We've spent the first three months of our Confirmation journey learning about Jesus' life - his birth, his childhood, his baptism and temptation, his friends, preaching, miracles, etc. At this point in our journey, we start to look at the last week of Jesus' life as he entered the city of Jerusalem for the last time, knowingly heading to his painful and public execution. But before things got unpleasant, there was that crowd with their palms and cloaks and...cheers. | |
To get us thinking about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we started class last week thinking about what makes us cheer the most - which naturally led to a discussion of everyone's favorite sports teams. Then we decided to have a little cheerleading competition. Boys v. Girls (which also happens to be 7th graders v. 8th graders). You can take a look at their cheers right here and see for yourself what you think! | |
Both groups did great, but our panel of esteemed judges with extensive cheerleading experience voted 2-1 in favor of the boys' cheer. Way to go, dudes! Your prize awaits you at our next class meeting.
I'd sure like to imagine all those folks 2,000 years ago cheering, "Go Jesus, you can do it!" But actually, we read in the New Testament that the people who came out to see Jesus as he entered Jerusalem were cheering words from the Psalms:
I'd sure like to imagine all those folks 2,000 years ago cheering, "Go Jesus, you can do it!" But actually, we read in the New Testament that the people who came out to see Jesus as he entered Jerusalem were cheering words from the Psalms:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
(Matthew 21:9, quoting Psalm 118:26 and 148:1)
To see how some filmmakers have portrayed that scene, take a look at this YouTube video:
People were cheering for Jesus because they had heard about all the wonderful things he'd done. They were cheering for Jesus because they were hoping he would become their new king. They were cheering for Jesus because he seemed worthy of worship.
Worship words...
Thinking about all this cheering for Jesus stuff got our class thinking about worship. Everybody got some Post-It notes to write down their various answers to the question, "what is worship?" I was really impressed by the students' answers. They reflected a diverse understanding of worship: Worship is praising God. It is done through prayer, and singing, and reading God's word. It's done together, and it's done individually. It happens at church, but it can also happen anywhere. When we worship, we tell God how great he is. We tell him we love him. We thank him for what he's done for us. We thank him for his love. I could go on and on (you can see we had a lot of sticky notes!) but I will conclude with this (as I did with my students): Worship, in the original languages of Scripture, is essentially a posture. Literally translated the words for worship refer to bowing down. When we worship, we humble ourselves and say that God is first, and we are not. Now that's something worth cheering for! |