Brown's Daily Word 4-18-11

Good morning, Praise the Lord for this Holy Week. It is a brilliant and a very bright morning. The morning lighjt has dispelled all clouds. The Lord blessed us with a full weekend of serving, worshipping, and celebrating. Palm Sunday marks the day that Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It marked the beginning of the last week that He would spent as a man on this earth among His disciples. In Matthew 21:1-11, Matthew recorded concerning Jesus' road to Jerusalem. “Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, 'Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ’The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.' All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 'Tell the daughter of Zion, ’Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’" "So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! ’Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!" And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee." In this passage Jesus was at the beginning of the end for His earthly ministry. On that road to Jerusalem Jesus was traveling towards his death, burial, and glorious resurrection. While the road led Jesus to Jerusalem, the Jerusalem road will lead us to heaven, if we are willing to follow Jesus long that road. We must be willing to travel the road that Jesus traveled, that road to Jerusalem. Normally we like to see our heroes enter with a blaze of glory. We like it when the good guy makes a grand entrance. When we think of the King of kings and Lord of lords making an entry we would think that there should be all the pomp and pageantry befitting for such a king. As Jesus rode into in to the city of Jerusalem, I am sure that there were many people there who had similar thoughts in their heads. They were probably thinking, "Here is the one who will free us from Rome; Here is the one who will run these filthy Romans right out of town and set up the kingdom of David, with all it’s glory." The Kings of kings chose instead the road of humility. He did not come riding into town on white stallion, but on the back of the colt of a donkey. Furthermore, it wasn’t even his donkey but a borrowing one at that. This reflected the life of Christ which was a life of humility. Jesus did not come into this world with wealth, but he came in poverty. He did not in grandeur but with meekness. He was not one who had a lot of material fortune and fame, but came in humility. When Jesus spoke of his kingdom he spoke in terms of service, servanthood, and humility. It is interesting that on the last night that Jesus spent with His disciples, only hours before He was to die, his disciples were arguing over who would be greatest in the kingdom. Luke 22:24: “Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.” After all they had been thought with Jesus they still not get it. They simply did not understand that the road Jesus had traveled on was a road of humility, and that He required His disciples to travel on the very same road. I think sometimes we lose thought of that ourselves. We love and desire the blessings of God, but do we really want to follow Jesus on this road of humility? To follow Jesus means going down that road, the road of the cross. It means giving up our selfish desires, it means denying ourselves, it means not only putting Christ, first in our lives, but putting others before ourselves as well. This includes our family, our friends, and even our enemies. The road of humility is the road that indicates a willingness to live as Christ lived, striving to be conformed to His image. The Jerusalem road is a road of humility, a road on which we are called to follow Jesus. In Christ, Brown http://youtu.be/rRil3T1Ey7A Saturday evening worship service. Location: First United Methodist Church 53 McKinley Avenue Endicott Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott Saturday, April 23, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music: Winnie Miller, Dave Berry, Al Smith Speaker: Rev Brown Naik For Information Call: 607-748-6329. You can visit our home page at Unioncenterumc.com