Before we get too carried away with the party, we need to remember what it was going to take for the Messiah to fully come. Yes there is celebration, but there is also pain, humiliation and suffering.
Though Jesus is beaten and insulted, he is not disgraced. He takes what he needs to – to complete the job he has come to do. He takes the pain, the anger and humiliation on himself – because he could.
Yet he is innocent…
Jesus
you were innocent,
yet you bore the pain and anger of people who misunderstood.
When Jeff Stelling, he of Sky Sports Soccer Saturday Fame, used to read the days Classified results, if they’d played at home the last team to be read out was the Welsh Premier team, TNS. If they had won, Jeff would joke, “They’ll be dancing in the Streets of Total Network Solutions tonight!”
17As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he took his twelve disciples aside and told them in private:18We are now on our way to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses. They will sentence him to death, 19and then they will hand him over to foreigners who will make fun of him. They will beat him and nail him to a cross. But on the third day he will rise from death.
A Mother’s Request
20The mother of James and John came to Jesus with her two sons. She knelt down and started begging him to do something for her. 21Jesus asked her what she wanted, and she said, “When you come into your kingdom, please let one of my sons sit at your right side and the other at your left.” 22Jesus answered, “Not one of you knows what you are asking. Are you able to drink from the cup that I must soon drink from?” James and John said, “Yes, we are!”23Jesus replied, “You certainly will drink from my cup! But it isn’t for me to say who will sit at my right side and at my left. That is for my Father to say.”
24When the ten other disciples heard this, they were angry with the two brothers. 25But Jesus called the disciples together and said:
You know that foreign rulers like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over everyone they rule. 26But don’t act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. 27And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. 28The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.
Jesus Heals Two Blind Men
29Jesus was followed by a large crowd as he and his disciples were leaving Jericho. 30Two blind men were sitting beside the road. And when they heard that Jesus was coming their way, they shouted, “Lord and Son of David, have pity on us!” 31The crowd told them to be quiet, but they shouted even louder, “Lord and Son of David, have pity on us!”32When Jesus heard them, he stopped and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
33They answered, “Lord, we want to see!”
34Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Right away they could see, and they became his followers.
As we reflect on our journey through Lent, we come now to Jesus’ journey. Jesus was walking towards the cross. The strange thing is, he knew that is where he was going, and still he walked it. Step by step.
Friends who have pets who hate going to the kennels tell me how hard it is to get them in the basket for the journey. They know where they’re going – and no way are they going to, if they can help it!
Can you imagine, knowing that was what was going to happen to you, and still going on with the journey? Jesus could have chosen not to do it, but he didn’t.
But then whilst he’s walking the road of sacrifice, other people are still looking the wrong way, still seeking the wrong things.
The mother of James and John wants her boys to sit, one at either side, when he takes his throne in the kingdom. Jesus walks the way of sacrifice, she is looking for the way of glory and honour.
What she is asking for will only come from sacrifice too. Any seat in God’s kingdom comes from following the way Jesus goes, looking not for what in it for me, but what will be in it for others. Jesus is willing to go to the cross, not because of the glory it will bring him, but the release it will bring to others.
Are we looking for glory or sacrifice? Power or the true freedom of the offering Jesus gives? Jesus offers us to share with him, but it means going the way he’s going. Are we up for that?
