From September 2012 to June 2017, this website was used to help Emmanuel Baptist Church families and others connected disciple children.
The Pharisees loved money (Luke 16:14), feared men (Matthew 26:5), and hated Jesus (Matthew 26:4).
That formula may be lived out before you more than you realize. The love of money often looks merely practical. The fear of men can hide behind masks.
But the Bible is clear: If you love money and fear men, you cannot love God or escape hell (Luke 16:13; John 5:44) — and you become a card-carrying member of the crowd who crucified the Author of life (Acts 3:15).
The cross — that horrifying drama of hatred — was only a symptom of the Pharisees’ craving for money, approval, and power. It was as if they bought a billboard to advertise their love for money, and set on a hill for all to see.But they would never do something so obvious. What would the people say? They “feared the people” (Luke 22:2).
In fact, the people’s love for Jesus was half the reason the religious leaders hated him so much. The authorities were cowards with cravings. They had to find a way to kill him quietly (Matthew 26:3–5). They had to find a way to murder an innocent man without losing any esteem or influence.The Pharisees "feared the people" and they feared Jesus, which is why they paid Judas to betray Jesus.
Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the Word and in the world.
Now understand, describing joy as a good feeling is not a bad thing. You don't necessarily have control over your feelings. When you think about what God has done for you through Jesus Christ it should make you joyful.What brings you joy?
Joy shines on Palm Sunday — a joy, as we now know, that anticipates a supernova of gladness coming on the following Sunday. In the thrill of hope, the crowds rehearse the praises of Psalm 118, pining that perhaps this is, at long last, the great “Son of David,” the promised royal rescuer, riding into the Holy City to definitively save his people.
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9). Hosanna — a Hebrew declaration of adoration and delight — is the refrain for this triumphal entry.The joy of Palm Sunday is a shadow of the joy to come.
Yet the joy of Palm Sunday forecasts the unrivaled euphoria to come on Easter morning.In Jesus our joy comes from the most unlikely place.
The long-awaited Messiah comes not in human glory, but peculiar glory — the glory of strength in weakness, the glory of indomitable joy in excruciating pain, the glory of the Lion of Judah who gives himself as the Lamb of God. He comes on a donkey’s colt to be the stone the builders will utterly reject on Friday, and that God himself will unveil as the very cornerstone on Sunday morning.
