Hosanna! Blessed is he who come in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!
(Luke 12:12)
As Jesus turned his face towards Jerusalem, there was a buzz on the street as the townspeople chanted, “The king is coming!” The religious leaders were already looking for him. Threatened by his popularity, they had already decided to kill him. The crowds on the other hand saw him as the one who would free them from Roman oppression and domination. They had waited a long time for him. Each group had made him their kind of king. So, they waved their palm branches as they went out to meet him shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who come in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel! (Luke 12:12). As we look at our world today, it is still abuzz as our 21st century crowds say, once again, “The king is coming!” You can hear this over the internet, on television and on the radio, “The King is coming.” And, as we wave our palm branches and sing our Hosanna’s, let us pause for moment and reflect. “What kind of king are we expecting? What kind of expectations have we laid on him?”
You see, those early disciples did not understand that Jesus was the fulfilment of prophecy (Zechariah 9:9). He could only be God’s kind of king. He did not ride in on a chariot or a golden carriage, flashing a sword in his hand, but rather on the foal of a donkey (vs.14) because he was not coming to overthrow the Roman government, or to fulfill humanity’s expectations, Jesus, was coming to redeem humankind just as had been written about him (vs16).
As we wait for the soon coming king, there is much that we too may not yet understand. We may not understand how soon his arrival will be; we may not understand the suffering that will happen as we wait; and we may not understand why some will be taken and others left. But we can be certain of this, that everything will happen just as has been written. The king will come, at an hour we do not expect (Matthew 24:44); he will come with the shout of the trumpet (1 Thessalonians 4:16) for a pure and spotless bride (Ephesians 5:27), and he will take those that are his to be with him forever.
Yes, indeed! The king is coming, are you ready?
Almighty God, thank you for your word. For it is written that you will return in the same manner you went up to heaven. Come quickly LORD Jesus, we wait for you in expectation. Amen!