“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!”
In a classroom one of the fundamental lessons is when the teacher is talking, the students need to be listening. In many cases, teachers will repeatedly remind their students to listen. Why is that? Is it because the teacher is cruel or simply trying to claim authority? No, listening is the path to learning. When the students are talking and seeking their own agenda, they are not receiving the things they need to learn. The crowd in today’s verse also needed to listen more. They cried out “Hosanna in the highest!” speaking of Jesus’s authority. They spoke about His coming as an affirmation of His identity as the Messiah but when push came to shove, they were not ready to listen to Him.
Jesus being Lord means we are not. Affirming that He has authority means we are under Him. Holding to the claim that Jesus is the Messiah must change how we live or else we are no different from the crowd that was full of empty words that made no lasting impact on how they lived. Instead, we are to say as John the Baptist did in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” When we are saved by Christ, we are changed, and our lives are hidden in Him. We no longer live to make a name for ourselves but lift up the name of Christ in the way we live every day.
- Where are you more prone to talk to God rather than listen to Him? How can you make space to listen to Him regularly?
- How has Christ’s influence increased in your life? What has changed in your life as you have followed Him?
- Pray and ask God to change you by His authority as your Lord and Messiah.
