Save. When you hear that word, what does it mean to you? If you’re a coupon king or queen, that means you won’t have to spend nearly as much as the other person to get your goods. If you’re listening to Dave Ramsey, it means quit spending more than you make, set up that emergency fund, put up three to six months worth of living expenses, or prepare for retirement. If you’re me, it means “save” some of that roast beef for tomorrow night’s vegetable beef soup.
Depending on the application of the word, it invokes an action. It requires an action on our part that is not usually reactive. In other words, to save requires a conscious effort to make. It usually requires dependence on patience too. Saving through couponing requires the diligence and patience to clip coupons, organize them, read ads - if you really want to get the bang for your buck - and then shop at the right time. Saving the Dave Ramsey way requires diligence, focus, patience, to know that in order to find financial freedom you have to consciously make the effort to save more than you make and, through immense focus, use the extra saved to obliterate debt. Saving roast beef means an act of patience, to hold off the desire to eat more of the scrumptious food, for the sake of the next meal. All three require more than just minimal effort. All three also have positive consequences. The word save requires action for the sake of a great benefit.
Prior to Jesus entering Jerusalem, he prepared for his triumphant entry, asking his disciples to bring him a colt, a donkey. I wish I could’ve been there. Jesus not only asked them to bring him a colt, he told them that there would be one in the village ahead of them. His instructions: Immediately untie it and if anyone asks why you are doing it, just tell them “The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.” Wow. Then, as Jesus approaches the city, people all around welcome him, taking their cloaks off or breaking off branches from the fields and spread them on the road before him, proclaiming “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
For many of us, this story is not new. We hear it every Easter. It is a proclamation of praise, hailing in the King. And, yet, “hosanna” means more than that. In Hebrew, it is an exclamation of adoration literally translated, oh save! When you clip coupons, try to find the best deal, be frugal, or sock away monies for the future, remember to call, proclaim, on the one who has brought the ultimate redemption, expensed, sacrificed Himself for our eternal saving.
1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Mark 11:1-10
11 days!
I'm loving your blogs, Luke, and today's was once again excellent! Action for the sake of a great benefit - goes against our human nature but oh, so important if we truly want something better than status quo.
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