“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth! Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted by the mouth of babes and infants, thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.”
Psalm 8:1-2 (RSV)
After Jesus entered Jerusalem, which was a very loud entry, filled with praise and Hosannas, He drew the attention of the entire city. Everyone was talking about Him, asking “Who is this?” Those who knew Him worshipped Him, and those who didn’t know Him came to learn more. The ones who already experienced His love and mercy in a personal way, shared their story with those who didn’t know Him. Some who learned about Him, still never knew Him, because their learning never transferred from their head to their heart. Those were the people who joined the crowd who later condemned Him. His first destination was entering His Father’s house, where He drove out the money changers, who defiled it, and cleansing His temple was His first priority during His final days in Jerusalem. Jesus wanted His temple to be a house of worship to glorify His Father. It is also where the blind and lame gathered from every part of the city, and some met Jesus for the first time in the temple area that day. Jesus healed them all, and they were probably the last to be healed during His earthly ministry. Among all those He healed, not all continued to follow and worship Him. We know this from the story of the ten lepers who were healed, but only one returned to praise and thank Him. He warned about the seed that would fall on rocky ground and not grow into a lasting faith, like those who first welcomed Him into Jerusalem but later condemned Him to be crucified. Then came the children singing Hosannas to Him, as was predicted by David’s Psalm, saying that out of the mouth of babes, God would bring forth praise for His son. When the chief priests became indignant at the noisy children, Jesus simply rebuked them for not knowing the scripture prophesying that little children would shout His praises. He reminded them of this scripture and for a brief moment His foes were silent with nothing to say. His entry into Jerusalem was a landmark day in history, because it marked a clear split between those who were with Him and those who were against Him. Whatever the reason that so many betrayed Him, whether it was because of seeds in rocky ground, or people who never really knew Him, or due to religious pride, there was a great betrayal of Jesus, after entering Jerusalem that day. As we remember these events this Holy week, Jesus told us “No one takes My life from me, but I lay it down on my own.” (John 10:18)
He entered inside Jerusalem, knowing His destiny, and He chose to lay His life down for us. He did it for the joy that was set before Him, and in His divine vision, He could see the lives that would be changed one day, like yours and mine. He saw the tears of repentance of every person who would kneel before Him and confess Him as Lord. He saw all the souls that would be ransomed and join Him in heaven, and these visions of joy helped Him to endure the cross. As we go to His house during this Holy week, we allow Jesus to cleanse our temples by receiving His forgiveness. With a seed of faith planted deep in our hearts, we take the time to return to Him in some special way this week as that one leper returned to thank and praise Him. We offer the praise from our lips as the noisy little children did that day, and with childlike faith we are unconcerned with being accepted by anyone else but Him. Jesus laid it all down for us and we can also lay ourselves down before Him. We are entering inside Jerusalem with Jesus this week and we are following His footsteps from the loud Hosannas to the silent painful road that led to the cross. At the cross, He bore our sins and paid for our punishment, making us whole. Take us with you Jesus, inside Jerusalem today and all week, and help us to draw closer to you and simply love you in a deeper way than ever before. Amen