God Has Our Back

Readings:
I Kings 19
John 12:12-19

Focus:
I Kings 19:18:"But I shall leave seven thousand in Israel, all who have not bowed the knee to Baal, all whose lips have not kissed him."
John 12:12-13a:"The next day the great crowd of pilgrims who had come for the festival, hearing that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, went out to meet him with palm branches in their hands...."

Elijah hears that King Ahab's wife Jezebel has threatened to kill him, and he flees into the desert. God meets him there and assures him that he has work for him to do, and that, even though Elijah thinks that he is the only worshipper of the Lord who is left, there are actually 7000 more in Israel who still worship him. God still has his back.

Jesus knows that many of the religious leaders want to kill him. Nevertheless, he goes to Jerusalem, their center. There the crowds who have heard of his raising of Lazarus greet him with adulation. God has his back, too. Nonetheless we know that the religious leaders eventually win the crowd over and turn them against Jesus. But God has ultimate control. Jesus knows this, and that is why he can confidently go to Jerusalem.