February 21, 2013 Lent Day 9

Lent Day 9 The Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem Read John 12:12-19 John 12:19 The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, we are not succeeding at all! Look, the whole world is following him!” THE Pharisees, the religious establishment of Jesus’ time—the church—if you will, were very distressed. They had debated with Jesus. They had accused him of being a pretender, a magician, a false-teacher, and often tried to discredit him. But now the crowd of his followers was praising him as King of Israel. They praised him as the life-giver. They had heard and seen what Jesus had done. And while the crowds cheered, the church sneered. The Pharisees could only think about themselves first. Their authority was threatened, so their desire was to keep the crowd away from the Son of God. God stood right there before them, and they were afraid because, “The whole world is following him.” They “saw” Jesus, but they missed the wonder of God in their midst. Do we as a church see the wonder of God in our midst? Are we paying attention? Are we showing Jesus to the world, or inadvertently trying to drive people away from Jesus? How might we do that? We may be too selfish with our money and not use it with enough faith to help the needy. We might worry too much about form at Sunday’s worship and be less attuned to the heart of worship. We might neglect caring for one another when someone is in need because it feels awkward. We might spend too much time formulating strategy instead of doing ministry. To be a church that lives a resurrected life, let us keep our hearts and eyes open to God in our midst. Let us be a church adoring the resurrected Jesus, seeking new life in him as the crowd did. Let us, with our hearts, proclaim Jesus as King. Pause and Consider: what it means to “follow” Jesus.