But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. Colossians 1:22
Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as the crowds laid down their cloaks and waved palm branches as they proclaimed “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19:28-40). This is the beginning of what the church refers to as “Holy Week”, as each day moves Jesus one step closer to the cross. It was for this time that Jesus came into the world. He had performed miracles, healed the sick, and proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God, but the time had come for him to lay down his life so that the world could have life.
Have you ever approached an upcoming week with fear and concern about what the next few days would bring? Pause and reflect on what Jesus must have been thinking as he stepped into his final week knowing what the next few days held for him.
Luke’s account of the triumphant entry is immediately followed by Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and their unbelief (Luke 19:41-44). Jesus says, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace.” The proclamation of the crowd at the Triumphant Entry was really a declaration of their hope for liberation from the Roman occupation. The Messiah was supposed to come to make life right, but Jesus came to make a way for a sinful people to be made righteous. The prophet Isaiah prophesied years earlier about the coming Messiah, and in Isaiah 53:11 we get a glimpse of what the coming Messiah would do and the sacrifice required: “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” While the people saw their greatest need as a fix for the hostility between the Jews and the Romans, Jesus came to address their deepest need, which was reconciliation between God and the world.
This week we press into the truth found in Colossians 1:22, which says, “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Because of Jesus, you and I can be reconciled.
Jesus wept because the people of Jerusalem missed the peace he came to bring. That same Jesus continues to offer the peace that an unbelieving world passes by. Do you see it? Do you realize how much you need it?
Reflection:
1. Where are you looking for Jesus to bring peace to your life today?
2. What causes you to miss what Jesus is offering because you think you know what you need?
3. What if God’s offer of peace and reconciliation is true? How does that change life today?
Pray through the truth of Ephesians 2:11-22
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
