War Machine

HT to Asbo Jesus

When Christ rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, he had a statement to make.

You see the Jews had this tradition, the one reserved for their leaders. The one that said what was really going on. Before newspapers, and television, before mobile phones and the internet, there wasn’t an easy way to communicate what was going on. So parades and ritual acts helped send a clear message to the mob. It stopped the rumors and let the people know what was really going on.

So when Jesus rode into the city on the back of a young donkey, what message did he send out loud and clear?

The people laying down the palm leaves, well they were celebrating the arrival of a great general. One to lead the people in war, to bring victory, to push the occupying Roman soldiers out of their land. For these people, Jesus should be riding a stallion, not a small poor man’s donkey.

But Jesus WAS on that donkey, he told the people that he was a peaceful man, and a man of peace. The crowd still went wild, but over the next week perhaps that message sank in. Jesus was not the warrior, he was not there to free Jerusalem and Israel from Roman rule.

On the Sunday the people rejoiced, a few days later they bayed for his blood.

Jesus came to do what needed to be done, but not how the people wanted it to be done. He came to bring peace; peace to a conflict that spanned all of time. He didn’t conform his message to the will of the people, or wrap it up to make it popular. He simply did what needed to be done. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t painless, and in the end it wasn’t popular.

Today, we know the truth, we know the message of Jesus. Today that message is not popular, the people don’t hear what they want to hear in the message of Christ, and no longer line the streets to cheer him on.

Will be like Christ, and keep the message simple and clear? Or will we try to make it more acceptable to the people that hear it, try to meet the will of people? What did Jesus do?