26 Days until Easter

26 Days until Easter

It was the last week.  His last week to live among us.  He had just brought Lazarus back to life and the excitement and joy of that miraculous event had created quite a commotion among the people.  Saturday night, on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus stopped in Bethany where a dinner was being held to honor Him.  I can’t even imagine the atmosphere of this dinner party.  It was less than a week before Passover and Lazarus’s family could not have been more thankful for what Jesus had done and for who He was as they were heading into the holiday.  When I really stop and think about the emotions of this night, everyone must have been so overwhelmed with complete jubilation.  The family had spent some time with Lazarus since he was raised from the dead and what gratefulness must have been brewing inside them, and here they were going to be able to spend time with the One who brought their loved one back.  And even for Lazarus himself, what an amazing time it must have been, dining and relaxing and talking with the Man who gave him a second chance at life on earth. 

It was at this dinner that Lazarus’s sister, Mary, poured out the expensive perfume at Jesus’s feet as an extravagant gift in worship. It was truly an incredible time together and as travelers passed through heading to Jerusalem for Passover, they could hear the buzz of the dinner party.  The laughter and the dining and the embracing as the people in the house enjoyed their time with Jesus.  Word got out that Jesus was in town.  Not only that, but Lazarus was alive and dining at the same house with Jesus.  And so before long, crowds of Jews were heading to see Jesus and the guy that had been brought back to life.  So instead of settling in to prepare for Passover in Jerusalem, they were heading out to Bethany to spend time with Jesus.  And the religious leaders in Jerusalem were furious.  What’s ironic to me is that the religious leaders themselves weren’t focused on Passover,  they were focused on killing Jesus.  And now they felt they needed to kill the evidence of Jesus’s power as well.  

“Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of Him, but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in Him”. -John 12:1

Why in the world would the religious leaders be so outraged by Lazarus?  Here he was walking the earth, loved by his sisters, eating with Jesus after he had already been dead and buried.  How exciting!  How amazing!  How wonderful!  But the religious leaders had already decided that Jesus needed to be taken off the face of this earth, so how could they take Him out without getting rid of the evidence?  Lazarus was evidence of His divine power. His love.  His goodness.  It’s easy to look at this story and think about how evil that plan to kill Lazarus was.  We tend to remove ourselves from this event because of the time that has passed, but it is still happening today.  Evidence of God is still being destroyed or ignored by those who don’t want to follow God.  How often does the world disregard evidence since it goes against their own pride or desires.  I remember a few years back, I was teaching science and I was sitting at a group with other science teachers at a conference. We were on break and I was talking with a few of them about how much I loved how fractals highlighted the evidence of God.  Don’t get me wrong, I get totally excited about seeing the sovereignty of God in stars and planets and galaxies as well as people and plants and animals and oceans and mountains.  But, seeing His sovereignty in numbers and patterns and sets leaves me awestruck and overwhelmingly amazed. Anyway, it didn’t take long before that evidence was disregarded by those at the table.  People will believe what they want to believe.  It seemed like they felt that the evidence of God would take away from their own thoughts and theories about science.  It makes me sad that an unbeliever can’t see how beautiful God is when they look at the patterns He creates in number sets.  For me, seeing God in math and science has always made it all the more wonderful. But to accept that evidence would mean that they’d have to accept His divine power.  His authority.  His creativity.  His goodness.  I don’t need His evidence to be revealed in creation, but it does and it certainly astounds me and stirs me.  How exciting!  How amazing!  How wonderful!

All these years, the chief priests had been admired and followed by the people.  But Jesus changed that.  Here He was, this humble servant, loving and teaching and healing the people.  So now the people were admiring and following this meek and lowly teacher from Nazareth rather than them.  But He was so much more than a humble teacher, He was a ransom for the souls of man. Messiah. Hosanna. And His end on earth drew near.

What was it like Sunday morning?  Did He open His eyes, only to see a blur of His surroundings due to tears?  As morning light broke through the cracks of the house, the smell of the perfume still lingered in the air.  Did He sit at the side of the guest bed and stare down at His feet, freshly anointed with Mary’s spikenard?  Did He think back to where those feet had gone and what they had done?  They had dangled happily as He sat in the comfort of Mary's lap as a child. They had stood long hours next to Joseph as a teenager, helping him build.  They had carried His hungry and tired body through the desert.  They had rested at the well with the Samaritan woman.  They had walked on water with Peter.  They had carried Him on His mission here on earth.  But the time had come.  It was the beginning of the end of His last week on earth.  Today was the day that the Lord had made.  He’d gently press His feet against the sides of the donkey colt and ride into Jerusalem. The Glory of the Lord and once exited the Temple from the east and today, he'd enter from that same direction.

It was Palm Sunday.  The day of the Triumphal Entry.  The multitudes would cheer and sing and yell with Psalms of praise.  They would throw down their cloaks to make a path.  They’d wave palm branches and lay them out before Him as He rode into the city on a colt, a symbol of humility and peace.  

“The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem.  They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, “Hosanna!”  “Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!”  “Blessed is the King of Israel!”.  Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, “Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;  see your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt”.  -John 12:12-15

He rode down from the Mount of Olives as the multitudes hailed Him as King.  But with all the shouting and singing and praising, He didn’t pump His fists or draw a sword or boast in pride as a response to the royal welcome.  Nope, he wept. He wept over Jerusalem.  He didn’t weep for Himself.  His death was near, but that wasn’t the heaviness that burdened His heart.  He loved the people of this city.  He wanted peace for them, but  He foresaw it’s destruction.  Those who cry out, “Hosanna!” will choose to reject Him.  And just as He wept for the souls who rejected Him then, He weeps for the souls who reject Him now.