03-26-21

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 26, 2021
Scripture: Luke 19:35-38
Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

Thought for the Day: Yesterday, as we looked at John’s Gospel, the chant of the crowd was basically, “Hosanna!” Today, as we look at Luke’s Gospel, the declaration of “the whole multitude of the disciples” was a bit more elaborate. It is a quote from the Prophet Zechariah, a worshipful proclamation as the king arrived, the king who would crush the instruments of war and inaugurate the reign of peace (Zechariah 9). Of course, Zechariah was announcing those words centuries earlier in a very different setting, yet it remained the hope of those who echoed the long-held belief as Jesus entered Jerusalem. In a world where violence and cruelty remain very prominent, how are we to hear Jesus and his arrival that included, among other things, the crushing of the tools of war? What does it mean for those of us who join together (not in-person quite yet) in shouting these words once again on Palm Sunday? What does it mean for us to declare that Jesus has come to bring an end to the use of weapons (the word in Hebrew has been translated by some as chewed up and spit out)? Those are some pretty challenging ideas as we stand in the shadow of thirty people killed by gun violence in the last week.

Prayer: Let me not only join my voice to these ancient words, O Lord, but let me participate in seeing the vision fulfilled. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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This Sunday

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