Devotional 3-26-12

Mark 11:11 “Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve."

Use your imagination! The day we now call Palm Sunday was coming to a close. What did Jesus think about when he went to the temple and looked around at everything? Was he remembering the crowds crying “Hosanna!” that morning? Was he thinking about the children laughing and waving palm branches? Was he remembering when he was a boy and he stayed behind in the temple after his parents had gone back home after their Passover celebration? He would have been considered a young man by twelve, so perhaps he was recalling the time he spent with the scholars and the priests until his parents found him. Did they punish him in some way and was he reminiscing about that? Was he thinking about other Passovers of which we have no written record? We know he loved God’s house.

I believe he was thinking about all of those things, but also how quickly those adoring crowds would be yelling “Crucify him!” just a few days later. I think he did know the future, not in some magical, mystical way, but primarily because he was an astute judge of human behavior. Past experience with his disciples revealed they would betray and desert him. He knew the women who followed him would not leave his side until the very end, and they would be the first to learn of his resurrection and share it, even when it seemed “an idle tale” to the men. He knew Judas would betray him somehow and that Peter in his impetuousness would deny ever having known him.

The seminary I attended placed a great deal of emphasis on Mark’s Gospel and the reality that discipleship is hard and that we have to choose every day whether or not we are going to follow Jesus, no matter how difficult the journey. As he faced the last week of his earthly life, surely Jesus was thinking about his calling to be the Messiah and how different his idea of that was from the people who were still seeking earthly power. No matter how many times he told them that he was not that kind of Messiah, they couldn’t get in their heads that he wasn’t talking about a kingdom here and now which they would benefit from.

Of course I don’t really know what he was thinking, but I wonder if at least some of his thoughts centered on how God had sustained him in the past. God never let go of him and Jesus stayed focused on his Father no matter what happened. He knew that God would be with him in the events of the week ahead as surely as God had been with him in the past. When we fear the future, when we face trials or times of uncertainty, it is good to remember how God has been there for us in the past. God does not let go of us, any more than he let go of Jesus. God was behind us in the past, with us and strengthening us in the present, and leading the way into the future that He has planned for us. Jesus kept faithful. My prayer is that we can do the same.

Rev. Dorcas Linger Conrad
Highland Avenue UMC
Fairmont, WV (for now)