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`Who is the Jesus YOU see? By Brian Drury from SBC

sabdenbaptistchurch

Palm Sunday 5th April

On this most important week in the church calendar, we read Mark 11:1-10. It is no coincidence that this part of Holy Week is present in all four of the gospels. Jesus, The King, enters Jerusalem on a donkey. It is about Jesus making a statement.

I wonder how many of us rode a donkey as a child? As I lived at Southport, mine was near the pier, near where the biplane used to fly from, for the older ones amongst us.

Many verses in the bible seem to show a standard for welcoming Kings into cities - Kings entered cities on donkeys; Normal folk, they walked!

In 1 Kings 1:32, King David has Solomon sent into the city on a mule. In 1 Samuel 10:1-9 entitled "Saul is anointed King", Saul sets out to find donkeys and is set on the road to kingship. In Zechariah 9:9 Jesus Christ is prophesied as "Zion's King" humbly riding a donkey.  Do you remember the Wise Men coming to find the new King at his birth? The son of King David? Jesus is recognised as a king even at His birth. 

To enter a city riding a donkey was a Royal statement for Jesus, because he did not walk as the normal folk did into the city. He rode in as a King.

Psalm 118 is one of the great Psalms of praise to God. The crowd used words from the psalm (in verse 27 - "with boughs in hand") to show their feelings as they would all have known the words from the psalm.

In Matthew 21:9, The crowds cried "Hosanna", which in Hebrew, cried out, means “Save Now!" or "Oh, Save!”. The people knew they needed a leader and they knew that they needed it now, but what sort of leader did they need vs. what sort of leader did they think they need? We see also in this that, for the first time in Jesus ministry, firstly he had a public claim to kingship (and a king was a leader) and secondly, he was recognised by crowds.

As a king/leader, what was Jesus like? He was not a military triumph but was not meek either. Meekness does not conquer anything. Jesus was anything but meek. He challenged people. When He rode into Jerusalem, Jesus was challenging people to make a decision. Who is this Jesus? We know that Jesus was not the military leader that the crowds wanted. No wonder they were so easily turned at Jesus' trial?

What sort of leader would you have expected Jesus to be? What sort of leader do you want now? Do you want someone who can fix everything,? Or someone who suffers with you? Someone who loves you enough to walk through this world with you, taking the hard times and the times of joy alongside you?

On the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem, He does not sacrifice in the temple as any leader would be expected to, thereby rebuking the standards of His day, standing above the ordinary and expected. Any leader must put on a certain public face, however Jesus chose to be himself, representing His Father in public.

Even our own queen has her public face/persona. I was fortunate in the 1970’s to see her at Leyland railway station. As she boarded the royal train, she sort of sagged as if to say ‘Glad that’s over’. For that moment, we saw her as 'herself'. Then she looked up and saw half a dozen men standing on a wire fence and waving like mad. She smiled and gave us a little wave. That made us feel so special and close to our Queen.  I wonder what makes us feel closer to Jesus?

Who is the Jesus that I see?

The Jesus I see is human like me, but also God on earth, and has granted me the gift of the Holy Spirit, poor though I am. The Jesus I want:- The one on whom my faith rests is from the gospel where the disciples where afraid and ran away after the crucifixion. But they came back knowing what waited for them. How could I do any less?

So, at the start of Holy Week, as the Cross looms nearer, the challenge to us today is; Who is the Jesus YOU see and what sort of Jesus do you want?

Gods richest blessings to all

Brian

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