This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Shadows: A Glimpse of a Savior! (WATCH HERE)
I may have had the wrong impression.
If I were part of the crowd that lined the street waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” I may have been thinking something very different than what Jesus was really doing. Jesus was riding on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem…a perhaps odd way to enter, but the buzz was he was the Messiah. But…
I may have thought, “This is the end to the plaguing occupation of the Romans!”
I may have thought, “This is the beginning of a rule greater than King David!”
I may have thought, “All my problems are going away because Jesus is making his entrance today.”
The prevailing thought in the nation of Israel at the time of Jesus was that the Messiah of which the Old Testament spoke of was going to be an earthly ruler and provide deliverance from earthly problems. He would establish a political kingdom like King David. He would bring healing to the sick and food for the hungry. Even Jesus’ followers seem to have this idea.
Perhaps we have the same, but wrong, impression too.
It’s easy to think that if we proclaim allegiance to Jesus, all our earthly difficulties will go away. We kind of want Jesus to be the earthly king that establishes a kingdom of peace and absence of problems.
I spoke to a gentleman a number of years ago who thought “God owed him” something positive in his life because he didn’t feel he deserved the life challenges he was going through. In recent political cycles, it seems common among Christians to seek a political “savior” who would help legislate Christian morals into the law of the country. It’s easy to want problems to disappear, illnesses to be completely cured, and broken relationships restored. Perhaps none of these is completely a bad thought, they just are mistaken realities of what Jesus came to do. .
Even today, it’s easy to have the wrong impression.
Jesus didn’t come to be an earthly king. He made that very clear when on trial before Pilate when he said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” He didn’t come to free us from every physical ailment, relational challenge, or financial worry. Rather he came to be the Savior we really need and solve the biggest problem we really have…the problem of sin.
Holy week is the culmination of his work on our behalf. Zechariah prophesied this way in chapter 9:9-10
9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Perhaps at quick read, Zechariah seems to be speaking of an earthly king and reign…but when you read him slowly, you realize no earthly king or earthly kingdom can be or bring what Jesus brings. The Savior we need is righteous, gentle, brings salvation and peace. Nothing any earthly king can bring, but is exactly what Jesus does.
Jesus is the Savior we really need…and we’ll unpack that this week!
Apply: What misguided impressions have you held about Jesus? What helped to clarify them?
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for riding into Jerusalem to be the Savior I really need, not the Savior in my mind I really want. Clear out the misconceptions and replace them with the truth of who you really are and what you came to do. AMEN.