reminding us all of his humility and service. Here was a King for the people (how unusual is that – a ruler who truly is for the people). Here was a King who wanted to take our burdens, make our load light, and give us rest. Here was a King, who would lay down his life to this end. Jesus wasn’t a victorious King, or a warrior King, He was a serving King. No one anticipated that! But…look…!
Jesus’ gentleness is his true mark of greatness. Let me give you Spiros Zohdiates definition of this word, prautes: Often translated, meek &/or mild. In the New Testament it expresses a meekness which differs from the usual connotation of the word in English. Prautes, according to Aristotle, is the middle standing between two extremes, getting angry without reason, and not getting angry at all. It is the result of a strong man’s choice to control his reactions in submission to God. It is a balance born in strength of character, stemming from a confident trust in God, not from weakness or fear (Zohdiates, 2008). Here was a King who set an example of trust in God, living confidently in true identity, to give to his people hope of a victorious new life, while they were still living on this earth. Look at him!
Jesus didn’t ride into Jerusalem on that Sunday to say he was a namby-pamby King, who would simply give up and let them take his life! He rode into town that day to say he was a King of another color, a stronger kind of King than they had ever seen. He was a King who could control his character, who could submit to a higher authority for RIGHT and JUSTICE, because of MERCY and GRACE. He was a King who knew who he was, and lived life without fear (what could man do to him….really?)! Jesus rode into town that day, to prove he was coming to the people, for the people, with a gift that would change the people. Oh, how he hoped they would BEHOLD their King for the right reasons! Now, LOOK and behold your King!
….oh, and Jesus, your King, is coming again to his people, for his people, to get his people to give them a heavenly Kingdom…and this time, he’ll be riding a white horse! Think about that!
