Episode 484

TODAY’S READING

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 

2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 

3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to Daughter Zion, See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 

7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 

8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 

9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Matthew 21:1-11

 

Hosanna is the Hebrew expression, meaning save, which became an explanation of praise. And we see that in a couple of different verses, and so that that definition that I got is coming straight from the Bible app, and it says a Hebrew expression meaning save. So right here, we are witnessing a crowd of people declaring that not only is he our Savior, but he is the King of all kings. They put their cloaks on the floor; they cut down branches because they knew that he wasn’t he was so worthy that he shouldn’t have to touch the floor. This is a picture of a God who sent His Son, not as a king, clothed in gold, but as a king, clothed and cloaks as a king that rode on the back of a donkey, not on a horse or a pull chariot. This was someone that we can relate to. This was an average man who was the son of God, and we are going to sit here for a moment. Never mind that this same crowd is going to turn on him in the upcoming week. We’re just gonna sit here in a moment and just imagine our Savior walking straight in front of us, charging into our hometown, going downtown, going to take part in this huge celebration. 

 

We know that Passover is about to happen, so we know that everybody is in this city. And everybody is acknowledging that this is the King of all kings. This is the Savior. This is the Messiah who was prophesied. And what I love about Jesus is that he was very intentional about fulfilling every prophecy that was ever spoken about him. And then this case is his see your King comes to you gently and riding on a donkey. I want us to have that vision as we go about our days today. 

 

We have a gentle King riding on a donkey. He is gentle, meaning we can come to him, and he’s not gonna outburst and be angry with us. He is someone who understands us, meets us where we are, and he was riding on a donkey. He isn’t above you. He is in a king clothed again and gold. He wasn’t being pulled by a horse. He was someone who was on an animal that was not looked to as a royal animal. It was something that we can relate to. It’s like if he pulled up in, you know, not an electric car, not in a fancy car. He was pulling up in a 2010 used car. He was not. He was not, you know, to society’s standards of what a king would look like. And that was the most incredible part about him.

 

Prayer

Jesus, we’d love you so much, and we thank you for your spirit. We thank you for your gentleness. We thank you for your humility. We thank you that you are someone we can relate to as an ordinary man, not a king clothing, gold but a king reading on the back of a zonkey Lord; we ask for deeper revelation as we continue to read the Easter story. We thank you for what you did. We thank you for all that you did over the next course of this week. We love you so much. We celebrate you, We mourn for what happened to you, but we thank you for what you did because it’s through your actions that we were able to gain a savior Hosanna in the highest. We love you so much, and it is in your holy name that we pray today and every day. Amen