Many of us know the story well ~ the disciples get the donkey and tell the owner The Master has need of it, while the people of Jerusalem line the road to get a glimpse of Jesus as he enters Jerusalem as their King. Pastors across the nation today will probably use this text and historical context to focus our thoughts and lives upon OUR response to Jesus.
This year as I think about this first day of Holy Week, I find my thoughts on Jesus' response to the fact that he has only one week to live. As Jesus sends his disciples to get the colt, he knows he has one week to live. No disrespect intended toward the very King of Kings, but what might be on Jesus' Bucket List as he mounts that donkey and enters the city of David?
The movie The Bucket List suggests to its audience to think how we might redeem the last few days, weeks or months of our lives, if we knew when we would die. Following the lead from the movie, people have created extensive inventories as they envision projects to accomplish, places to see and people to meet, before they breathe their last breath.
In the last scene in the film The Bucket List, Carter Chambers expresses the transformation that has taken place in the life of Edward Cole. Both men spent their short time left on earth accomplishing many things important to them ~ traveling to places and meeting people. As the camera focuses on the mountain where Edward is buried, Carter says,
I know that when he died,
his eyes were closed and his heart was open.
In the account found in Scripture of this final week in Jesus' life on earth, I am struck by the fact that nothing he chooses to do that week has anything to do with his wants and desires. He does not travel to far off places. He does not seek out old friends to hang with. Rather, he moves confidently toward the cross, hoping to redeem the future for eternity as he teaches the crowds about the coming Kingdom and presses the religious leaders to recognize the Father who sent him.
As the Scripture account of Jesus' life pans from this joyous Triumphal Entry to the somber climb up the mount called Golgotha, it is quite clear that Jesus' eyes were open to God's purposes AND his heart was open to increasing the Kingdom for eternity.
I am challenged anew this Holy Week to not only respond to Jesus but respond like Jesus. I want to spend however many days, weeks, months or years I have left, glorifying God and peopling the Kingdom.
May our prayer this Palm Sunday be ~
God, open our eyes and our hearts to how we can redeem the future ~
with what time we have left on this Earth.
with what time we have left on this Earth.
The Triumphal Entry by George and Diana Voyajolu, Iconographers, Kamena Vourla, Greece
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