“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness,
and all these things with be given to you as well.”

What were they expecting when Jesus entered Jerusalem? What did they think was going to happen? No doubt they had certain expectations about Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Why else would they have welcomed Jesus by waving palm branches, by throwing their garments on the ground, and by shouting Hosanna! They welcomed Jesus as though they were welcoming royalty, as though they were welcoming an army commander’s triumphant return from battle.

Jesus was neither of these so why were they welcoming Jesus this way? It was not because of what he had already done as it was what they expected him to do. When they welcomed Jesus they were not just welcoming him but the promise of a new age. They saw the beginning of the end of Roman rule. They saw the restoration of Israel to its rightful place of prominence in the world. They envisioned the start of an era filled with prosperity, power, prominence and peace the likes they had never seen. The likes they had only heard about when David was king of Israel. They expected that Jesus’ entrance was the birth of Israel’s finest hour.

So they shouted,

As we echo those shouts of Hosanna this morning what are our expectations? What are you expecting God to do for you today?  What are you looking for from God?

A roof over your head?

Clothes on your back?

Food on your table?

Peace from your worries?

Money for your bills?

Direction for your living?

Comfort for your grief?

Healing from your sickness?

I have never met a hungry person who did not pray for food, or a thirsty man who did not pray for water, a soldier in combat who did not pray for safety or a parent who did not pray for God to bless their child, I am sure John and Melanie are not the exception.  It is only normal that we ask God for the very things we need.

Every parent wants nothing but God’s goodness for his or her children.  Every parent wants their child to have a good life, which really means a better life than they had.  They are praying that they will not to have worry about “‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ But are we praying that they will “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness?”

As we reflect on this morning’s passage of scripture one has to question if things have changed since those first Hosannas and since Jesus said,

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.”

We shout Hosanna but do we know why?  Are we still more concerned about satisfying our basic needs than seeking God kingdom and righteousness?  While we might not be worried about what we will eat or what we will drink or what we will wear.  We have still made them a priority.  When it comes to our children we still want them to have more than we did as a child.  We also want our children to be good boys and girls so that when they grow up they are good men and women.

If that is what we want for Shane and ourselves we are cheating ourselves.  We should not be satisfied with being good.  We are not called by God to be good. We are called by God to be godly.  The vows that we all took this morning during Shane’s baptism were not vows to raise him as a good child but to raise him as a godly child.   In order for this to happen we need to be godly.

Look at the present state of affairs with the American family, the church, the nation and the world.  Are we any different than the people Jesus was talking to in our gospel lesson?  Are we any different from the crowds in the streets of Jerusalem who were shouting, “Hosanna?”  It is obvious that we have put our will ahead of God’s.  We may pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” but do we really desire it.  Ron Susek in his book God Will Answer raises the question, “Do you live and pray for the add-on things first, even at the neglect of God’s kingdom concerns?

When Diane and I were moving her father’s things into our home.  I put a box down in the basement that was filled with vacuum cleaner attachments. There had to be fifteen or twenty specialized nozzles, hoses, brushes and attachments. Each attachment had it's own purpose. While I am sure each attachment was well worth having, the problem was that we did not have the vacuum. You see the problem. Without the vacuum the attachments did us no good.

What we have right now is good, but when we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness the things and the relationship that we have right now become even greater.  When you put God’s kingdom first, God promises the add-ons by meeting your needs.  We tend to foolishly reverse that order, resulting in the fact that we are good, but not godly.