Meeting 4/11/14
Passion Week.
It's Passion Week, leading up to Easter. This is where everything starts to slow down in the story, allowing room for the details to be etched in history. Up to this point, it had been business as usual in Jesus' ministry. He had been traveling around, using parables to teach, followed by the masses, but not really blatantly revealing His full identity. Suddenly, in Luke 18 He pulls his disciples aside and says, "we are going up to Jerusalem". This is the moment He was sent to Earth for. Next week, we will look into what He accomplished in this, but today we recognize the turning of events. Quickly, He set His face like flint and showed the passion needed to face what was around the corner. As a group in this study of Life, we all felt convicted in today's lesson. Are 'we' going up with Him? Who are we going with? Are we going alone? I hope we can honestly say we are going with Jesus down the path of our journey to fulfill our life's purpose.
Moving ahead into Luke 19, the passage describes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus sent two disciples ahead to fetch a donkey. They put a cloak on the donkey and Jesus rode on its back. The masses of people lay down their cloaks on the path ahead of them, praising him as their King. This moment had been predicted long ago and came true before their eyes. Something had clicked with this particular group of people. Other groups believed Jesus would be the king coming with the sword to free them from Roman oppression. Instead, He came in humility on a donkey. I believe this group of people got it. Things were different now. Jesus was revealing that He was it. This brings the second point of conviction for our group: are we going to allow ourselves to praise Him with abandon? Will we be unashamed of His presence and sovereignty?
Enter in the Pharisees. They were there, looking for an opportunity to catch Jesus in a trap. They demanded that Jesus rebuke the people from this bold praising. Jesus replied that if they were quiet, the rocks would cry out in praise. This was the third point of our conviction today. Are we going to join in creation to praise our God? Will we be fully alive human beings that honor God with our words, thoughts, and actions? Are we going to be quiet and let the rocks praise Him by themselves?
Jesus is showing HIs passion. What about our passion for Christ? Are we living with His passion driving us? This was the fourth and final point of conviction in our study. I believe we are sharing the same convictions the disciples must have felt as they considered the weight of the week's events. Now, the great issue is how passion is kindled by a directed purpose. I'm thinking of an arrow drawn by an archer and aimed at a target. When the archer releases the arrow, it flies in the appointed direction and strikes the target at the aiming point. As we consider the events of Passion Week and allow them to sober us with conviction, we sense the Archer drawing us into position as His arrows. In a week's time, we will understand the point and purpose of His passion. We will be compelled, as the disciples were, to live with passion.
