Palm Sunday….
A celebratory day where we remember how Jesus was honoured when He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. The scripture for today reminds us of that moment. But it also reminds us of the rest of that day and the days to follow when Jesus presented some really adverse teaching to that which was expected of Him. We’ve got to remember the context of how this all happened within such a short space of time!
- Read Matthew 21In the English Standard Version
- Devotional ThoughtToday, I’m going to run through a couple notions in this passage where Jesus really stood out from the crowd and the religious leaders. Yes, He is our Prince of Peace, but to administer that peace, He needed to do and say some things which would have really shocked them. Let’s look at some moments from this passage….
He told His disciples that they wold find a donkey... and they did! And when He rode in on the donkey, people praised Him. But soon after this, He went into the temple and rebuked those who were trading. When the chief priests tried to keep the children and the outcasts quiet, Jesus opened His arms to them even more. When He walked past the fig tree that didn't bloom, He cursed it. But He likened this to faith! That we could be expected to have faith even when it didn't make sense to have faith. He reminded the Pharises that if they didn't accept John when He was preaching righteousness and they wouldn't accept Jesus when He was embracing sinners... who were they going to accept? And then He then gave them the analogy of being the cornerstone.
Jesus was unexpected and unpredictable. He contradicted the leaders and He opened His arms when others were closed.
We can learn so much just from this one passage. We can learn about how different the Kingdom is to our world now... We can never learn enough about the Kingdom than pressing into the words of Jesus again and again.
- Passage to focus on “And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
Matthew 21:9, 13, 16, 21-22, 27, 32, 42 ESV
- Image for today 
A palm for your Palm Sunday
- Prayer Father,
Thank you for welcoming us into the Kingdom! Even though we ewill get things wrong and we will make mistakes, you still let us come in. We pray that we will never settle to who we 'think' you are but that you will open our eyes to your goodness even if it contradicts what we think!
Thank you for Holy Week, thank you for what it opens the door to. Help us to be intentional with how we treat others this week so that through our lives, we can tell them about you!
- Active ideaJournal about how God has shown up in an unexpected way in your life this week.
Thank you for joining me today! Hope to see you again soon!
Have a blessed Lent
~ X ~
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