Session 1

Sunday: Not the Savior They Expected

From Holy Week Devotional

The Jewish people had long been searching for a Savior—one who would free them from Roman rule and restore their own kingdom. This is how Holy Week begins: a people looking for a political savior with a show of military strength. This is how Holy Week begins: a God who comes riding in on a lowly donkey instead. 

With palm branches in hand, the people cried, “Hosanna, hosanna!” which means, “Yahweh, save us!” They shouted this to Jesus, hoping that He would rescue them. Jesus, whose Hebrew name is Yeshua, which means “Yahweh saves.” They were asking Him to save them, and He would—but they had a different kind of Messiah in mind. 

As the week begins, the people shout, “Save us!” By the end of the week, they would be shouting, “Crucify Him!”

It’s easy to look back at the people in this part of the gospel story and wonder how they could turn on the one who was fully man and fully God, who performed signs and wonders and miracles before their very eyes. But we’re not so different. We, too, often have a different kind of Messiah in mind. We want God to rescue us on our own terms, to show up how we’d like Him to, and to answer our prayers according to our wishes. But Jesus didn’t come to fulfill their wishes—or ours. He came to fulfill the will of His Father. 

This Messiah comes in the way we’d least expect, and He brings something much better than wish fulfillment. In the week ahead, He’ll step down from the donkey and begin a journey to the cross that fulfills the penalty of sin, once and for all. Yahweh will, indeed, save. 

Journal: When have you wanted God to show up on your terms? What would it look like to trust His plan in your life, even if it doesn’t look how you expected?