Lent
March 24, 2018
Scripture Reading: John 12:12-16
The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
‘Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—
the King of Israel!’
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:
‘Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.
Look, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt!’
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.
John’s story of what we call the Triumphal Entry does not vary much from Mark’s except it occurred much earlier in Jesus’ ministry. It too emphasizes the value of hindsight when everything is much clear after the fog has lifted.
My father by all accounts loved his Grandmother Moore. She was a favorite. At least I heard more about her than I heard about the other grandparents. Part of that is no doubt the result of her outliving the others and partly because she lived with his family off and on after his mother was widowed. While he held her in great esteem he did recognize some idiosyncrasies. She told him many times that someday a highway going all the way from Kansas to Texas would pass through her farm making it a lot easier to travel. He just laughed at her, to himself, he told us after all she was old, and he did love her. She died in 1934. He told me of her prophetic insight in the 1950’s as we watched the big machines breaking the ground for Interstate Highway 35 that does run through the edge of her farm.
I am a fan of science and rational thinking, but I also accept that there is more about humans and the world we live in than we will ever understand. Shakespeare perhaps said it best:
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
– Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio
I think God created the world as our textbook to help us develop and learn from our experiences. The disciples lived in a world that probably accepted lack of understanding better than we do. We have grown accustomed to explanations for most things and grow frustrated when answers are not forthcoming. The disciples had to live through Jesus’ death before they finally gained understanding. Holy Week provides us with the opportunity to retrace their steps as we grow in our understanding of God and God’s desires for his children. Invest in the process.
Prayer: God, give us glimpses of your will and your love as we journey into Jerusalem this week toward the Cross. Amen.