Daily life with Jesus by Grahame Howard: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD

"12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him and cried out, 'Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel" John 12:12-19. NKJV

It was Passover, a week before Jesus was to die brutally on the cross at Calvary. Crowds of people were everywhere. Some were following Jesus, others had heard that Jesus was coming and wanted to see this great figure who had raised Lazarus from the dead. Surely this was the coming conquering king who would set Israel free.

They lined the road with palm branches and their garments and were shouting, 'Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD. In Hebrew, they were shouting 'Baruch Haba, B'shem Adonai', which is translated Blessed is He who comes in the name of LORD. They were welcoming their King, the Anointed One - the Messiah. And they shouted out these praises as loud as they could. It's quite ironic really, because in just a weeks time, many of them would be shouting for His death. Such is man.

Jesus decided to make the entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. This was in line with the words of Zechariah:

'Rejoice, O people of Zion. Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look your King is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious , yet He is humble, riding on a donkey - riding on a donkey's colt'
Zechariah 9:9. NLT

This was a deliberate claim by Jesus to be the Messiah. To our world, riding on a donkey was lowly and despised but in the Middle East, the donkey was a noble animal. Many elegant people rode on them. A king came riding on a horse when he was intent on war. However he came riding on a donkey when he was coming in peace. Jesus' action demonstrated that He was not coming as the mighty conquering warrior as they expected, but as the Prince of Peace. However, they did not see this at the time; no one understood.

Jesus enters our lives bringing peace. He takes away the hurt, the confusion and the fear. He is our peace and wants to demonstrate this to us on a daily basis. He doesn't Lord it over us, although He would be very entitled to. Instead, He comes to us and humbly offers His friendship; a friendship that can mean so much in troubled times such as we are living through at this time.

He knew what lay ahead for Him - pain, abuse, torture and then murder. However, He refused to shy away from this because He loved you and me so much. Therefore, He made the journey to Jerusalem listening to all of the false praises from people who would jeer and laugh with the others, as He died in agony on the cross in a few days time.

Isn't that one act, worth saying 'thank you,' and giving your life to Him?

Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard