As we trace Jesus’ journey toward the cross through the Scripture, the triumphal entry has an enormous mix of emotion. The crowd is delirious with excitement over this coming “King of Israel”, while Jesus, in sorrow, weeps over Jerusalem and the spiritual blindness of God’s chosen people. But there is one other emotion that, while unstated, must have been felt deeply, loneliness. Imagine how lonely Jesus felt, knowing He was the only person in the entire world at that time that actually understood what was unfolding. He knew where He was headed, what He would face, the brutal price that He would shortly be paying. Even His closest friends didn’t understand. How isolated He must have felt, how hollow the joyous cries of the people must have sounded on that day. I wonder how deeply He longed to leave that place and return to the Father? Yet He went, faithfully fulfilling the prophecies, in a crowd, all alone.
John 12:12 The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 they took palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord —the King of Israel!” 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written: 15 Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt. 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. Luke 19:41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Lord, as we look at the journey you took to the cross, open the eyes of our hearts. May we embrace your plans for us and simply follow you. May we grow in our love and knowledge of You and our Lord Jesus, and by Your eternal Spirit lead us on Your paths we pray. Amen.
