(Mark 11:1-11)

 As Jesus approached Jerusalem at Bethpage, he ordered two of his disciples to GO AHEAD and get a colt in the village. “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it…” was the instruction of Jesus. Everything happened as Jesus commanded to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah will enter Zion riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).

The cloak over the donkey and the garments on the road together with the palm branches are symbolisms that the disciples and the crowd recognized Jesus as the much awaited King and Messiah. People WENT AHEAD of Jesus as He enters Jerusalem declaring salvation has come! Jesus went to the temple. And after doing a brief survey of the place that will soon be torn down, He retreated back to Bethany with his disciples.

For the first half of my life, I knew Jesus as the Son of God hung on the cross. I confess weekly that He died on the cross to pay for my sins, but it never filled the emptiness in my life. Then, I came to believe in the gospel of Christ. I recognized I was a sinner destined to be eternally separated from God. But because of God’s great love for me, He sent His Son to die on the cross to pay for my sins. No matter how good I was, no matter how much good works I had done, all of it were not sufficient to earn salvation. Salvation is a free gift received by grace through faith. And because of my profession of faith in the finished work of Christ I am now a child of God. With help of the Holy Spirit, I have committed to follow Christ all the days of my life.

But somehow, many times I GO AHEAD of God. I profess that Christ is my King and my Messiah. But in reality, pride always takes the center stage in my life. At times I deny Christ when my faith is tested and my reputation at stake, just as the disciples retreated when their Messiah was crucified. Sometimes it is as if I am shouting with the crowd, “Crucify him, crucify him!” with the kind of life I live. When people observe my uncontrolled reactions, my bursts of anger, my selfishness, my unforgiving spirit, my ulterior motives, it is like hammering again and again the nails in His hands and feet.

“Lord, let me not GO AHEAD without instructions from You. Let me see what needs to be changed in me that I may truly worship You as my King and my Messiah. I profess You to be my King and my Messiah, let it be evident in the way I live my life!”