The Lord
Scripture Reading — Luke 19:28-48
[They] began joyfully to praise God in loud voices . . . “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Let’s take a look at Jesus’ last week again—this time through Luke. Telling us about Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem, Luke focuses on the people who got it right about Jesus. Jesus is “the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” Luke even points out that these people were praising God with their shouts.
The people are praising God, yet in the next scene the religious leaders (Pharisees) say to Jesus, “Rebuke your disciples!” Rebuke Jesus’ followers for praising God?! Luke wants us to see the absurdity of that. The leaders who are charged with teaching the people to praise, those spiritual leaders in whom God has invested the most, can’t even recognize God when he walks (or rides a young donkey) among them.
Before this event, Luke also includes a parable Jesus told about investing and using a king’s resources wisely (Luke 19:11-27). In the parable, the servant in whom the king has invested the least hides the investment and receives no return. But now we see the Pharisees, the servants in whom God the King has invested the most, acting the same way. The contrast is striking. They have hidden God’s investment.
God loves to invest in his people. And when we recognize and follow the work of our Lord, we have many opportunities to make that investment work for his kingdom. Let’s make the best of God’s investment in us today.
Lord Jesus, please don’t tire of investing in me. Help me to give a return of praise and a faithful witness of your love. Amen.
About the author — Scott DeVries
Scott DeVries has served as a church pastor and as a ministry coordinator in the Holland, Michigan, area. He currently works at facilitating connections between the more than twenty ministries and 1,100 churches of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. He has a passion for prayer, church organization, and studying the Scriptures in their original languages.
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