Rejecting Jesus while Seeking Jesus

Scripture: Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Mark 11:8-10

Observation: The event being described is now known as "Palm Sunday". It is the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey, and a large crowd celebrated him as Messiah. Five days later, he will be publicly executed.

From the reading of this, it seems very unlikely that the crowd doesn't really understand who "Messiah" really is. They are declaring "Hosanna" ... save us! ... and proclaiming Jesus as the coming kingdom of King David. Yes, they understood Messiah was to be an ancestor of David, but between these words and the laying down of cloaks and palm fronds on the grown, it seems they are welcoming Jesus as an ascending king, a new national leader, in politics if not military. The people want Jesus to somehow remove them from Roman tyranny, likely restore the proper kingship of Israel, and usher in a time of victory, security, and eventually peace.

Of course, this isn't what Jesus is about to do. He is about to usher in an entirely new kingdom, which allows all people to experience peace and security, by his willing sacrifice. Very few - if any - people in the crowd that day had any idea that was what they were actually celebrating.

Application: In all my time interacting with non-believers, when I talk to them about Jesus, a recurring understanding I have is that they have no idea who Jesus really was and is. They might think he was anything from a good teacher, to a radical revolutionary, to a fictional myth. Many times, these same people will have "personal philosophies" ... now days called "my truth" ... that they have developed using their own study and reflection over several years, and those personal principles are so closely aligned to Jesus' actual teaching. The interesting thing is that, not only do they not know that, one of their criticisms of Jesus will be that - because he was aligned to scriptural law - Jesus was too morally strict and irrelevant today.

So many people see and understand Jesus just ... wrong. Most a seeking in their life a path for peace, happiness, hope, and joy, and then look to invent their own path when Jesus literally tells them to just believe in him and they will receive all that. They invent a different definition of Jesus, then reject it, and instead seek ... that which is what Jesus actually is.

Prayer: Lord, may I simply walk with Jesus this week, understanding you as my savior, my Lord, and my only hope. Amen.