Someone (if you know who tell me) said that civilization is a thin veneer stretched across an ocean of barbarism.
Is it just me or is the fabric of civilization fraying?
Seven maniacs have gunned down over 50 Americans in the last 30 days. And that’s only the mass shootings. A few hours ago pirates captured an American vessel which has at this moment been retaken by its crew.
It’s almost Easter.
In years past I asked my Congregation the same question on Palm Sunday. Did Israel go from civilization to barbarism in the space of five days? How could the same crowd which hailed the Lord in adulation on Sunday demand His execution on Friday? The question is complex, but I now believe it was misconstrued. Complex because we can’t be sure how many of the same people who shouted “Hosanna” on Sunday shouted “Give us Barabbas” on Friday.
The Chief Priests allied with the Pharisees would have been perfectly capable of producing a rent-a-crowd at a moment’s notice on the Friday morning. But the mood on the street could actually have turned against Jesus as well.
I believe the question was misconstrued because I’m no longer sure the crowd did change. The word Hosanna means’ Lord Save!’ The tragedy is that most who shouted the word weren’t pleading for the salvation Jesus of Nazareth came to offer. They didn’t mean “Deliver us from the dread power sin has over us, because we have transgressed against the God of Israel and cannot save ourselves.” It was rather “Throw the Romans out. Remove the heel of Rome from the neck of Israel.” It was a political and military deliverance they were after. In short they craved the solution Barabbas was offering.
On Palm Sunday with Jerusalem at a fever pitch the Greeks asked for a word with Jesus. At the critical moment there came a word from Jesus: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone. But if it dies it bears much fruit.” We are prone to abstract those words from their context and preserve them in memory as a kind of general spiritual principle. But in context Jesus was speaking about Himself. He came not to kill the enemies of Israel but to die for them. That wasn’t quite what the crowd had in mind
Jesus’ plan of salvation must be paramount. It supplants all salvation strategies of our own devising. The Gospel stands alone. By its very nature it can never be one choice among many.
Timothy Keller has observed that the Lord Jesus left us with a choice most stark: “Crown Me or kill Me.”
The Friday mob made its choice.
We must make ours as well.
The Cross is still our only hope 2000 years after The Event.
To embrace the message of the Cross is to make God our Father and Heaven our home.
Anything less means the Abyss.
Is it just me or is the fabric of civilization fraying?
Seven maniacs have gunned down over 50 Americans in the last 30 days. And that’s only the mass shootings. A few hours ago pirates captured an American vessel which has at this moment been retaken by its crew.
It’s almost Easter.
In years past I asked my Congregation the same question on Palm Sunday. Did Israel go from civilization to barbarism in the space of five days? How could the same crowd which hailed the Lord in adulation on Sunday demand His execution on Friday? The question is complex, but I now believe it was misconstrued. Complex because we can’t be sure how many of the same people who shouted “Hosanna” on Sunday shouted “Give us Barabbas” on Friday.
The Chief Priests allied with the Pharisees would have been perfectly capable of producing a rent-a-crowd at a moment’s notice on the Friday morning. But the mood on the street could actually have turned against Jesus as well.
I believe the question was misconstrued because I’m no longer sure the crowd did change. The word Hosanna means’ Lord Save!’ The tragedy is that most who shouted the word weren’t pleading for the salvation Jesus of Nazareth came to offer. They didn’t mean “Deliver us from the dread power sin has over us, because we have transgressed against the God of Israel and cannot save ourselves.” It was rather “Throw the Romans out. Remove the heel of Rome from the neck of Israel.” It was a political and military deliverance they were after. In short they craved the solution Barabbas was offering.
On Palm Sunday with Jerusalem at a fever pitch the Greeks asked for a word with Jesus. At the critical moment there came a word from Jesus: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone. But if it dies it bears much fruit.” We are prone to abstract those words from their context and preserve them in memory as a kind of general spiritual principle. But in context Jesus was speaking about Himself. He came not to kill the enemies of Israel but to die for them. That wasn’t quite what the crowd had in mind
Jesus’ plan of salvation must be paramount. It supplants all salvation strategies of our own devising. The Gospel stands alone. By its very nature it can never be one choice among many.
Timothy Keller has observed that the Lord Jesus left us with a choice most stark: “Crown Me or kill Me.”
The Friday mob made its choice.
We must make ours as well.
The Cross is still our only hope 2000 years after The Event.
To embrace the message of the Cross is to make God our Father and Heaven our home.
Anything less means the Abyss.
