His Ways Are NOT Our Ways

 

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  --Isaiah 55:12

 Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  --Zechariah 9:9

 In the Charles Dickens classic A Tale of Two Cities, a contrast is made between the peaceful, idyllic town of London and war-torn, revolutionary Paris.  The scene is set in the first line, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."  Charles Darnay, an innocent man, is sentenced to die.  Sydney Canton, a ne'er do well, arranges to die in Charles's place for love of Darnay's wife Lucie.  The book ends with the line, "Tis a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; tis a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

Dickens had to have taken scripture as his inspiration.  Jerusalem was a contrast--a thriving Roman outpost living under pax Romana; but also a religious center whose leaders were at war with a revolutionary upstart called Jesus of Nazareth.  In the days leading up to His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus had been warned by His disciples not to go, as He would face certain death.  On the way, Jesus stops in Bethany, where he raised Lazarus from the dead (a foreshadowing of His resurrection) before resuming his fateful trip into Jerusalem, where He lay down his own life for the love of His followers.  That includes you and me.

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, Jesus sent two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.  Untie it and bring it.  If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.'"  And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.  And some of those standing there said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?"  And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.  And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and He sat on it.  Any many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.  And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest!"  And He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple.  And when He had looked around at everything, as it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.  --Mark 11:1-11

Bethany is a village about two miles from Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives.  The name literally means "House of Misery (or Depression)."  Jesus' friends Mary and Martha certainly were miserable when their brother Lazarus died, but Jesus turned their sorrow into joy.  In fact, the village of Bethany still stands outside of Jerusalem, but it is known by it's Arab name el-Aziriyeh, the Arabic name for Lazarus.

In John's account of this event, there is this interesting detail:  "The crowd that had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.  The reason why the crowd went to meet Him was that they heard He had done this sign.  So the Pharisees said to one another, 'You see that we are gaining nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him.'" (John 12: 17-19).  Luke adds another detail: "And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, 'Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.'  He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.'" (Luke 19: 39-40).

 There was foreshadowing of this event in the prophecy of Isaiah.

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.  For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  --Isaiah 55:6-12

The people could not be silent, for if they were, the very rocks would cry out to the glory of God.  The disciples saw it, and were amazed.  The Pharisees sought to silence it, their hearts turning to stone.  Little did they know that they were in the presence of God almighty, of the Word spoken by God at creation.  John 1:1-5 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

Granted, the people may have wanted to re-establish the throne of David, and set Jesus as their earthly king.  His ways are higher than our ways.  Jesus did not want to be a temporal king that would overthrow Roman rule and set Israel again as God's chosen people.  He wanted to be their Savior, their sinless sacrifice to a holy God.  The Pharisees could not comprehend it, so they set out to silence Him.  They started plotting how to kill Him, to silence Him forever.  "His ways are not our ways."

I am so glad that God's plans are accomplished despite man's desire to go counter to His will.  The people in this passage of Scripture heard what Jesus had done in Bethany for Lazarus.  They heard that He had fed thousands with a few loaves and fish.  They heard that He had made the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the blind to see.  They wanted to make Him as comfortable as possible, throwing their cloaks on the road to soften the steps, and when the cloaks were all gone they cut palm branches to lay out in His path.  Some may have preferred Him to be riding a white stallion to overthrow Roman oppression and occupation.  Others may have preferred Him to stay silent, and to silence the crowds shouting His Name.  Even today, people may have their own agenda and wish to manipulate the Word of God to further their own purposes.  Thankfully, Jesus will not be manipulated.  He did not conform then and He will not be manipulated now.

We say Hosanna along with those people, meaning "God save us."  It is an exclamation of adoration, an admission that we cannot save ourselves.  Our best efforts to perform our best acts for our best outcome cannot come close to what God can do through us.  His ways are not our ways.  "O God, behold our shield, and look upon the face of Your anointed.  For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.  I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.  For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly." (Psalm 84:9-11).

Grace is out of our reach.  Glory? forget about it.  Mercy is God's to give, not mine to claim.  I am grateful His ways are not my ways.