"Who do men say that I am?" Mark 8:27
When Jesus rode in on the donkey on Palm Sunday many people were abuzz with excitement. People were shouting "Hosanna" in the streets and waving palm branches to welcome Him into Jerusalem. However, as we all know some if not many of these same folks shouted "Crucify Him" less than a week later. Why?
Many people in Jesus' day expected Jesus to fulfill their agenda. Their agenda at that time was to overthrow the Romans and created a free Jewish state of Israel. Jesus didn't do that and wasn't going to do that and that angered and frustrated people to the point of abandoning the Jesus movement.
Many of us are in danger of abandoning or missing Jesus today for similar reasons. We, like them, have hijacked Jesus. In fact, the very first post I ever did on this blog was entitled Hijacking Jesus and eight years later we're still in danger of hijacking Jesus. What I mean is we've attempted to take Jesus and make Him support our agenda. We've tried to make Jesus fulfill our purposes rather than following Him as He fulfills His.
Jesus is not about your agenda.
Are you using Jesus to support your cause or are you a servant to His cause?
Many of us try to make Jesus in our image when really we are made is His. If we hate guns we use Jesus to support that cause, if we love guns we use Jesus to support that cause, if we vote Republican we make our Jesus ride in on an elephant, if we vote Democrat we make our Jesus all about the donkey's platform. But Jesus isn't a tool to be used, He is a Master to be followed.
This is not to say that following Jesus won't affect our politics and culture. But here's the truth: if nothing about Jesus' statements in the Gospels sting you, then you must not understand them. No political ideology or man-made worldview is in full alignment with King Jesus. If following Jesus doesn't make you counter-cultural in any way then I either want to join your culture or, most likely, you're breaking the first commandment and making Jesus in your own image or the image of your culture.
On this Holy Tuesday prepare your heart to accept Jesus as He is, not as you wish Him to be. People missed Jesus in the flesh because they refused to see Him for who He said He was. Be warned by the example of the Pharisees, the zealots and the average Joes in Jerusalem. Ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you honestly through the Scriptures this Holy Week.
Take time to repent of hijacking Jesus today.
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