As we walk through the Christian year together, each season will be accompanied by a guiding question – a question to wrestle with, pray through, and bring to God. During the season of Lent, as we give our attention towards the cross, we’re asking together: “Where are we being drawn into repentance?”

The crowds in Matthew 21 expect the same kind of warlord king they’d seen in the world around them – a king who’d conquer Rome and bring “peace” through domineering power. How do you see a trust in that kind of power still holding sway in our modern world?

Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-24. The cross has forever redefined our definition of power. How might the cross be not only the means by which we are saved but the model for how we live in a world like our own?

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

Matthew 21:1-3 NIV

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will take away the chariot from Ephraim, and the warhorse from Jerusalem. The weapons of war will be broken, and he will teach peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 

Zechariah 9:9-10 NIV

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 

Matthew 21:6-9 NIV

 We are used to authority that coerces. A boss who can fire you. A system that can exclude you. A voice that can overpower you. Fear-based authority works because it does not require your trust. Only your compliance. Jesus does not coerce. He does not threaten. He does not secure loyalty through fear. He does not build a following by controlling outcomes. He invites. He walks into the city and says, without saying it directly: Come with me. There is another way to be human. Not because you will be punished if you refuse. Because this is what is true. Because this is what heals.

Paul Hazet, The King We Actually Need

”Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” 

Matthew 20:20-21 NIV

Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

Matthew 20:25-28 NIV

“lord it over them,”(katakurieuo): power standing over another.

 “It must not be like that among you.”
– Jesus

For people who are stumbling toward ruin, the message of the cross is nothing but a tall tale for fools by a fool. But for those of us who are already experiencing the reality of being rescued and made right, it is nothing short of God’s power. 

1 Corinthians 1:18 The Voice