A couple of weeks ago I
was thinking of Holy Week when a thought came to my mind. As I thought about Jesus
going into Jerusalem and the things He did leading up to His death and
resurrection, I thought “what if Jesus came to my city today?” As I remembered
all the things He said and did in Jerusalem that week, I thought, “what would
He say and do if He came to our cities next week?”
Now, as we all reflect on
the Lord’s sacrifice this week, I wanted to ask you the same question: What if
Jesus came to your city tomorrow? What would He do? Where would He go? What
would He say? As we ask ourselves these questions, they lead to some other
important questions to ponder…Where would you be? How would you react? What
would you do?
So, I wanted to take us on a
journey of the imagination. I want to look at 4 things that took place on that
week nearly two thousand years ago and wonder what it would look like if it
happened to us today…
Jesus rides into town…
Matthew chapter 21 sets the
scene for us. It tells us that Jesus entered the town on a donkey with His
disciples walking next to Him as crowds waived palm branches and shouted
“Hosanna in the highest.” He could have rode in on a mighty steed but no a
lowly donkey would do. He could have been surrounded by thousands of Angels,
but no some lowly fisherman would do. And the crowds although seemed like they
were worshiping Him actually just wanted to use Him for their own benefit. Some
wanted Him to change their life circumstances, some saw Him as a way to get
rich and some saw Him as a political revolutionary. That is why in a few short
days they would turn on Him when He didn’t deliver what they wanted of Him. And
no doubt, amongst the crowd were those spiritual elitists, the Pharisees. They
were not shouting “Hosanna”, instead they were questioning Jesus’ authority, credentials
and authority. They saw Him as a threat to their way of life.
So, what if this scene played out in
our world? What if Jesus rode into your city?
What kind of car would He
come it? Would He come in a limo, a Mercedes or maybe a city bus?
And who would be with Him? World
leaders? The best-selling Christian
authors and pastors? Would they be dressed in suits or their Sunday best?
Finally, what would the
crowd say or do? First of all, would there even be a crowd? Would it even make
the nightly news? And what would the crowd say? Would they be worshipping or
just as the 1st century crowd, and only see Jesus as a means to
their desires? Would they be expecting Jesus to change their government? And
most importantly, what would you be thinking or saying? Would you question His
credentials? Would you question where He went to Bible college or Seminary?
Would you say He isn’t the most dynamic preacher? Would you see Him as a threat
to your way of life?
Jesus goes to the Temple…
Once Jesus enters the city,
He goes to the temple. He drives out the money-changers and the merchants. He
calls out against those spiritual elitists and rebukes them. Usually that is
all that we remember from that scene but He does other things too. The Bible
says that the lame and blind came to Him at the Temple and He healed them.
So, what would happen if Jesus decided
to visit your church next week?
What would His reaction be?
Would He find things that He needs to drive out? Where does He need to cleanse
your church? What would He say to your church? How has your church distorted
the house of God? But at the same time, who would He heal? Who would be the
ones who come to Him in His house and find healing? Who are the lame and blind
of our society? In what areas does your church need to repent and find
forgiveness in Jesus?
Jesus prays for His disciples…
Later on during the week, in
one of the greatest discourses in scripture, Jesus prays for His disciples.
Jesus knows what’s coming. He knows their fears and anxieties. He knows where
they lack strength and faith. So He prays for them.
What would Jesus’ prayer for you sound
like? What would He pray for you?
What would it be like to
hear Jesus pray over you? To hear Him address your greatest fears? To hear Him
address your failures? What would His prayer be for all of us in this culture?
What are the things He would warn us against? What are the things He would pray
for us to stand against? What do you need to hear Jesus say to you?
Jesus resurrects from the grave?
The last event we will look
at is fittingly His resurrection. The disciples had watched Him die on a cross
just three days earlier. They watched as their hopes and dreams faded away that
Friday night. They felt the weight of the silence on Saturday. But, something
amazing happened. They saw the power of God in a resurrected Jesus on Sunday….and
that changed EVERYTHING! These lowly, fearful, disappointed fishermen went on
to change the world because they saw and believed in the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
So, what if Jesus appeared to you on
Easter morning?
How would it impact you if
Jesus came to you in all your shortcoming, disappointments, fears and failures
and allowed you to feel His scars? How would it change your life hearing Jesus
tell you that you too have power? Would it change everything for you as it did
for the disciples? Would you go out and live completely for Him? Would you not
worry or care about anything that may come against you? Would people write
books about you? Would the book of Acts have another chapter added to it
because of your acts? Would you be forever changed and would the world be
forever changed?
As we prepare ourselves for
Easter, it is easy for us to become disconnected. In fact, for a lot of
Christians, Easter becomes more about unbelievers than for believers. It also
becomes easy to think about the past. And although the death, burial and
resurrection, which took place some two thousand years ago, is the greatest
event in the history of the world, it is not just about the past. I believe we
need to celebrate Holy Week and Easter Sunday not just for what God did but for
what He is doing.
Although the journey that we
just took may have seemed hypothetical, it in fact is not. You see, just as
Jesus entered Jerusalem, He has also entered into each one of our hearts. Just
as He cleansed the temple, He has cleansed our temples of all sin and is
continually restoring us. Just as He prayed over His disciples, He is
constantly with us and praying for us. And finally, we have all witnessed the
power of His resurrection in each of our lives as we are transformed into His
image. The only question left is how will we respond?
