WHO IS JESUS ?   As the Christian calendar turns to the annual celebration of PALM SUNDAY, it is great to reflect on the meaning and message of that amazing day.  It was a bit like a ticker tape parade.  A bit like a rock concert with screaming fans.  There was genuine admiration, emotional patriotism, and a little group hysteria.  Fronds from the palm trees, wraps from their robes…whatever was handy…tossed on the street in front of the donkey which Jesus rode into the city!  Of course some folks frowned, clucked their tongues and shook their heads.  And among the ones cheering, there were those who were jubilant for the wrong reason.  They thought their national liberation was at hand.  Nonetheless, it was a potent moment for that day and place and for those people of Jerusalem.  

 

   Who was this man who captured their imagination on that day (Matthew 21:1-11)?  The New Testament explains that Jesus was not the Son of God because he was a human.  Rather, Jesus was the Son of God who became a human.  Jesus was his human name.  The Son of God took on human identity, form, and limitations.  This we celebrate at Christmas.  And though it seems incredible to us that God could be distilled or deposited into a [hu]man, there was no reluctance or awkwardness about it with God.  He was pleased with the process.  He had a purpose for the process (Colossians 1:19-20).  His goal was to “reconcile all things (on earth and in heaven) to himself by making peace through Christ’s blood, shed on the cross.”  Thus the human name was chosen to reflect that purpose.  Jesus means “Savior”  (Matthew 1:21).

 

Like the hit TV show, UNDERCOVER BOSS, God came among his subjects, disguised as one of them, in order to fix the system and reclaim the employees.  To reconcile each and every person, including you and I.  Not everyone who waved and cheered understood that on that day.  Not everyone who meets the Boss recognizes him immediately.  But eventually, Jesus removed his disguise and did what only the BOSS can do.  He simply cancelled the main product being manufactured by the flawed company.  But that is the story for next week!