Chaplain’s Corner
by Chaplain Rick Bunker
30 … “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here… 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.
37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” – Luke 19:30-38 (ESV)
This Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday; and, it is also the beginning of Passover. Such an extra special time when they both line up so nicely. So there is a lot that we could choose to talk about. God is always doing so many amazing things that we could not possibly talk about all of them. It is good to remember the great blessed things that God has done in the past because given that God is not fickle, God will continue to bless us, and help us in our time of need.
Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem was amazing. The crowds virtually spontaneously bursting with praises that would be considered insurrectionist is amazing on many levels. It took great charisma to evoke such dangerous declarations, and there were no organizers, no Facebook organized flash mob, none of that.
Jesus would continue riding right into the Temple courts a place that had high security and drive out many of the authorities, somehow doing this singlehanded, without even a small army. He then stays and teaches. I would think that he would have to run away or get arrested, but that does not happen. He comes back for several days and continues to teach in this same place.
Many miraculous things happening the very first day of the week we call Holy. Let me back up and highlight another miracle. Horsemen can certainly see the power displayed in riding a “colt on which no one had ever sat.” That is hard to do. Jesus does not only ride the colt. Jesus rides the colt through crowds waving branches and cloaks. Throwing these items on the road in front of the colt that had never been ridden. Well, I do not have to spell this one out for a horseman – colts do not act like this even without all the people, excitement, and waving of objects. They do not calmly walk over things strewn and thrown along their path. Old horses are rarely this calm, let alone a colt that had never even been ridden. I wonder how many in the crowd that day were aware of this miracle?
You know sometimes I ask God why the true stories in the Bible have to have such amazing and hard to believe ‘details’ in them. Is God showing off? Well, God is certainly showing Himself strong and able. God is showing us that He can do amazingly difficult things. Helping us know that it is God who is behind these events. God would not want us to miss this, you do not want to miss it either.
God help us to see the many ways that you are working still today. Help us not to miss Your goodness and grace at work in our lives. Thank you that you are still working for our good, that you are still able to do amazing things, and may we receive the fulness of the blessings you have in store for us – Amen!
