Why Were They Celebrating? (Lent 35-2018)

We all know that feeling of elation when it seems like our dreams are coming true. For some of us, it will be a simple rain shower on a parched land. Or like Pi in our devotional series Pi and Chi, Asking and Answering Questions Why launched from the movie Life of Pi. He was thirsty but all of his cans of drinking water had been thrown overboard when the whale breached and his raft took a watery tumble. Pi was thirsty and he celebrated when it began to rain, answering his thirst as he collected the rain water to drink when surrounded only by salty sea water.

Maybe your feelings of joy are bigger or over things less basic: a new car or a relationship. Maybe some kind of answer to prayer and a problem to be resolved. On Palm Sunday, a day we commemorated Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, there was Messianic fervor among all the people—finally an answer to their prayers!

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The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!” (John 12:12-13)

Why were they celebrating? Because the Messiah has come!

Some celebrations are short-lived, however. Such is the case with Passion Week.

Ironically, the celebration was short-lived not because Jesus failed in His Messianic role, but because He fulfilled it…perfectly, eternally, and fully.

He just didn’t do it by their rules.

Food for thought:

What types of things do you celebrate? Are they generally basic or more superficial in the eternal scope?
What do our expectations have to do with celebrating? Read 1 Corinthians 2:8 “None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
Is there a difference when we expect a certain outcome and it happens vs. when we expect a certain outcome in a specific way and we just don’t see our expectations met?

Join me tomorrow for Why Did They Turn on Him?

For Lent 2018, we’ll explore the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We’ll ask and answer the question “Why?” as we discover the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Join me for the 40 days of Lent which began February 14, 2018 by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page. Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

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Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.