When he was seven years old, his family was forced out of their home on a legal technicality, and he had to work to help support them. At age nine, his mother died. At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school, but his education wasn't good enough. At 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store. At 26, his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt that took years to repay. At 28, after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to marry him. She said no. At 37, on his third try he was elected to Congress, but two years later, he failed to be reelected. At 41, his four-year-old son died. At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost. At 47, he failed as the vice-presidential candidate. At 49, he ran for the Senate again, and lost. At 51, he was elected president of the United States. His name was Abraham Lincoln, a man many consider the greatest leader the country ever had. And this humble Abe Lincoln made himself known to all people as one who deliberately looked at God for humility especially during the serious trials of life. Abe did not hide the fact that the Bible was the source of his deep conviction and earnest humility. And for Him, humility was defined by Christ and no other. It is on this Palm Sunday that we remember Christ our Lords Humility as He triumphantly entered Jerusalem on that great day where the people were saying loudly Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. My friends, without any reservation and any merit on our part, the triumphant Jesus, made victorious through His loving sacrifice and the will of God our father, gives us the ability to wake up each and everyday as forgiven Saints of God. I hope you do not take that lightly.
IN New Testament Greek, Humble (tap-i-no'-o) means to make low, to humble. Webster’s defines humility as not proud or haughty: not arrogant or assertive. Being humble is a definite mark of a Christian. It strikes the heartbeat that we as followers of the kings of kings have made known to all people that indeed the King is here, now; and we honorably serve and worship Him.
As Jesus rides the humble donkey into our lives, He offers salvation, hope and love; not as a conquering military leader or a pristine president or monarch, but a most humble savior that has come to ‘serve, and not to be served.’
“The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on them; and He sat on the cloaks. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”
Jesus is not just entering a city, but is entering Gods Holy city, dedicated to literally thousands of years of Gods great promises, full of His prophets and followers. Jesus gave a clear vision that it was a prophetic event that is going to happen, in order to fulfill Gods, promise. The whole city was “shaken” by His entry. The whole city was confronted with a decision to make. What will we do with a Messiah who ushers in peace and not war? How will we respond?
Listen to the words of the prophet Zachariah, “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Jesus indeed impacted the ancient world and some never realized it. It was not by the sword, but by the truth of God’s Gospel, good news that we all can be saved. One theologian said it this way. “One might entitle Jesus triumphant entry to Jerusalem as the Gospel in Retrospect. Why on earth do we not get back at last from all the complications of dogma, rules and regulations to the simplicities of the earliest facts? Why not forsake all the theological implications so meticulously wrought out in the epistles and return to the kind of message which Jesus himself proclaimed-repentance, faith, the kingdom of God, the ethic of the sermon on the mount and more?” In other words, why do we make it so hard to follow, serve and worship God?
You see, the crowds of people that day actually proclaimed they did not know Jesus. They did not realize that they were in the mighty presence of God. But more to the point, do we realize today, when the Lord is doing something special in our midst, do we recognize it or is it just another day? In just a few days, we will be revisiting what Christ came to do. For some, humility is an ugly word, but it’s a word Jesus loved as he left on it forever the mark of his hands and feet as a seal of an unbroken dominion of love for all mankind.
And you know, for some people, as Jesus was riding on the donkey, they were saying, keep riding! Ride on and die! If we ignore Christ, not obey God, serve other God’s in lieu of our heavenly father, then that’s exactly what we are doing. Here are five items to reflect on showing great significance of being humble in our relationship with God:
First, Peter tells us, To enter God’s presence, we must come humbly to the throne: 1 Peter 5:6. Second, Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew, the meek shall inherit the earth: Matthew 5:5.
Third, James tells us, The proud are cast down and will be humbled: James 4:10. Fourth, Pauls second letter to Timothy tells us, When we are humbled or even when we suffer, we need to remember we will ultimately reign with Christ: 2 Timothy 2:12. Fifth, Pauls letter to the people of Philippi tells us, Jesus even humbled Himself. Therefore, we should also have the mind of humility: the mind of Christ. Philippians 2:5-11.
My friends, only from this Holy City of Jerusalem, even with the grim cross at its peak, do we hear the angels say Glory to God in the highest! Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So. Truth will not have its mouth shut up. Humility will always be God’s majestic way to conquer the world. And from this day forward, open our lips and with our mouths shall we always praise God with every fiber of our being! Amen.