KING ON A DONKEY??

Whoah!!  Just what is happening here?... (Matt 21)

Jesus the Messiah is entering His city Jerusalem – on a donkey mind you, and...it’s colt too!  Is this just to fulfil Zechariah’s prophecy?...                                            

“Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”

Try doing that sometime...                                     
Enter a city, help yourself to a donkey just waiting there for you, then ride it AND its colt thru a tumultuous crowd, as they shout:                                          

“Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest”

They recognise Jesus as ‘Son of David’ but straightaway call on Him to: ‘Hosanna: Save we pray!’                         
Is that ‘save us from our sins’ or ‘save us from the Romans’?

What a challenge! The rightful King of the Jews enters Jerusalem, now under the iron fist of the Roman Empire. Heavily armed soldiers loyal to Caesar are ready to put down any threat.

Does this King on His donkey start attacking the garrison?                         

No, He goes straight to the temple to take on the Jewish thieves then gets back to healing!

LORD HAVE MERCY!

Finally, it takes two blind men to show how it’s done and who Jesus really is (Matt 20)...guys that have missed seeing all those miracles!

Jesus has left Galilee behind as He heads deliberately to Jerusalem.                      

Why?...  “to be killed and be raised again the third day”     

Who by?...  Jews and Gentiles! 

Three times Jesus has warned of His death and three times He’s been interrupted while healing so many and blessing children: a legal challenge over divorce, a rich young man tries to win eternal life and the mother of two disciples wants the top spot for her boys.

Finally, near the end of the journey...                    

“Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David!”        

The blind faith of these poor men is rewarded and they follow Jesus.

What has Jesus Christ come here for?                         

To serve... but let’s not forget that He is also ‘Lord of the vineyard’ and will be gracious to latecomers... 
(yes, even the Gentiles!)                                            

Jew & Gentile – we all desperately need this mercy.