Luke 19:35-44

35 And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.  36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.  37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;  38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.  39 And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.  40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.  41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,  42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.  43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,  44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (italics mine)

Although this account is a record of the last few months of Jesus’ earthly life, He is referring back to the time of His birth in verse 44. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, we remember the Bible says there was no room for Him in the inn.  In part, this was because of the census and the influx of population to the small city; but mainly there was no room in the inn because people were simply not attentive to what was happening around them. The Messiah was being born right before them! Any Jew would have welcomed the Messiah into his home with open arms and with gifts.  But Jesus did not come like they expected He should, so they missed an opportunity to give Him a place in their homes and in their hearts.

That same thing would happen all throughout the ministry of Jesus.  People would hear the Gospel and believe, but many more were looking for a conquering leader.  The people wanted someone to free them from the grip of Rome rather than a Savior from their sins.  When Jesus preached, it was not what they expected, so they rejected Him.

Today in our lives, God sometimes does things that we do not expect or even want Him to do,  but that never means that He is absent or unconcerned. If you and I are bound by our expectations of what we think He should do, we will miss an opportunity God has set before us because we failed to recognize it for what it is!

Take advantage of every opportunity God brings your way today and trust Him for the results!

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Jason Atwood

Jason Atwood, Assistant Pastor

Jason Atwood grew up in the Corpus Christi, Texas area, and in November 2006, Pastor Atwood was called to be the first pastor of Heritage Baptist Church of Corpus Christi. The church was meeting in a small one-bedroom house. God blessed, and they moved to a new 5-acre site to allow continued growth. In 2019, God led Pastor Atwood to join our staff. He is a tremendous help to Pastor Trieber in both the church and the college ministry. He is married to Aimee, and they have three boys — Will, Connor, and Jack.