Thursday, March 28, 2024

Listen to the Word

But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”  (Luke 23:21)

The question of why Jesus died has several layers worth of true answers. As we have seen in Scriptures from previous days this week, he died because his death was the will of God, the centerpiece of the Father’s plan to establish a new covenant with people. From a historical perspective, it would be accurate to say that he died because powerful people felt deeply threatened by him – the Jewish religious leaders thought his claims to be the Son of God were heresy, and the Roman authorities thought all of his words about a new Kingdom were treason.

Another sad but true reason Jesus died is that the very people he came to save rejected him and wanted him dead. Jesus experienced seasons of great popularity with people, but that quickly faded when it became clear that he wasn’t going to be the kind of Messiah they were hoping for. The praise of Palm Sunday didn’t last long. It only took five days for the crowd to shift from worshipping Jesus as king to screaming for his execution.

Live the Word

Ask Jesus to strengthen you to praise him even when “the crowd” is doing something else.