Context is everything. One day it's "Hosanna, Son of David!" and the next it is, "All hail, King of the Jews!" Don't they mean the same thing? In theory, yes. In practice, no. As Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last fateful time, the crowds saw in him the fulfillment of a long awaited promise. As time passed, they resented the fact that he didn't measure up to their expectations. No one referred to the things he had said about himself, only to the things they wanted - and then turned on him because of it. There is a great scene in A Torch Song Trilogy when mother and son are arguing. "I mighta understood . . . But you never gave me chance . . . You cut me out of you life and then blamed me for it." Is that what the crowds of Jerusalem did to Jesus? Is it what we do to God?
When we harbor resentment for God because s/he does not meet our expectations, what we want him to do regardless of what he has said about his will or purposes, have we essentially cut God out of lives and then resented him for not being there when we needed him? What expectations do we have of the Son of David? If they are not in line with what what was revealed, do we then turn and deride the "supposed King?"
Human nature has not changed all that much in two millennia. The question for us is: we will allow God's grace to transform us and our nature to recognize just who God is and what God has done for us?
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