Stirring Others

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

STIRRING OTHERS

Matt 21:8-11

8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?" 11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

NIV

Jesus rode on the donkey from Bethphage down the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, and up into Jerusalem. There must have been some amount of a crowd that followed Jesus from Jericho to Bethany including the two blind men he had given their sight to. It is only about thirteen miles from Jericho to Bethany which would not prohibit the crowd from following. However, as it may have taken a little while to make that trip on a donkey from Bethphage to Jerusalem some of the crowd could have run ahead, as Matthew tells us, and others followed along with him. Those who went ahead were preparing the way, telling others, so as many as wanted to be ready, laying their cloaks on the road and cutting branches from the palm trees, which then this would become our Palm Sunday service, celebrating the triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. The word “Hosanna” became known as a declaration of adoration. It is made up of two Hebrew words which together would mean excited to be free or made free. This would fit well yelling “Hosanna to the Son of David” as they thought Jesus was going to free them from the oppressive Roman rule of their land. There were those who did not know what all the fuss was about or who was all the fuss about, and those who were part of the crowd that followed Jesus told them who Jesus was. This is our story, at least it should be, and not just on Palm Sunday. We should be living with that excitement day in and day out for indeed Jesus did set us free. He set us free from sin, but also from the penalty of sin. We should be living out Hosanna to Jesus every day, every minute of our day. As the gates of Jerusalem were open to Jesus, and people were declaring their adoration to him and telling others who he is, so we opened the gate to our heart and ask Jesus to enter in, to be the Lord of our lives. Being set free we cannot remain silent and sedate about this. We must have so much joy in our heart that it would overflow into our daily life, our attitude, our behavior, our expression of praise. We are excited to be a follower of Jesus, it is not a task or a duty to be observed, but this excitement of being set free, of having Jesus within spurs us to this declaration of adoration, all the while telling others who are stirred by our excitement who Jesus is.