Who hammered the nails.

Are you still eating the chocolaty remains of Easter?
I am and it feels great and bad in equal measures… too much of a good thing is certainly bad; well, in the case of chocolate it is :o)

It is mad to think that last Friday was Good Friday. It seems so long ago. But even if that is the case let us never distance ourselves from the reality of that day. The week before Good Friday the people were welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem as a coming King. A week later their songs of praise had turned into cries of execution!
"Then what do I do with Jesus, the so-called Christ?"
They all shouted, "Nail him to a cross!"
He objected, "But for what crime?"
But they yelled all the louder, "Nail him to a cross!" (Matt 27:22-23 MSG)

On what day did their hearts turn?
Monday morning? Tuesday? Later on in the week after an unexpected bill arrived?
It was not time or Christ that turned their hearts, it was their own fickleness. What is more shocking than this is that even today it is still in our hearts to still betray Christ; on [Palm] Sunday they praised him but by [Good] Friday they wanted shot of him! Are we so different? Passionate on Sunday, but the closeness of God is distant when it comes to the rough and tumble of the play ground, the adrenalin of the skate park, the relentless pace of looking after a baby or the decisions made in the office.

I was reminded of this as I read a little poem the other day:
Let’s not be fickle followers
Who say they love the Lord
But live each day ignoring Him
And His life-giving Word.

We do not have to be part of the crowd; it is not our destiny. We can passionately honour God on Monday just as much as we do on Sunday, praising Him with our lives [every decision, action, joke or smile]. We can echo the crowd on Palm Sunday rather than the mob on Good Friday.

-Andrew Carey