Have you ever bought a game you've been waiting for years, only to be massively disappointed in the first hour? You have watched their teaser 5 years earlier, and you gobble up every screenshot and eventually the trailer of this much-hyped game, but only to be let down by the actual products.
Through the years, I have experienced, or I should say, wasted a lot of hopes in some of these games. Whether it was because of their IP (Aliens franchise?!?!) or the promised scope and feature of the game (No Man's Sky, Cyberpunk2077?!?!). I had high expectations for them, yet the final products just did not deliver.
This past Sunday was Palm Sunday. It's the day we remember Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey while the crowd lay down their cloaks and palm branches on the road for him [Matthew 21:1-11]. These were the same crowd that had been following Jesus and watched him raise Lazarus from the dead. They shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the king of Israel!" The expectation was high, and the hype was real.
But how did they go from shouts of honour and praise to "Crucify him!" in just a few days? Was Jesus overhyped?
As we read through the passion story in the gospel, we realize it was not Jesus that did not live up to the expectation, but rather, the people's expectation was underwhelming and fell far below what God had in mind. The people expected Jesus to be the new political king that would free them from the power of Rome; that he would use his supernatural power to deliver them from their oppression right there right now. But God had a much bigger plan, a long game—a AAA game—with a more extensive scope and more profound resolution. What God is interested in is not victory over one empire in a small section of history but victory across time and space. He wants victory over sin and death—the roots of our oppression, tears, grief, and hopelessness.
But the road to victory, unfortunately, did not conform to human expectations and plans. No one would have thought that in order to achieve this cosmic victory, it would be through being nailed on the cross, but God did. And for that, the crowd hated Jesus and mocked him; They killed him on Good Friday.
Palm Sunday reminds us of our fickleness and self-centred nature. It reminds us of our sins and how we often see ourselves as kings rather than Jesus. While we may give him honour when he does what we want, we can quickly become disgruntle when things don't go our way.
In a way, it is not Jesus who is overhyped, but rather, it is us. We seem to have so much potential, yet we are bug-ridden and fall far short of expectations because of sin. But God, unlike human beings, didn't ask for a refund or discard us into the cosmic trash bin. No, He loves us and gave His one and only son Jesus for us to save us. And because of that, we sing, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Friends, the hype is real; God does love us. Good Friday is coming, and Easter is inevitable.
I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
- Ephesians 3:18-21
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