Everyone, echo!
“Hosanna! Blessed is
He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Some of us may have
shouted these lines of praise with exuberance or even energy. Others may have
omitted the oomph, but intended it earnestly.
Either way, the exaltation holds true.
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| Donkey on Pilgrim Path - Mount of Olives to Jerusalem |
A few days ago,
Christians celebrated Palm Sunday, recalling Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry
into Jerusalem.
Early in the first century (AD), the One who would become the Savior of the world climbed onto a donkey
colt and began the descent from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem.
One might say it all went downhill from
there.
I've been there. Last fall, I
walked the steep and rocky road (see photos) from the Mount of Olives to the gates
of Jerusalem.
It's rough going, but it was particularly so for the Lamb
of God.
 |
| Pilgrim Path - Mount of Olives to Jerusalem |
Within just a few
critical days, Jesus of Nazareth was arrested, beaten, and nailed to a cross
for the most painful and shameful death the Romans occupying Israel could
devise.
Even at the time of
His capture in the Garden of Gethsemane, not long after celebrating the
Passover Seder dinner with His closest disciples, Yeshua the Messiah could have
felt rather empty.
He fell on His face in the rocky garden, weeping under the
olive trees, and pouring out His heart before the Father.
Yes, even Jesus may have felt simply spent.
 |
| Garden of Gethsemane |
After an eternity
of preparation and a little more than 30 years of life in a mortal frame, the
Prince of Peace was poured out.
The following day,
He even cried out from the cross, bemoaning the apparent absence of the
Almighty.
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
(Matthew 27:46, NASB)
I’ve often wrestled
with those words in my own heart.
If Jesus is God, as
the doctrine of the Trinity declares, how could God have turned away from Him?
On the other hand, could there have been any moment in all history when Jesus
was more fully human?
Surely, our
Wonderful Counselor understands emptiness. He felt it firsthand, as He followed
the Father’s plan all the way to the cross at Calvary and beyond into a victory
that rewrote history and eternity.
Have you ever felt depleted or empty?
I know I have.
For most of my
life, loved ones have characterized me as energetic and enthusiastic. Some have
even complained about my seemingly inexhaustible engine.
That’s changed a
bit.
Now living with an ongoing
health condition that randomly reduces my endurance to exhaustion and my
get-up-and-go to got-up-and-went, I have a new understanding of emptiness.
Still, I have come
to believe that enthusiasm actually has little to do with energy. It’s all
about spirit.
And spirit can come quietly at times.
We may receive a
sudden spurt of energy and power, or we may have a steady stream of sureness
that we’re in the right hands, after all.
Sometimes, God even
fills us up just to pour us out again for His purpose.
What happens when a cup is empty?
Consider a coffee
cup. Once the dregs are drained, it can be filled with something new that
simply simmers with a flurry of flavor.
Maybe that’s what God wants to do.
Recently, I reread
a familiar Bible account that speaks of the exceeding value of emptiness.
The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”(2 Kings 4:1-7, NIV)
What a miracle!
Look again. How
long did the olive oil continue to flow for the destitute widow? The rich fluid
continued until all of the empty jars had been filled. No oil was added to any
jars with any existing contents, only those with total availability received
the fresh, new contents.
OK, Lord. Maybe
emptiness is not such a bad thing, after all, if it makes us available for Your
answer.
This Easter season,
may we grow enthusiastic when we are empty, eagerly awaiting a supernatural
overflow.
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