45 Days in the Gospels: Day 9

Matthew 21-22

- Hosanna to the Son of David. I have grown up hearing this word, Hosanna. I have heard Bible stories with it being used. I have sung songs with this word in it. But it wasn't until senior year at Cedarville that I knew what it meant.

At Bible conference, they brought in a special worship leader (very controversial... btw). And we didn't sing the Lion of Judah 42 times. In fact, we didn't sing it at all. But we did sing the Paul Baloche hit "Hosanna."

And after the 2nd or 3rd session, I realized "I have no idea what I am singing." I knew the word comes from the Triumphal Entry narrative, but what does the word mean?

So, I did what any good Bible college student would in my situation... I googled it. It means "please save" or "save now."

I had no idea. I thought it was a praise word, such as Hallelujah.

So, the people are actually lining the streets crying out to the Son of David that He is their Savior. They are begging Jesus to save them.

Ironic, that just 5 days later they are nailing Him to the cross and spitting on Him and mocking Him.

Isn't that our natural reaction though? We cry "Holy, Holy, Holy" on Sunday. Then for the rest of the week, we drag Jesus' name through the mud with our lifestyles. Ironic... don't you think.

A little too ironic... yeah I really do think.

- I bet Jesus wasn't a fan of Fig Newtons. The story of the fig tree withering is one that has always made me wonder. Why did Jesus wither the tree?

And I could steal PD's message about our fig leaves, but this blog is no place for plagiarism or sermonizing.

The main reason is that the tree looked like it was producing fruit. It's leaves were plump and exciting. On the outside, the fig tree was spectacular. But on the inside... Nothing.

This story reminds me of pretty much every interaction between the Pharisees and Jesus or John the Baptist.

- Only Jesus can not answer a question and sound wise. If I were to have people asking me questions all day and all I did was ask them a question in response, people would think I didn't know the answer.

Jesus on the other hand, almost never answered questions directly and He was the wisest Man ever.

The reason for this is that Jesus' response (usually a question) would always expose the motives of the man or woman asking Him. I think it would be nice to be able to know what people are always thinking and their motives.

Then, maybe I could sound wise. But, I don't think that ability would make me too many friends. It didn't seem to work out well for Jesus in the friend department.

- Jesus knew He would be rejected... and still He came. Do we ever think about this truth? Jesus knew that His creation would completely reject Him, and He still chose to come into the world to save them.

I think the story that we usually here is that Jesus came to earth as a cute baby that everyone worshipped and gave presents to. But we forget that every baby in the area was murdered because of His birth. They were trying to kill Him.

We hear stories of how thousands and thousands of people flock to Jesus to hear Him speak and be healed by Him. But we forget that His own brothers and sisters and friends that He grew up with... did not believe that He was the Messiah.

I think too often we think of Jesus as this nice guy that everyone liked and was really popular for 33 years... then all of a sudden a couple of "haters" put Him on a cross, while everyone cried.

This isn't the story of Jesus' life. People were trying to kill Him from the day He was born. People rejected Him from the day He was born.

God in human form spent 33 years being rejected by His creation. While the entire time, all He did was love them. All He did was serve them. All He did was give Himself for them.

- GC-squared. Love God... Love People.

I have heard/taught enough messages on these three verses to fill an entire book. The implications of the greatest commandments are endless.

Every single act you do in life revolves around and reflects the Great Commandment. Every act shows whether you love God or not. And every act shows whether you love people as much as yourself.

So the question is... who do you love?