Jesus was welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd that Sunday two thousand years ago. "He was a King; royal, without trappings. His garment was homemade...His steed was a beast of burden not yet broken to harness... His courtiers were fisher folk, His cavalcade a mob of Galileans. And yet no pageant that ever passed through the streets of imperial Rome has so impressed the centuries as that. The triumphal entries of Roman emperors are almost forgotten, but of that entry of Jesus to Jerusalem, every detail recorded is known by the common people everywhere." (G. Campbell Morgan)
Jesus entered Jerusalem as King, but the crowds that greeted Him didn't understand that His Kingdom was not of this world. Likewise, Jesus stands ready to enter every corridor of our lives, and yet we fail to understand and give Him complete access. "A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing us, embracing us, altogether within reach of our inner selves, waiting for us to recognize it. God Himself is here waiting our response to His presence. This eternal world will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon upon its reality." (A. W. Tozer).
Are you ready to welcome Jesus? Do you want the spiritual world to be real to you? Are you willing to give the King entry into every aspect of your life?
"It all hinges upon Jesus coming into the heart as His own house, altogether His own. If there are some rooms of which we do not give up the key, some little sitting-room, which we would like to keep as a little mental retreat with a view from the window, which we do not quite want to give up-some lodger whom we would rather not send away just yet-some little dark closet which we have no resolution to open and set right-of course the King has not full possession; our heart is not all and really His own...Only throw open all the doors, and the King of glory shall come in." (Francis Ridley Haverhal).
Are you like the people in the fickle crowd who greeted Jesus on Palm Sunday, but turned their backs when it seemed inconvenient and unprofitable to follow Him on Friday?
This week, open all the doors of your life and welcome Jesus with outstretched arms. Uproot the weeds of discontent and pull out the briers of deceit from your life, and offer them as palm branches. Take off the layers of pretense and the robes of self-centered-ness that smother your heart, and lay them at the feet of Jesus.
"Give to Christ, therefore, free entrance into your heart, and keep out all things that hinder His entrance. When you have Him you are rich enough, and He alone will be sufficient for you. Then He will be your provider and defender and your faithful helper in every necessity." (Thomas 'a Kempis).
Today and throughout this week, join all creation in unhindered praise and welcome to the Triumphal King.
Sources: G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Matthew. (Fleming H. Revell); A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Christian Pub. Inc.) Francis Ridley Havergal, Opened Treasures (Loizeaux Brothers) and Thomas 'a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, (Doubleday & Company, Inc)