Meditation 255
John 12: 12-16
The crowd that greeted Jesus on the day he rode into Jerusalem wanted him to be their king, not only that, they wanted him to be their kind of king. Earlier in John’s gospel, after Jesus had fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, the crowd wanted to make him king, and Jesus knew that their idea of Messiah and his idea of Messiah were not the same. Jesus withdrew. (John 6:14-15) (Craig A. Satterlee. Working Preacher)
When people get hold of what they think is a good idea, it can be hard to get them to change their minds. Many who had seen the miracles of Jesus were under Roman rule, and they wanted to be the independent people of God again. A Messiah who would save the nation Israel was just what they wanted. The leaders of the Israelite people, that is the religious leaders, knew that this was a bad idea. If Jesus continued to draw crowds as he had been, this would attract the attention of the Roman authorities, and the result would be unpleasant. The chief priests and the scribes had determined to kill Jesus to put an end to this potential disaster. When Jesus came out of private living and rode into Jerusalem, he knew he was facing danger. The crowd did not know this and they shouted “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. The king of Israel.” (verse 13b) The people were determined that Jesus would be their kind of king.
This desire to make Jesus our kind of king is one that stays with us. We want to follow Jesus and to be open to what God has planned for our lives, but it is easy to make our prayers of supplication more like a list of our hopes. We may pray for the strengthening of the mission of the church, while really meaning that we want our congregation to grow in terms of numbers of people who attend. We can pray for racial tensions to cease, but really hope that those who are asking for equality will stop rocking the boat and learn to fit in. We can pray ‘thy will be done” when in fact our hope is that God will bless our plan.
Jesus is the kind of king who was the theme of the hymn we read in Philippians 2 yesterday. The one who humbled himself and was obedient to God. Jesus is the one who did not avoid the authorities when he knew he had to stand up to power and speak the truth. Jesus, who was present at creation, and who would have witnessed the fall of creation, was willing to be the way that creation could be restored. In Jesus, who was obedient to God, we have a king who shows us by example that greatness and earthly power do not always go hand in hand. Jesus is the king of kings, but he is not the kind of king who does our bidding. Jesus hears our prayers, walks with us day by day and gives us the grace to be humble as he is.