…and still He came. 

“Now while He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs He was performing and believed in His name.   But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for He knew all people.” (John 2:23-24)

Riding into the great City of David, atop Mt. Zion, Jerusalem (literally, the height or foundation of peace) through that great gate must have been a glorious sight.  People lining the sides of the road, watching this Man riding on a donkey, throwing their coats and palm branches in His path, yelling to Him, “Save now!” and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” taken directly from a festival song (Psalm 118:25-26).

The sons and daughters of Abraham had come from different parts of the known world to celebrate the Passover.  Some had witnessed the signs and wonders He had performed, and they most certainly told those who hadn’t personally witnessed these events.  A few in the crowd had even benefitted directly from His presence and power, those who had been blind and lame and who now see and walk, lepers who had been cleansed and allowed back into the fellowship of community, those who had been dominated by dark spiritual forces and were now free from oppression.

Oh, this was a great day because they had to be thinking, “He’s the one!” The one the prophets had spoken of; the one to assume the throne of David; the one to finally free us from Roman domination and install the kingdom of heaven on Earth with Israel at its center.  He must be the one we’ve been waiting for; He will surely meet all of our expectations.”

And to think, He knew all along…and still He came.

He received their praise and adoration which was fitting for the King He was…but He knew where it was all headed.  When some of the Pharisees complained to Him about people praising Him, He rebuked them, for even the praises offered in ignorance reflected a worthiness in Him they could not comprehend.  Praise was justified for what He was about to do; even the stones on the ground knew that (Luke 19:40).

Even His closest friends missed most of what He was really about; many of their expectations of Him were just like those of crowd.  When He washed their feet to teach them about servant leadership; when Philip asked to be shown the Father; when He told them that He must leave them to prepare a place for them but would return for them; when He spoke of the one who would betray Him even as He entered into a sacred covenant with them through broken bread and poured out wine on that fateful Thursday night, all were indicators revealing that their eyes were still closed to His true self.

And to think, He knew all along…and still He came.  

In the late hours of Thursday night came the confusion and His arrest on the Mount of Olives, the scattering of His friends, an illegal trial that depended on the testimony of lies, being denied by His dear friend, and then on Friday audiences before Pilate and Herod, followed by a brutality of physical abuse inspired only by the evil of Satan, the bitter weeping of His mother and the women who had come to believe in Him, all leading to a criminal’s death on a cross and burial in a rich man’s grave before the sunset (“If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. – Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

He had entered the city by the front gate in honor…and left the city a few days later through the back gate in disgrace to die horribly in an area designated for refuse.  So many who had cheered for Him on that Sunday, cried out for his crucifixion on Friday.

And to think, He knew all along…and still He came.

He came because He knew this was the only way for us to be freed from the curse and dominion of sin and death.

He came because the overwhelming, audacious love of the Father for each of us meant that GOD Himself would supply the perfect lamb whose sacrifice would once and for all time deal a death blow to death itself.                

He came because He knew that it wouldn’t Friday for long; Sunday was coming and with it, everlasting glory not only for Him but for all who earnestly believe in Him.

I believe and thank Him for coming.  I pray you do as well. May your Easter and all that follows be full of the blessedness of Jesus the Christ.

© Byron L. Hannon, 2020.  All rights reserved to original text content.