Palm Sunday +2

"Who is this?", was the question of many of those who witnessed the arrival, in the city of Jerusalem, of Jesus of Nazareth - the One Who, some had claimed, was the long-awaited Messiah - riding on a donkey.

Over the last two days, I've offered two suggestions as answers to that question. I've suggested that He might be considered to have been a liar; or a lunatic. In both cases, even a cursory examination of His life makes it abundantly clear that He was neither of those.

So, the question remains - "Who is this?" The only other alternative that any one seems to have suggested is that He was (and is!) Lord. This is Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, having taken upon Himself, in the Persona of the Son (please listen to my message on The Trinity at www.revcbross.blogspot.com), a body of human flesh.

"Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see; Hail! the incarnate Deity."

And, because of this, there are very definite implications. We cannot say that He was merely a great moral teacher, whose teachings may, or may not, be followed without any long-term effect. If He is Lord, then it is His to command; and those who do not follow His commandments are being flagrantly disobedient. Such will, of course, reap the consequences of that disobedience.

But because He is Lord, He is also able - able to save; able to keep; able to forgive; able to meet every need of those who do keep His commandments; who love, and trust, and commit themselves to, Him.

When John wrote his account of the Gospel story, he drew to a close by pointing out that he had written only a small fraction of all that could have been written. "But", he wrote, "these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and" - and this is of supreme importance - "that believing, you may have life in His Name." (20:31)

A Man rode into a city on the back of a donkey; and the question was asked, "Who is this?" All of the available evidence throws out any suggestion that He is a liar, or a lunatic. It clearly supports the claim that He is Lord. Is He your Lord, today? He is King and Lord of the universe; but His desire is to be King and Lord of your life. Let Him take control, and be able to go forward in the resurrection power that we will be remembering on Sunday. Then you will know, not mere existence, but 'Life with a capital L' - "life in all its fullness" (John 10:10).