I’ll come back to the Heroes of Faith series after Easter, but it’s Passion week, so I wanted to spend some time reading this week of the entry into Jerusalem of Jesus on a donkey that was celebrated in Luke 19, to several verses later Jesus’ authority being challenged by the chief priests, scribes and elders. He cleanses the temple and then we find the religious leaders trying their best to find something in Him that they could use to show He wasn’t who He said He was. They wanted to catch Him getting tripped over His words or saying something that contradicted the scriptures.
As I was reading through the scriptures, I couldn’t help but parallel our current world with the world in Luke 19-20. I mean, we will throw our robes down in front of Him and shout, “Hosanna!” in one breath and then when things don’t go the way we think they should, we are quick to shout, “Crucify Him!” Do you realized that we challenge the authority of Jesus when we refuse to accept these things:
The gift of salvation.
The works of the Holy Spirit through us that gives the same power as what brought Jesus out of the grave!
Refusing to pray without ceasing.
Not reading the Word and applying it to our lives.
As I was reading, I couldn’t help but think about my own life and how easy it to wave a palm leaf of praise when things are going good and we see God moving in our lives. But what about when He is still, or when we are walking through something that seems unbearable? Do we challenge His authority because like the religious leaders, we want to “be right”? If we aren’t seeking the truth in His Word, are we looking for a place to find that Jesus isn’t Who He said He was? We can be like the the elders in the parable of the vineyard that Jesus spoke about and say, “No–never!”, but in reality, every time we choose to take matters into our own hands and look for a way to fix a situation on our own, that is exactly what we are doing. We are saying, “Jesus, you aren’t Who You say You are…I can do this myself and I want to be right in this situation.”
Those chief priests and scribes were looking for a way to entrap Jesus and change the public opinion of Him. At this time in scripture, the public was believing that He was the Messiah and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and scripture. Nowadays, there are more people that do not believe in Jesus in society. They choose NOT to know The Truth. They don’t care about The Way. They have no desire to have life and have it more abundantly. Quite frankly, the world is looking for ways to trip us up in the scriptures, so they can call us a fake or a fraud. We must know the truth. Christians are the minority…especially Christians that will stand in the gap and live be consecrated and live a holy life. We definitely do not spend time trying to change the public opinion about Jesus, now do we? We are too worried about ourselves and making sure that our four and no more are taken care of, when there is a world out there that is dying and going to hell. What can we do to change the public opinion about Jesus? Proclaim His goodness and grace and tell others what He has done for us! Tell of His Truth and share His Word. It doesn’t come back void, my friend. Listen, if we want to draw others to Jesus, we ourselves can’t be looking like a donkey…if you know what I mean. We must show ourselves approved and speak truth. When you do that, you don’t have to worry about looking like a…well, you know.
There is never a more perfect time than Easter to surrender to a live devoted to Christ, as we prepare to celebrate His death on a rugged cross and His resurrection from a borrowed tomb! His triumphant entry seated on a donkey was just the beginning of a story that has changed the lives of believers around the world…and set the stage for us to share of His glory until we see Him seated on His throne!
