April 1 - Do you have a dollar?
Contributed by
Michele Fanfair-Steury, director of student activities on Thursday April 01
Scripture
Luke 19:28-40
After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place
called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go
into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied
there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If
anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this, “The Lord
needs it.”’ So those who were sent departed and found it as he
had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked
them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs
it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on
the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept
spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching
the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the
disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the
deeds of power that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in
the highest heaven!’ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to
him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell
you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’
|
Devotion
As a 21st century Christian, am I any different than the Christians
of Jesus’ times?
This question reminds me of a story from the small retail business I
own in Goshen, Gift of GAB. A man smelling of alcohol stumbled in
with scabs on his body. I said hello and all he could say repeatedly
in return was, “Do you have a dollar?” The closer he got to me the
closer I got to the phone. “Look I don’t have any money, I’m a new
business owner, sorry,” I said. He turned around and stumbled out
the door.
In thinking about this scripture reading, maybe I shouldn’t have
turned him away because maybe he was looking for something
more than a dollar. Maybe he was in need of some food, clothing
or first aid… We are all capable of stinging up the Messiah
everyday. We are judgmental to others. We obey the rules and we
wear the right clothes. We need to look at our priorities. Are we
Christ-focused or self-focused?
What is it about this man Jesus that is different? What does he
have to give to us? We are just like the disciples and Christians of
his day who disowned him and crucified him when he did not give
them what they wanted.
Maybe what we want is prestige, power or money, but that isn’t
what Jesus wants us to care about. Jesus wants us to care about
the created order, each other, the sick, the sinners and the
drunken. All of the events from Him knowing where the donkey
was to his parade into Jerusalem riding on a donkey ask and
encourage us to sort out what we give our lives to and if we have
truly given our lives over to Jesus.
|
