Luke 19:40 says “I tell you, he replied, If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. “Some of you may already know the story of Jesus as he made his way into Jerusalem, one final time, before his most horrific death on the cross and eventual resurrection from the dead. What is still amazing to me is that Jesus knew what was about to take place, but he chose to surrender his life anyway. At any point in his earthly life, Jesus could have and deservedly so, called it “quits”. He could have said to his eternal father, “I have calculated the cost of my eventual suffering and I feel the cost far outweighs the benefit”.
Suffering is an interesting thought to say the least. The reason it is so interesting is that it means something different to every person on the planet. If you were to ask my teens what suffering is they may describe to you a week without their electronics. To others, that are less fortunate than we are, suffering can take on a whole new meaning. To some, suffering is truly not knowing where your next meal might come from, or worse yet, to watch your children waste away from the effects of malnourishment. And although time does not permit me to expound on the many examples of suffering, I do believe the term is relevant to one’s own definition to what it means to them. To clarify my aforementioned statement about my teens and their electronics, I hope you will allow me to say that I feel their definition is one more along the lines of inconvenience and not suffering.
With that said I wanted to point out that Jesus truly did suffer a cruel and agonizing death at the hands of the multitudes as they tortured him and then nailed him to a cross. And unlike any of the other suffering that I see on this earth, this suffering gives my heart joy. Why, because I know his suffering did not end in defeat nor was it a futile waste of time and life. In fact, because of Jesus choice to give himself over to his torturers, I now can have eternal life. In the book of 1 John, the Bible says that “the reason Jesus came was that the might destroy the works of the devil”. Jesus has once and for all defeated the power of sin and death that has reigned in our lives. In fact, scripture further tells us that Jesus made a mockery of Satan as he took his accusations and death sentence upon mankind and nailed it to the cross. I heard someone once say “if that doesn’t light your fire, then your wood is wet”.
To think that Jesus would have to tell the crowd of religious that what his disciples did in worship was most welcomed and most appropriate is an understatement. I wonder though, did they really understand what was about to happen to him? I believe if they had they may have been in a state of disbelief and mourning. Can I encourage you with this, no matter what this life offers to us, there is and never will be an opportunity like we have today. What is that, you may ask? It is the opportunity to worship him in spite of the suffering, the circumstances, the heartaches or the hardships of this life. We are very fortunate in this aspect: We know the rest of the story! The rest of the story is that we can have joy because Jesus chose to ride the last few miles of that journey, even when some folks ridiculed him and only few people worshipped him. I have a choice and you have a choice. My choice is that I can worship him as the resurrected King of Kings that he is or I can miss the opportunity that he has given me. Scripture is always true, if you don’t worship him someone and something will and always does. I don’t know about you but what a great time to reflect and thank him for his choice and our choice to worship.
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