Eighth Day of Lent

Eighth Day of Lent

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, on the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9

Encouraging a crowd to cheer is not difficult. All you need is a very few who unite their loud voices and soon everybody joins them. That’s why football teams have cheerleaders. They spur the crowd on.

Everybody in the crowd on that first Palm Sunday may not have realized that a prophecy was being fulfilled, that the new king of Israel was coming in on a donkey. Some would have recognized it because they would have known this verse! This prophecy was important to their nation’s history and expectations, and it was being fulfilled. Others knew that he was at least someone special because when they were asked later, they replied that he was the prophet from Nazareth.

As they cheered him on, they called him Son of David, words which in themselves put him in the royal line. They cried Hosanna, Hosanna! A Hebrew term which means, “save.” They acknowledged he was God-sent and cried out, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

So they spurred the crowd on, shouted, and laid their coats and branches from the trees on the ground to make a royal carpet for his coming.

Five days later, they would forget.

Prayer: Father, how many times have you done something really wonderful in my life, and five days later – or twenty-four hours later – I have forgotten? I’m just like the crowd. Forgive me. Help all of us to remember who you are and what you have done. Amen

And He Set His Face toward Jerusalem. . . .

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2007,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator