When Jesus came, people had different expectations for who the long-awaited Messiah, the Son of God, would be. Many people expected a savior to come and overthrow the Roman Empire. They wanted a warrior to come and save Israel from Roman rule. They did not expect Jesus, a man born in humble circumstances who came not to overthrow the Romans but to overthrow sin and death.
We left off in our Bible study today in Luke 19, where Jesus entered Bethany as His time on earth was coming to an end. He asked his disciples to find a young donkey and bring it to Him. Today, we will continue the story. Jesus rode the donkey as He made His way toward Jerusalem. As Jesus rode the donkey, crowds gathered and "spread out their garments on the road ahead of Him" (verse 35). You see, word had spread about Jesus' power that was displayed when He raised Lazarus from the dead. These crowds worshiped Jesus. They said, "Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" (verse 38). These people praised Jesus and called Him king, but they did not realize that He was not the kind of king they wanted. They wanted a king who would come as a military ruler. They wanted a king to overthrow Roman rule. They did not realize that Jesus had greater plans. Jesus had come as the King of Kings who would overcome sin and death, which was far greater than overcoming the Roman empire, which, by the way, would eventually crumble. They only saw the small picture of what was happening in front of them. They did not see the bigger picture, which was that they had a sin problem.
It is easy to criticize and judge the people of Israel for not recognizing who Jesus was and for being so focused on their present troubles, Roman rule, that they did not see their real problems, sin, and death. The truth is, however, we, too, act like those Israelites at times. We become so focused on our present troubles that we do not see the bigger picture. We do not see our greatest need, freedom from sin and death, and how Jesus has taken care of that greatest need. He is so worthy of our trust.
Write a prayer of thanksgiving to God. Thank Him for the salvation He offers. Thank Him that He provided exactly what we needed even when we did not realize that we needed His salvation. What a Savior we have in Jesus!
32 So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33 And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”
34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.
36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”[a]
39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
