March 31, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked Him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read: ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise,’?” And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where He spent the night.”

(Matthew 21.16-17)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Here is the question for all of us, mighty ones of God: Have you never read? Jesus was fully prepared for the days ahead as they decreased one by one. This was just Sunday. Phil Wickham sings “It’s Friday, But Sunday’s Comin’”. The reality of the cross, the power of the grave all fade in the truth of resurrection. It was Friday. Jesus was crucified. We call it good knowing the gospel of resurrection. We can call it good because it serves the will and purpose of God for us. We shudder to think of all that happened to Jesus following the Last Supper culminating in His last breath. It is hard to see. It is hard to conceive. The brutality. The horror. The victimization. And yet, we are forcing ourselves to not see it so we can let the Spirit breathe life back into us and accept the journey to faith that overcame the brutality. The hope that overcome the horror. The love that overcame the victimization. And it wasn’t for Him alone. It was for all of us. We are the penitent thief on the cross beside Jesus. We share the same world as they did. We share the same realization they did. One world ends. Another world begins. Except it didn’t begin. The door opened wide. The Master’s arms would not close until the work was finished and done. It is Friday but Sunday is coming.

But this is the Sunday before and Friday is coming. “Have you never read? Have you never heard it said?” This is what Jesus asked His detractors when they asked Him, “Do you hear what those children are saying?” What were they saying as Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers? What were they saying as Jesus knocked over the cages of doves and sparrows? What were they saying as Jesus made a whip and cracked it over the heads of the livestock causing them to scatter in what was once a “House of Prayer” and now was a marketplace of financial iniquity parading as a marketplace of salvation? They were saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” It was the echoing of the song begun outside the city across the Kidron Valley up to the Gardens of Gethsemane. It didn’t matter if they did not realize the full impact of what they were saying. They saw the reaction is was causing across “the whole city.” (Remember, “the whole city” referred to the leaders of the Temple who were in attendance.) Aren’t children, and sadly some adults, just like that? They see a reaction of someone based on a behavior and they repeat it just to see the person react, again and again. When Matthew said the leaders were agitated, it may have been not as much as what they were saying but that they wouldn’t stop saying it. Jesus addressed both issues. God uses people to declare His will, even those who have no intention at all of serving God’s will. Seriously, the “whole city” had no intention of submitting to Jesus of Nazareth to be acknowledged as the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. They would not believe that He was the savior of the world and the true King of Israel. However, they, just as Judas of Kerioth, served the purpose of bringing God’s sovereignty to bear. A sacrifice, a final and complete sacrifice, had to be offered. Jesus was it and they were the agents of sacrifice. Even though the children may not have realized the full meaning of declaring “Hosanna to the Son of David” as a term of messianic promise and identity, the very walls of the court and the Temple resounded with the Good News.

When they wanted Jesus to silence the children from such annoyance, and implied blasphemy, Jesus responded in much the same as He did when they wanted the disciples outside the gate to be silenced. Jesus said, “Even if I did, the rocks themselves would cry out.” In the Temple, Jesus said, “Don’t you remember reading ‘Out of the mouths of babes is ordained perfect praise.” (Psalm 8.2 more or less.) Hear the full verse, if you have not read it, and understand that Jesus wanted them to fill in the blank He left for them knowing they had heard it but not prophetically. It says, “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” The songs of the children in the Temple court that day was not merely a chant of teasing or praising. It was the building of a stronghold against the attacks of the enemy. In this case, the enemy was “the whole city.” They stood against, as if they truly could, the will of God to save His people from their sins. Thinking they were God’s agents of virtue and authority over Israel, they were making enemies of the people by marrying themselves to Rome. Oh what a tangled web we weave…. when first we practice to deceive. Jesus was not deceived nor intimidated nor delayed. It was Sunday but Friday was coming! God’s will be done. Or “Have you not read… how the story ends and begins again?”

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.