Sunday  -  HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?

by Gary McEntire
Pastor of Digital Ministries and Senior Adults

I imagine Jesus had a lot on His mind that day when He found Himself riding on a donkey into Jerusalem. He was the focus of His people's praise and worship. Yet, He alone knew what awaited him at the end of that week. He alone knew that the praises and shouts of "Hosanna!" would quickly turn to jeers and shouts of "Crucify!" Any one of us finding ourselves riding towards our death would likely have been haunted by one burning question:

How did it come to this?

Whenever we find ourselves in a tight spot, and doom is looming over the horizon, it is natural to find ourselves asking that very question. That wasn't so with Jesus. "How did it come to this?" was never a question that Jesus had to ask. He was very aware of "how it came to this." His ride toward the cross wasn't because mistakes were made or because "sometimes things just happen." It came to this because Jesus allowed it to come to this. 

He was to blame.

Now, before you brand me as a heretic, consider this: He didn't have to create people... but He did. He didn't have to give them free will... but He did. He didn't have to let them live after their rebellion against Him... but He did. He did all of those things. 

There were other things He didn't have to do... 

He didn't have to find Himself wearing the body of a man, riding on a donkey, headed on a determined path toward a brutal and shameful death. He alone had Himself to blame for all of that because He didn't have to do any of that. He didn't have to step in to save His people. He didn't have to offer them life at the cost of His own. Yet even though He didn't have to do any of that, He did all of that.

But what if...? 

What if He did have to do all of that? What if He never really had a choice? After all, knowing Jesus as we do, what else could He have done? He had to act!  He was compelled by His own overwhelming, never-ending (and some would even suggest, reckless) love to act. 

Trinitarian math lends credence to this argument. The formula goes something like this:

(1) John 1:1 - Jesus is God

(2) 1 John 4:8 - God is Love

(3) Conclusion - Jesus is Love

Jesus breathed life into that formula when He explained, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13, ESV). Well, since no one can have greater love than the One who is love, and if love compels sacrifice, then what else could Jesus have done? What choice did He have but to act out of the core of Who He was? 

And so it was that Jesus found Himself riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, the focus of praise and worship, knowing full well what awaited Him... all too willing to die so we could live.

That's what Jesus did... because that's what Love does.