An American philosopher once asked, "If Jesus and Plato should return to earth and were to lecture on the same campus at the same time, which would I go to hear?" He concluded, "Who would choose to go and hear even so great a one as Plato talk about truth, when he might listen to the One who is the Truth?"

The cheering crowd that surged around Jesus on that first Palm Sunday responded much like that philosopher. They recognized that He had no equal, yet there was something unsettling about Him. Jesus rode calmly into Jerusalem on a donkey, although a stately war horse might have better suited the occasion. He visited the temple and then returned to Bethany (Mk. 11:11). The crowd had expected much more. They sought deliverance from Roman rule, but He came to deliver from Satan's rule. They recognized that Jesus had come from God, but they completely misunderstood His spiritual mission.

Do we pay tribute to Jesus because of who He is or just for what He can do for us? To honor Him means to obey Him and to die to our self-centered nature. The philosopher recognized Him as the Truth and the crowd saw Him as their deliverer, but we are called to submit to Him as King, the One who has come to rule in our hearts.  — Dennis J. De Haan