"You're Doing It Wrong!"

Scripture Passage

Mark 14:3-9; Matthew 26:6-13; John 12:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Matthew 21:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19; Luke 19:41-44; John 12:20-36

Scripture Focus

“Look, everyone has gone after him!” (John 12:19 NLT)

Observation

Great stories in today’s reading! The woman with the alabaster jar of perfume unknowingly anoints Jesus’ body for burial in an act of extravagant love. Who can read that and not want to also lavishly love the Christ? Multitudes shout the praises of Jesus as He enters Jerusalem, but do so by quoting from Psalm 118—and thus they speak prophetically of the eternal, once-for-all sacrifice Jesus would make on the cross only days later. Who can read that and not marvel at the majesty of the unfolding of God’s sovereign plan?

But (as I remind you that these are my devotional moments, and I’ll chase whatever tangent captures me, thank you very much) the thing that seizes my attention today is what the religious leaders say about Jesus in John 12:19…

“Look, everyone has gone after him!” (John 12:19 NLT)

I understand—less than a week later “everyone” was calling for Jesus' crucifixion. I understand—the crowds mostly misunderstood Jesus’ kingdom in political and nationalistic terms. But I also understand that people were attracted to Jesus. People wanted to be where He was. A few hated Him, but the masses found Him compelling. I wonder how we've messed that up. I wonder how I've messed that up.

I’m not into moping around laden with guilt, beating myself up for being such a loser. But Jesus is the “best thing” that’s ever happened to me (if Jesus can be a “thing” that “happens”). He’s never been the condemning bigot He’s so often made out to be. He’s never been the dispenser of restrictive, joy-robbing rules He’s so often made out to be. He’s been, instead, the Rock on which to build my life, the richest Joy of any day, the surest Hope for my most preferred future—what’s not to love about who Jesus is, when He’s seen for just that—who He is?

Which becomes the basis for my question: What have we done (and, yes, I think a good bit of the blame lies with us—believers) to make Jesus so much less than…so different than…who we’ve known Him to be ourselves? We’ve got to fix that. Mark 12:37 says that large crowds/common people “heard him gladly.” Something about all this suggests we’re doing it wrong.

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