They brought the colt to Jesus and they threw their cloaks
upon it. Jesus sat upon the colt. Many people spread their cloaks upon the road
and others cut leafy branches from the field to spread along the road. The crowd that went before Jesus shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of
the Lord! Blessed is the coming of the
kingdom of David! Hosanna in the
highest!” Jesus entered Jerusalem. He went into the temple. He saw that it was late, as it was already
evening. So He went to Bethany.
Thoughts for Today
First Thought:
In today’s day and age, the donkey is an animal of low
stature. Why have a donkey when you can
have a horse, right? However, in Jesus’
day the donkey was the ride of a king.
Donkeys were surefooted, and Jerusalem was on a rocky hill with narrow
streets. You needed an animal with sure
footing when coming into Jerusalem. To
increase the sentiment, the people cast their garments and branches before Him
on the road. They treat him the same way
that the people treated Judas Maccabeus 150 years earlier when he overthrew the
rule of Antiochus Epiphanes IV. The
people are celebrating the coming of their Messiah. They think Jesus will free them from
Rome. Jesus will free them, but they
couldn’t be more wrong about from what Jesus has come to free them.
Have you ever realized just how much the triumphal entry
actually points to how little the people understood Jesus? Have you considered that the triumphal entry
is one of the greatest symbols of how much the people were looking for the
wrong Messiah?
Second Thought:
When Jesus comes into Jerusalem, the first place that He
goes is the Temple. Let’s pause there
for a second. Jesus goes to the
Temple. He goes to the house of the
Lord. This point is clear, but it is
easy to overlook. The first thing Jesus
does when He “comes home” is to go to His Father’s house. That’s setting a priority for God!
How do you view your time with God? Does it always take a high priority? What can you do to help keep it at a high
priority?
Third Thought:
Jesus also goes to the Temple because there is work to
do. Jesus will only have the strength to
do the work with the help of the Father.
Yet, when Jesus shows up at the Temple it is already late. Jesus knows that there will be a time and a
place for the spiritual battle ahead of Him.
For tonight, He needed to orient Himself to the Father and then go spend
a quiet evening with His disciples.
What work has God asked you to do? Where will you get the strength to accomplish
that work? Why do you think a quiet
evening with His disciples might have been beneficial to Jesus? Do you ever get a quiet time with a spiritual
mentor?
Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 11:12-14
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