“Blessed Is The King Of Israel”

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

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

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

John 12:12-19

It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

John 19:14-16

How quickly public opinion can change! When Jesus entered Jerusalem for the Passover feast, He was welcomed by the crowds cheering to have Him made the king. But by the end of the week, things had changed.

We all love the cheering for a winning team. The hard part comes later when we find out what He expects us to do.

We all think we would have followed Jesus all the way to the cross – but we should have doubts about whether we would really have done that. After all, if we don’t speak up for Him in places where it is safe, what makes us think we would do so in a crowd of His opponents?

How thankful I am that Jesus died for fickle followers so that we can become devoted followers.

Christ deserves full-time followers.

Our Daily Bread – May 31, 2013