Day 70, Luke 19
Luke’s account of the events of the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem at the start of the final week of His ministry is full of Kingdom significance. Notice how He first encounters Zacchaeus and brings transformation to a hated traitor. It is such powerful transformation that Luke highlights throughout his two books (this gospel and the Book of Acts). The continuity shows that followers of Jesus are equally empowered to bring transformation. You and I can expect to see lives changed too.
Then Luke records Jesus’ further correction of the error we highlighted yesterday: thinking we know what God is doing based on faulty assumptions. It truly matters what we do with what has been entrusted to us. Fear has no place in the heart of a Jesus follower.
When the time comes to enter Jerusalem in fulfillment of the kingly prophecy, Luke records how miraculous this event truly was: a colt that has never been ridden is not going to take kindly to such imposition. Yet the owners allow the disciples to take the young donkey and Jesus rides it! Luke also shows us the depth of compassion Jesus feels about the city that was supposed to be a place of God’s peaceful rule, but now will be crushed by evil forces a few short decades after rejecting the Messiah.
And so, with a mix of sorrow and anticipation, we are now positioned for the events of that Passover week, the pivot-point of history. We’ll see a great deal of powerful activity in the next few weeks.
Have a great day!
Mark.