The Word This Week
Matt 21:1…
Now that Jesus is making His final approach to Jerusalem, He would take very intentional steps to make certain His disciples understood He was not a victim of the circumstances leading to His crucifixion but was instead the one controlling all the events.
His approach was therefore littered with miraculous events which had either been foretold in scripture or meant to be illustrations of the corruption in the religious system He had come to overthrow.
And at the same time He would allow Himself to be recognized as the king of the Jews by the common people, even as the religious leaders challenged His authority to do anything.
Imagine yourself given charge by Jesus to go to a specific location and to take a donkey and her colt, (upon which no man had ever sat,) instructed to simply tell the owner of the animals, “The Lord has need of them.” What an assignment! How could this possibly be?
And it happened. Exactly as He said.
And once the colt which had never been ridden had been brought, Jesus sat upon it demonstrating His total control of nature and the animal kingdom to anyone paying attention. He then proceeded into Jerusalem while fully accepting for the first time the acclaim of the people along the way – which was very upsetting to the religious leaders – who failed to see scripture being fulfilled before their very eyes, on that very day.
And His house, (the Temple,) needed to be cleansed of its profanity and its crass commercialism, and He did so with a degree of authority causing everyone to give Him quarter. His house shall be a house of prayer. Always and forever. His house on earth is meant to be a model of His throne in heaven. And the halt came to Him for healing, sensing His power in their midst.
Which, of course the religious leader immediately objected to. (They especially objected to the people crying out to Jesus to save them now!) “Do you hear what these people are saying to You?”
It was – as always – the simple, the babes, the children who cried out for Jesus to save them, and Jesus would do nothing to deter their praise, or their expectant pleas.
Those religious leaders who objected would be likened to a fig tree producing no fruit, and withered from the very roots as a result.
Pastor Bill
Now that Jesus is making His final approach to Jerusalem, He would take very intentional steps to make certain His disciples understood He was not a victim of the circumstances leading to His crucifixion but was instead the one controlling all the events.
His approach was therefore littered with miraculous events which had either been foretold in scripture or meant to be illustrations of the corruption in the religious system He had come to overthrow.
And at the same time He would allow Himself to be recognized as the king of the Jews by the common people, even as the religious leaders challenged His authority to do anything.
Imagine yourself given charge by Jesus to go to a specific location and to take a donkey and her colt, (upon which no man had ever sat,) instructed to simply tell the owner of the animals, “The Lord has need of them.” What an assignment! How could this possibly be?
And it happened. Exactly as He said.
And once the colt which had never been ridden had been brought, Jesus sat upon it demonstrating His total control of nature and the animal kingdom to anyone paying attention. He then proceeded into Jerusalem while fully accepting for the first time the acclaim of the people along the way – which was very upsetting to the religious leaders – who failed to see scripture being fulfilled before their very eyes, on that very day.
And His house, (the Temple,) needed to be cleansed of its profanity and its crass commercialism, and He did so with a degree of authority causing everyone to give Him quarter. His house shall be a house of prayer. Always and forever. His house on earth is meant to be a model of His throne in heaven. And the halt came to Him for healing, sensing His power in their midst.
Which, of course the religious leader immediately objected to. (They especially objected to the people crying out to Jesus to save them now!) “Do you hear what these people are saying to You?”
It was – as always – the simple, the babes, the children who cried out for Jesus to save them, and Jesus would do nothing to deter their praise, or their expectant pleas.
Those religious leaders who objected would be likened to a fig tree producing no fruit, and withered from the very roots as a result.
Pastor Bill