Greetings Scholars and Warriors.
So what do you think of when you hear the phrase "a show of force"? If you are a Marvel fan, you might think of the SHIELD hellicarrier and a large contingency of hulk busters. If you are a Star Trek fan you might think of a dozen starships together at location. Emperor Palpatine built a Death Star for his, but moved away from "a show of force" by actually using it.
When Jesus was in his 3 year ministry people were looking for such a thing from a Messiah. They wanted someone to overthrow the Roman Empire and give them a stable nation apart from Rome with no threat of being conquered by another nation. So what did he do? Jesus followed scripture about a donkey. Not just a donkey, but a young, child donkey.
We humans like force. We even have WMDs, which could effectively end life on our planet. Do you think God is proud of us for that one? Certainly God has that power and much more. When we were in the garden, we were told we could show God that we could be like Him. Then, after that fall, we continued to believe that a show of force was what we needed. We all gathered at a huge tower to say we could accomplish anything. We later build huge armies.
Notice that I did not use any heroes for my examples of "a show of force". I could have. Certainly Thor, Superman, Legacy, and others have that. But Jesus chose to do His largest work without force through gentleness and even submission. He did show His power over death by resurrection, but only after submitting to God's plan.
This spring and Easter, we are in a time of great fear. Many people are trying to solve problems through different shows of force. How can you show solutions through gentleness?
So what do you think of when you hear the phrase "a show of force"? If you are a Marvel fan, you might think of the SHIELD hellicarrier and a large contingency of hulk busters. If you are a Star Trek fan you might think of a dozen starships together at location. Emperor Palpatine built a Death Star for his, but moved away from "a show of force" by actually using it.
When Jesus was in his 3 year ministry people were looking for such a thing from a Messiah. They wanted someone to overthrow the Roman Empire and give them a stable nation apart from Rome with no threat of being conquered by another nation. So what did he do? Jesus followed scripture about a donkey. Not just a donkey, but a young, child donkey.
"Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Zechariah 9:9Yep. Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey to begin His most important week ever in ministry. I don't know about you, but I don't think of a donkey as showing much power. I think of gentleness and servitude. Then what did Jesus do? He allowed himself to be arrested, even healing an ear of one of the servants of those seeking his destruction. Then he willingly got tortured and crucified. Does this sound like force?
We humans like force. We even have WMDs, which could effectively end life on our planet. Do you think God is proud of us for that one? Certainly God has that power and much more. When we were in the garden, we were told we could show God that we could be like Him. Then, after that fall, we continued to believe that a show of force was what we needed. We all gathered at a huge tower to say we could accomplish anything. We later build huge armies.
Notice that I did not use any heroes for my examples of "a show of force". I could have. Certainly Thor, Superman, Legacy, and others have that. But Jesus chose to do His largest work without force through gentleness and even submission. He did show His power over death by resurrection, but only after submitting to God's plan.
This spring and Easter, we are in a time of great fear. Many people are trying to solve problems through different shows of force. How can you show solutions through gentleness?
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