August 6
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HOSANNA TO THE KING OF ISRAEL
12 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.” 14 Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15 “FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.” 16 These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. 17 So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. 18 For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.”– John 12:12-19
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In this story, we witness the crowd praising Jesus for raising Lazarus back to life and welcomed Him as he was coming in to Jerusalem. Jesus was sitting on a young donkey, which fulfills what was written in Scriptures. The disciples didn’t realize that it was a fulfilled prophecy until later. When they were shouting Hosanna, they eventually remembered. Those who witnessed Jesus raising Lazarus from the tomb, continued to witness to Jesus. They have never seen anything like it.
Meanwhile, when all were busy to welcome Jesus to Jerusalem and they were all honoring His coming in, the Pharisees were at the height of their envy. They fear losing their power and control over the popularity and following that resulted from Jesus bringing to life the dead. They needed to put a stop to it or they will be in trouble.
What interesting reactions we get from varied people here. Many believed only because they witnessed the miracles that Jesus did. They focused on the works but not really on the person of Jesus, who is God as well. We often do this when we get attracted to the works of people who serve God or get into the details of other things. We fail to focus on God and His truth and get distracted by other stuff. We fail to recognize that evil can lurk behind miracles. There will be people who will feel insecure and threatened when they are exposed with the evil things they do.
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REFLECTION
• How can people flip-flop from belief and unbelief despite signs and wonders?