May 19 - We Remember Jesus

May 19 – We Remember Jesus

The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:  “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify. It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him. The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!” (John 12:12-19)

There’s nothing more fun than seeing a popular celebrity in your home town.  Even a minor celebrity is kind of cool.  A lot of us have ‘celebrity sightings’ in our history.  We talk about them with our friends and exaggerate the stories just a little bit for the entertainment value.

We also love to tell stories about a friend who has made it big in their field or a hometown acquaintance that made it.  When we knew them, we didn’t think much of them, but the day that they get noticed, we remember every detail of our association with them.

Jesus’ disciples were obedient and followed Him, learning from Him and experiencing all that He had to share with them, but they still didn’t really understand the impact of who He was!

John tells us that after He was glorified … after He had died, come back from the dead and went up to heaven … the disciples remembered all of these details.  They remembered the crowds going wild when He came into Jerusalem.  They remembered the celebration of a man they hoped would save them from the oppressive reign of the Romans.  The reflected and remembered the man who had loved them and then they recognized the eternal impact of Jesus Christ.

We have the benefit of centuries of hindsight.  We don’t have to look back and remember details about Jesus, we have the stories of the disciples when He was on earth and we have stories about how He touched our lives today. 

Don’t wait to tell those stories.  People need to hear them now.