Dear Cornerstone family,
Today is Palm Sunday. On this day, we remember the shouts of “Hosanna” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey. We also remember that in the midst of this celebration, tears were streaming down Jesus’s face. The juxtaposition of joy and tears has led centuries of Christians to ask, “Why was Jesus crying?”
Were these tears of joy at the receptance he was receiving? As men, women, and children rejoicing at his arrival, was he overcome with tears of joy? Or were these tears of fear? The hour of crucifixion was fast approaching. Was Jesus crying because he was unable to enter into the festivity for fear of the soon-in-coming cross?
Turns out, these were neither tears of joy nor fear. These were tears of grief. As Jesus entered the Kedron Valley, he glimpsed the Holy City in the distance. When he did, the Scripture tells us he broke down in tears, for the people did not know the time of visitation (Luke 19:41-44).
On the surface, it sure seems like people knew this was the time of visitation. They were singing and dancing in the streets. They were laying down their cloaks in the road and waving leafy branches in celebration. They were even quoting Scripture and applying it to Jesus Christ appropriately. What’s the problem?
Suffice it to say, Jesus wasn’t fooled by all the excitement. He knew the people had ideas about who he was. He knew they had expectations about what he would do. He knew that the texts of Scripture they quoted were tied to very particular and earthly expectations of fulfillment. He knew all this, and he knew they were wrong.
He wasn’t coming, as they supposed, to reestablish the glories of David’s kingdom as an earthly political ruler. He wasn’t coming, as they surmised, to destroy Rome and free Jerusalem from Roman oppression. Instead, he came as a spiritual Savior, establishing a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36). He came to free his people from the oppression of sin and death, to secure for himself a people from every kindred, tribe, and nation (Romans 8:1-2; Revelation 7:9). His concern wasn’t, as they assumed, for the earthly stones of Jerusalem’s temple but, rather, the living stones of a new Jerusalem––a city whose builder and maker is God (1 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 11:10). In a word, Jesus was the deliverer the people needed, but he wasn’t the deliverer they were looking for.
As we enter Holy Week together, that haunts me a bit. I wonder how often I fall into a pattern of worshipping a Jesus of my own personal imaginings rather than the Jesus revealed in the Scripture. I wonder how much of the world’s assumptions have filtered into and shaped my perceptions about Jesus and the Christian life. I wonder as Jesus Christ approaches us today by the Word and Spirit in worship, does he weep? Does he see us quoting Scripture, singing, and waving palm branches, and yet misunderstanding who he is and what it means to follow him?
As we walk through Holy Week together, may God strip away false notions and prune earthly assumptions about Jesus and his mission. And may the Lord restore in our day a robustly biblical vision of who Jesus Christ is and what his kingdom is all about––that together we might declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (I Peter 2:9-10).
Your servant,
