The day started like any other, but took a huge dip when I watched the news about the shooting incident in Connecticut. To calm myself, I started listening to a familiar worship song “Hallelujah Hosanna”. It reminded me of the scene when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and how He was welcomed by the people with rejoicing and shouting ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’. For a moment, I imagined myself as one among the crowd and I was elated by the sight of Jesus, my Lord and Savior, being welcomed as a King. For a moment … I forget about myself!
I began to think, how ‘welcome’ is Jesus in our life? Does He hold the kingship in our life? Does He have a say in our day-to-day lives? Very often, in this fast and furious race of life, we tend to forget the basics, push aside our morals, and re-prioritize our needs based on a philosophy to ‘win’ the race. But what is the ultimate goal? Is it just another materialistic blessing that usually doesn’t meet our satisfaction and we keep running? Amidst all this, we manage to squeeze Jesus in, mostly out of fear of something bad happening.
How welcome is Jesus in our churches today? Tradition and routine have blinded and deafened people as they focus on schedules and routines leaving very little area that there is barely any space for the Holy Spirit to work. Culture has been stealthily mixed into religion to take away the value of Jesus’s birth, death and ascension. Festive seasons are celebrated in church using fictional characters such as Santa Claus, reindeer, rabbits, Christmas trees and eggs etc ., when they have nothing to do with the Bible. Where is Jesus?
When something goes wrong, we ask ‘Where is God?’ ‘Why did He allow this to happen?’ That is one of the questions resounding in the USA and around the world, as many are disturbed by the recent event in Connecticut. The more we ignore and push God away from our lives, our families, our societies, our churches, the more we give way for evil to enter and reign over our surroundings and circumstances giving way to compromises, lack of morality and confusion.
‘Hosanna’ when translated from its root languages (Hebrew and Greek) means a cry of salvation or adoration and praise. It’s high time that we cried to Christ to save us, welcome Him back into our lives – for our sake, for our children’s sake and for the sake of millions who are yet to fall victim to acts of evil.
Great reminder,chechii….