Luke 19:27-38 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

This is of course the famous scene of what we now call Palm Sunday. It just occurred to me exactly why the disciples got so excited. They had probably never seen Jesus ride anything, much less a donkey colt, and some of them probably remembered the prophecy, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king  comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9) They had been hoping that Jesus was the promised Messiah, particularly considering all the miracles He had performed, and here He was, explicitly fulfilling a prophecy that was universally recognized as Messianic. I would have gotten excited, too! Jesus had acknowledged a few times that He was the Messiah, but never publicly like this, and this particular prophecy explicitly says “king,” which put Him into direct competition with Rome. No wonder the Pharisees were upset! (verse 39) Even the ones who were inclined to believe in Jesus didn’t want Rome coming down on them like a ton of bricks! That ties in perfectly with the discussions that were held after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” (John 11:48) They had no faith to believe that this itinerant preacher from Galilee was greater and mightier than all of Rome. They preferred their current, comfortable (for them) situation of being subject to Rome, to all the turmoil they rightly saw would come from being seen as in opposition to Rome. Indeed, that’s exactly what happened to the early Church, which refused to say, “Caesar is Lord,” but instead insisted that Jesus was Lord, even over Rome. We are quick to judge the Pharisees, but I wonder if we would have done any better in their place. The level of faith required to recognize that global politics are no match for the plans of God is frankly not that common even today.

I am personally challenged by this. God has graciously given me faith, but that faith is challenged regularly by what my senses and my intellect tell me. The world is a mess, and in this Information Age I know more about that mess than anyone could have even just a few years ago. Many, many people are increasingly convinced that we are indeed in the Last Days, and I have no reason to doubt them. That said, it still comes down to daily, moment-by-moment faithfulness and obedience. I will be thrilled whenever the Lord returns, but I’m not to just sit around waiting for that to happen. The Lord has things for me to do, as He does for every one of His children, (Ephesians 2:10) so I’m to seek to discern them and do them, with all the strength He gives me. I can’t do anything right on my own, but He can do anything at all, even using me, so I’m to yield myself to Him in full obedience, for His glory.

Father, I didn’t expect this. Thank You. Thank You for all I see You doing, and for all You are doing that I don’t recognize, or have no idea of in the first place. You have told me to rest, relax, and rejoice in You, but I’m not very good at that. Help me keep growing in obedient faith, not backing off from any task You assign to me, so that Your will may be done on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!