I think about Jesus and that
“long journey into Jerusalem and I wonder how He did it knowing what lay ahead
of Him. I am grateful He did it because that entire journey and His subsequent
death and resurrection are some of the reasons we are who we are today –
children of God. This is the journey that led Him to His painful death for mankind.
It is interesting to note that the only person who knew what was ahead of
Christ was Christ. As He sat on that donkey and people shouted “blessed is He
who comes in the name of the Lord” His mind was on what was set before Him. How
could he have even enjoyed the adulation? The people were so excited about him
that they threw the entire city into an uproar yet it was not long before the
same people turned against him later. Even worse is the fact that He was aware
that the same people who shouted hosanna would very soon shout “crucify Him”
yet He endured the praise knowing that He had to remain focused – His mind was
fixed on His mandate as He rode on that donkey
Mathew 21: 10 “The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he
entered, ’who is this? They asked.”
The ordinary man would think that
Jesus came to that place of crucifixion “foolishly” because He went to
Jerusalem knowing what was going to happen to Him just like Paul did when he insisted
on going to Jerusalem even after he had been told what would happen to Him. Sometimes
we have to be foolish to accomplish God’s purpose for our lives. God writes the
path and pleasurable as the path may sometimes seem, we do not have the right
to choose our own preferred path. Paul must have appeared very strange to
Agabus who spoke by the Holy Ghost concerning what Paul would face in Jerusalem
when Paul insisted on continuing his journey to Jerusalem. God does not compel us
to follow His chosen path for us but honors those who love Him enough to pay
the price for His will to be accomplished on earth. Jesus did it and was
honored as was Paul who wrote almost all the books of the bible which God could
have chosen any other person to do. It takes a lot of humility to know the evil
people will do to you and not “act out”. It kind of feels good to let them know
that you know what they are up to but Jesus did not and He rode humbly on a
donkey. This route is definitely a humbling one.
Mathew 21: 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.”
Philippians 2: 8 – 9 “he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a
criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of
highest honor and gave him the name above all other names.”
It is worthy of note that Jesus
upon entering Jerusalem, despite the painful future He had there, went about
His Father’s business. He did not let the pain or agitation of that which He
was about to face hold Him back from completing His work. Jesus had other
things to accomplish in Jerusalem before facing the cross and He accomplished
them. I can only imagine how tough it was for Him accomplishing other task
knowing what was before Him. Anyone else would have understood if He was too
weighed down by sorrow but Jesus knew the consequence of disobedience and
understood that excuses don’t make disobedience right and God is would not be unjust.
This was the only begotten of the Father; if God would not allow mediocrity
with Him, I wonder if He would with us. Obviously the way to greatness with God
is paved with humility alongside other things, hard-work bring one of them.
Mathew 26: 39b “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering
be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
God obviously wanted us to know
that Jesus found His death a very tough experience otherwise it would not have
been recorded in the scriptures for us; yet Jesus died anyway. Death is the
ultimate of humility so that as the author of our faith, He walked the entire
route to the very end and set Himself the example for us to follow. Many have
walked that path after Him but are we ready to make that sacrifice today? It is
time to search our hearts once more and ask ourselves the hard question – are we
willing to be humble enough to look away from ourselves that the will of God
may be done? Can we do it without announcing to all what we about to do and
why? The temptation to announce why He accepted to hang on the cross must have
been real especially when he was taunted yet He humbled Himself. I wonder, can
we resist the taunting knowing that we had the power to put an end to that
torture? Jesus deserves the reward and God has His reward for us as we follow
in the steps of our Saviour. Happy Easter.
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