We find our traveler once again being pushed and jostled by a crowd. He had heard people shouting, “Hosanna!”
and knew in his heart that it had been because of the Messiah. Our traveler followed the voices and now he found himself in the midst of a crowd standing near the gate to Jerusalem. A woman bumps into him and looking at his hands she says,
“You do not have a palm leaf to lay down. Here, take one of mine.” She hands him a green branch and head on her way.
Our traveler looks with interest at the branch. Then he notices that people are waving the branches and placing them on the road. Our traveler rushes to the front of the crowd and adds his branch to the others just as the shiny young hooves of a donkey colt step past him. He looks up, “blessed….” he begins to say and then stops. The eyes that rest upon him are red with tears, but the face still smiled at him. The moment so enveloped him that our traveler forgot why he was there. He had been within speaking distance of the Messiah whom he had sought after for some 30 or so years, and he had been so sad at the pain in His eyes that he had forgotten to speak. To give his gift. To say “may you be blessed.” The moment had passed and the chance was gone.
“I did say blessed, I suppose that’s something.” Our traveler says to himself as He walks away.
Later he recalled all he had seen and had heard of the day.
John 12:12-16 ESV
[12] The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. [13] So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” [14] And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, [15] “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” [16] His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
We always see the triumphant entry as a happy moment. I mean, it literally called triumphant. Yet, it was a sad moment for Jesus. He had so badly wanted to see the people of Jerusalem change. He had wanted to love them. Yet they doubted Him. He rode in to cheers of the crowd, yet He knew their hearts were still cold. He fulfilled the prophecy. Yet it broke His heart. Hosanna. Save us we pray. How often do people shout Hosanna. Shout, save us. And don’t actually want to be saved. Save us, but let us stay how we are. Save us, but don’t change us or our lives. Save us, but leave us here to stay cold and dead inside. The people shouted Hosanna and then only a little while later shouted, crucify Him. How many false palm branches have we laid? How often have we shouted to be saved and not actually mean it?
Jesus came to save us in a very specific way. He did not overthrow the government. He did not kill the enemies of His people. He did not restore the earthly kingdoms. He came to save us from ourselves. To save us from our sins. Hosanna. Save us from the devil Jesus. Save us from falling into hopelessness. Save us from us.
Hosanna. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Category: free
Following the fourth Wiseman- The rarest of perfume
The strong fragrance of the perfume wafted from the booths as our traveler passed by. The scent was so strong it blotted out everything else. On a table he saw a beautifully handcrafted bottle and lifted the dropper. The scent was lovely.
The seller smiled at our traveler. “Do you like it? It is one of our rarest and most expensive blends.”
Our traveler nodded, “I have never met it’s equal. At its price though, in this area, you nust not sell many bottles.”
“That’s what you think.” The seller snorted, “Why, just the other day a young woman came and bought an entire bottle, just to wash a man’s feet.”
Our traveler was instantly interested, “a man’s feet you say? Do you know who?”
“Buy a bottle and I may tell you.” The seller countered.
“A small one then. Please, tell me what you know.”
John 12:1-8 ESV
[1] Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. [2] So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. [3] Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. [4] But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, [5] “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” [6] He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. [7] Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. [8] For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
The seller wrapped the perfume and handed it to our traveler. “It’s an odd tale isn’t it?” She asked as our traveler paid her.
“It would be, if I did not know the man for which this was done. I worry about what it might mean.”
“I doubt it means anything. The wealthy have odd tastes of amusement.”
“Perhaps.” Our traveler stated and walked away.
You and I know the significance of Mary washing Jesus’s feet with the perfume. She was symbolically preparing His body for His death to come. However, imagine being a person living nearby at the time. It would sound the eccentric act of a wealthy group of friends. Judas would certainly not have been the only one who scoffed at this. Yet Mary, who chose to listen at the feet of the Savior, and learn all He had to teach, somehow in her heart she knew something was going to happen and she chose to forsake her money, Enough for a man’s wages for a full year, and to wash the feet of her Savior with her hair. It was a gesture of full humility and love, and we can tell from what Jesus said that He was moved by her actions.
What are we willing to pour out at the feet of Jesus? Dreams? Desires? Needs? Wants? Hopes? Security? What is worth an entire year’s wages to us, that we are willing to pour out on the feet of Jesus?
The best part of it is that when we pour out our silly earthly trinkets, Jesus blesses us with His gifts. His gifts of peace and joy. These thing will only bring us pleasure for a day. Jesus will bring us hope for eternity.
Following the fourth Wiseman- dead man called by name
Our traveler shivers as he stands at the door to the tomb. He looks in. Empty. Just as he had been told. He had heard that his Messiah had raised a man from the dead, but despite the prophecies, it was hard for him to believe. Yet, there it was, and empty tomb. This should have caused great joy among the people, and some were very happy, but others were angry and it worried our traveler.
” Who am I to worry?
What can they do to a man who can raise the dead?” Our traveler said to himself.
John 11:43-44 ESV
[43] When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” [44] The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
The death and resurrection of Lazarus is something that we all know, but we don’t always realize the significance behind it as a sign, one of the Main signs that nobody could fake. A sign that would prove that Jesus was the Christ was the raising of the dead, it had been prophesied that this would come to pass. The pharisees and the sadducees were trying to defame Jesus and claim that his miracles weren’t real and then all of a sudden, He raises the dead.
That was something they couldn’t argue with or disprove, it trrified them and made them very angry.
We have something in common with Lazarus. We too are people that Jesus loves and weeps over when we go astray.
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, just as how Jesus raises us From the death of pur sins. He calls out our names, and then has us unbound, from our garments of the dead and braces us as we walk stumbling Into the daylight of the living. We have all been dead at one time. Maybe you still feel dead. Walk out to join the living. Go to Jesus when He calls you. He is ready to show you the light once again.
Following the fourth Wiseman- The wool of the sheep
The soft wool of our traveler’s vest brushes against his cheek as he tightens his collar against the cold night air. The bleating of a far off flock reaches his ear and he recalls the words of the Messiah. Words he had been told by another who had been blessed to hear the words first hand.
John 10:11-15 ESV
[11] I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [12] He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. [13] He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. [14] I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Our traveler smiles. What beautiful words. What a comfort to know that the King is willing to become a shepherd so that His lost and frightened and confused flock, will hear His voice and follow Him.
Jesus referred to Himself as the ‘good shepherd.’ He often used sheep and shepherds as His metaphor. Being from Bethlehem, and most likely returning there for the census from time to time, Jesus would have seen lots of sheep. In this He saw their simple and wayward ways and how they were like His people. He saw how the shepherd would take on injury and hardship for the sake of his sheep, and how the shepherds were like Himself in this manner. Many will come and claim to care about us, but when true hardships come they abandon us. They are not our shepherd. Some may stay by our side, but they are not the shepherd either. They might even fight for us. But they are still not Him. No, the shepherd is the one who dies for His sheep. All of them. Even the ones who run away. Even the ones who spit at him and kick him. Even the ones who nail Hin to a cross. The shepherd loves His sheep and will never leave them alone.
Following the fourth Wiseman- Seeing the tree for the first time
The day is hot. So hot that our traveler has to seek shade. He finds an olive tree and goes to sit under it. Another man is there, staring at the branches. As our traveler sat near him he noticed that the man stared with such wonder that he was like a child seeing something for the first time.
“May I ask, why are you staring at the tree?” Our traveler inquires.
“Sir. It is the first time I have ever seen such a tree.”
“An olive tree? But they grow many places and in great numbers around this area.”
“Yes. But you see, I have been blind. May I tell you part of my tale?”
“I would love to hear what you have to say.”
John 9:1, 6-7, 32-41 ESV
[1] As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
[6] Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud [7] and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
Our traveler felt tears warm his eyes.
“That’s not all!” The man stated. “Some people brought me to the Pharisees to speak with them, but they refused to accept my testimony.”
[32] Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. [33] If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” [34] They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
The man smiled even brighter. “I was very upset about this at the time. How could they react in such a way? But then I had a blessing come from my trial, Jesus came to me when He heard I had been cast out!”
[35] Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” [36] He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” [37] Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” [38] He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. [39] Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” [40] Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” [41] Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
The man slapped his knee. “So you see, I am experiencing this tree for the first time, and it’s so beautiful!”
Our traveler looks at the tree and touches it’s bark, “I never noticed before. But yes, it is beautiful.”
Jesus heard that the blind man had been cast out of the assembly where the pharisees were, and He came to him.
So many want to complain that the church was unkind to them. And that because of this, I don’t want anything to do with the church or with Jesus or with Christians. Let’s start with saying that. Not all churches are like that, and even in a church that is like that. Not all of the members will be like that, so don’t throw the church away because of a bad experience. You may find a church that accepts and loves you. And helps you to grow and to become closer to Christ. You just have to not give up. The second thing I want to say on this is that when the man was cast out of the church, cast out by the pharisees, Jesus came to him. Jesus did not look at this man and except that he was thrown away. He looked at him as someone He cherished and when he was cast out by the religious leaders, Jesus went and found him. We may be cast out of a lot of places due to our love of Jesus and our belief in him. We may even be cast out of our church because we refuse to deny the truth of the Bible, the whole Bible. However, we are never cast out from Jesus. There will come a day when those who are not Christians or those who are false Christians are removed, from those who are true Christians, as odd as that sometimes sounds. But we who are members of the body of Christ. We who love Jesus. We who are part of Him. Will never be cast out. We will always have a place where we belong and that place is with the Savior.
Following the fourth Wiseman- The writing in the sand
Our traveler is weary. He has walked so many days and sene and heard so many things that his brain can no longer comprehend. It has been so much study, so much wonder that he almost needs a rest. He stops walking, in front of him, sitting on the ground, is a woman. She looks up at him, tears flowing down her cheeks.
“Did you hear Him?” She asks.
“Hear who?” Our traveler replies.
“The teacher.” She runs her hand across etching in the sand.
Our traveler stands straight and looks around. The Messiah had been there. He must have just missed Him.
“What did He say?” Our traveler asks.
“Let me tell you.” The woman answers.
John 8:3-11 ESV
[3] The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst [4] they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. [5] Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” [6] This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. [7] And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” [8] And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. [9] But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. [10] Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” [11] She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]
Our traveler reaches down and throws aside every custom He knows. He takes the woman by the hand and lifts her to her feet. He gives her his hankerchief. She takes his hand nervously.
“I know what I am in the eyes of the people, and I do not say they are wrong, but….He, He gave me a chance to change. Who does that?”
Our traveler pats her hand like a dad patting the hand of a nervous child, “The Messiah does that.”
He smiles and walks away.
The writing in the sand. The woman whom no one could throw a stone at. Jesus. We all recall the account of one of Jesus’s most famous lines. “Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.” Yet that is always where we stop. We don’t know what Jesus wrote. It’s frustrating that the deciples did not think to record it. What we know is that Jesus saw a woman who had sinned and was about to be killed. No chance for redemption. Yet, He offered her forgiveness and a second chance. This shows the difference between the law before Jesus came and the law after. Because much of the law is still relevant. However, before Christ law, said that this was sin and she was to be punished by death. After Christ law, said that she had sinned and was to be given an opportunity through the blood of Jesus to be forgiven. She had a chance to try again and this time to do better. Jesus said He did not condemn her and that she was to go and sin no more. Did she? We don’t know. She might have gone and went back to her old sinful life and then died without hope. Or she might have changed her life completely and become the woman God had meant her to be and then died with the promise of eternal life through Jesus’s forgiveness. Where she went after her meeting with Jesus we will never know. What we know is that Jesus saw someone who was broken by sin and He have her a chance to change. Just like He gives each of us a chance to change. He does not condone our sin, He gives us a chance to stop sinning and to become all we can be through Him.
Following the fourth Wiseman- When the sea is stormy and the Messiah is walking on the waves
As he stood on the boat, following the disciples across the sea to the far shore, our traveler felt a gust of wind blow hard in his face. He looked up the sky. He was not a seafarer, yet after so many years of travel he could feel in his skin when a storm was coming. The wind began to grow. He looked at the other boats who had chosen to follow the disciples across the water. Some of them were turning back, others were strapping their gear down. This was going to be a bad one. Our traveler felt his heart sink a little as the captain of his boat began to turn the boat around and head back to shore. The waves began to grow and our traveler quickly strapped himself to a tether line. He looked back as a crack of lighting filled the sky with light. The disciples had not turned back. He was filled with concern as he saw the deeper water their boat was in begin to surge and throw them. He turned,
“Father! Your people are going to drown!” Our traveler shouted out as another wave hit his own boat and threw him to his knees. He clawed his way back up to the side of the boat where he could watch the disciples. Another crack of lightning. He shuddered. A figure had passed by on the waves. He was so close he could reach out and touch Him. The figure looked and smiled at our traveler as he went by. Our traveler gasped. It was Him.
“Messiah! Wait!” Our traveler screamed but his voice was lost in the wind. In desperation he called again. “REMEMBER ME!!”
He watched as his Messiah walked on the waves to His disciples. If only he had the courage to leave the boat and chase after Him. If only.
John 6:16-21 ESV
[16] When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, [17] got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. [18] The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. [19] When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. [20] But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” [21] Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
There will be times when we go ahead without Jesus and we lose sight of Him. The storms then come and we become afraid. Where is He in those storms? Walking across the waves toward you. Even when you walk away from Him, He is walking after you. Just because you left Him does not mean He has left you. He will chase you over the waves and will guide you safely to the shore.
Following the fourth Wiseman- A speck in the crowd
The word had hit the streets two days before. The man called Jesus was teaching on the hillside. Our traveler had been jostled and bumped through the crowds for hours. He was no longer the only one seeking the Messiah and it was almost a fight to even reach His destination.
Exhausted, dirty, and bruised our traveler finally reaches the hill where Jesus was speaking. He was joyful and discouraged to see that there were so many people he could not even count them all. There was no way he would reach the Messiah at this point. He was a speck in the crowd. Our traveler decided to sit down with the others and listen to what his King was saying. As time went on he began to feel hungry. He looked around and realized that he was not the only one. Then there was a shifting in the crowd, the deciples of Jesus were walking through, speaking to people. Next he saw a small boy stand and walk with the deciples toward Jesus. Later he learned what had happened.
John 6:1-13 ESV
[1] After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. [2] And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. [3] Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. [4] Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. [5] Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” [6] He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. [7] Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” [8] One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, [9] “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” [10] Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. [11] Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. [12] And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” [13] So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
Our traveler sat with food in his hands that could only have been a gift from God. He wondered at it. He wondered at how he had been so blessed as to see these things and to hear the words of his King. The others had seen the child, the other Wisemen had given their gifts and had blessed Him and been blessed by His presence. Yet he, the one whom he had thought had missed out, was now seeing the miracles of the man who was God.
So often we feel we have missed our chance. Imagine always being so close to your desire and never reaching it? We leave our traveler in a crowd where he would be like a where’s Waldo picture, such a small part of something so big. Yet, even when we feel like we are just a spring inside the massive clock of life, Jesus still sees us. He still offers us His love. We can feel like we have missed our moment. Like God could not use us because we have fallen too far behind. But He has a purpose. We are never too far gone. He is always with us and someday we will see His reason.
Following the fourth Wiseman- Are you still at the pool?
We rejoin our traveler as he walks the darkened cobbled path that he had been directed to by a merchant in the market. The groans of the ill and the smell of the street makes his stomach turn.
“I believe He can do it again!” Says a man laying on the stones, his legs bandaged.
“It was a fluke. Some strange medicine from another land.” Replies another.
“Medicine that could make a man you and I have seen to be crippled for all the years we have been here, get up and walk?”
“You think too much.”
“I have hope. If He healed one He may return to heal more.”
Our traveler walks over to the two men who are speaking and asks them of what they speak?
“None of your business.” The one replies, but the other, smiles.
John 5:2-3, 5-9 ESV
[2] Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. [3] In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
[5] One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. [6] When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” [7] The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” [8] Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” [9] And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.
“Can you believe it?” The man asks excitedly.
Our traveler nods his head, “Yes. I certainly can.”
Our traveler goes back to the market and buys bread and fruit and returns to the alley where he dispenses the food between the people there.
I have always had trouble with the pool of Bethesda. Not the mystery of it, there could have been something God was doing there, or ot could have been a mineral pool. We do know there were stories of people who went in and came out healed. What bothers me is the healed man. There were most likely many people there. Near that exact spot. All of them. Every. Single. One. Needed healing. Yet, Jesus chose to heal only one. I don’t understand that. I never will. Sometimes we see someone receive something that we deserved. We were just as good, we worked just as hard. Yet we walk away with nothing. Why? We cannot always understand God’s will. There are times when it confounds us to the place of doubt. Yet He is still good. Remember what the three Hebrew boys said in Daniel? “And if not He is still good.” To have that faith. To watch the Messiah heal one man and walk away when there were many others there who needed Him just confuses me to no end. But He had a reason. We still don’t know what that reason was. Was it the man’s faith? Jeuss does not say so. Was it because he was Jewish? There were probably other Jewish people there. Was it simply because he had been there the longest? Perhaps he had prayed and Jesus had come in answer to that prayer? We won’t know the answer until we see Jesus ourselves and ask Him. Even if you are the man in the alley, still crippled; or the woman on the stairs, still blind. Jesus has not overlooked you. He sees you. He has a plan and a purpose for your life just as you are now. Would a miracle be great? Of course. But sometimes He only heals one, yet He still has a path for the others. Don’t lose hope because you are still sitting by the well. He sees you, He knows you, He understands you, and He has not forgotten you.
Following the fourth Wiseman- Even from a distance He is close to us
A young child bumps into our traveler on the street. He looks up, his eyes all lit with the joy of play and apologizes before running off. Our traveler smiles and begins to carry on his way when he hears two women speaking.
“It’s so wonderful to see him running like that again.” Says one woman.
“Yes. He’s such a nice boy. Polite and thoughtful. If he had not made it it would have crushed his family.” Replies the other.
“But how he lived is the amazing part. I heard that he was blessed by that man who is traveling and healing people.”
“Yes. And He did not even come to the house.”
Our traveler walks over to the two women and asks them if they would be willing to tell him what they had heard?
John 4:46-53 ESV
[46] So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. [47] When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. [48] So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” [49] The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” [50] Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. [51] As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. [52] So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” [53] The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.
Our traveler smiles, thanks the women and walks away. He has healed someone. He was not even close by and He healed this child. Our traveler shakes his head, he is always so close and yet still he can’t seem to catch up to the Messiah.
We think that Jesus has to be physically present to preform miracles. We feel at times that if we do not feel Him close by He is not there to help us. But that is never true. Jesus is as close as the mention of His name. We do not have to lay hands on a person for our prayers to make a difference, because Jesus is with all of us, always. Jesus loves us. He can heal and save even if we are not near the person we are praying for, and even if we do not feel His presence, He is always right here! What a savior He is.
Carried in the cross 