Mark 11:9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,    “Hosanna!”    “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”    “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

As Jesus marched  onto Jerusalem like a triumphant King entering the conquered city, the residents shouted "Hosanna", a hebrew term for "Salvation" declaring blessings for the One from the Lord who came to save them.

God chose the path of radical love but to generalise it to be only about love fails to reflect the coming of Jesus into Jerusalem as a Saviour from God. If it was about love, I rather Jesus had gotton rid of the oppressive religious leaders and the Roman conquerers. Yet, Jesus knew His coming into Jerusalem would mean death for salvation comes not necesarrily in the salvation from injustice and lack per say (although it is important), it comes from being saved and reconciled to God.

The heart issue here is that Jesus came to save the Jews from themselves, from their own sins and iniquities. No one can save Jerusalem except the Messiah, the Holy One from God. None can redeem us from our sins and separation from God. When Jesus came into Jerusalem with the praises of the people, it marks the future one day when He will finally come to be the King of israel.

Only Jesus can save. A prophet or a good man may show radical love, but Jesus saves us because He is sinless and is God. His death is not the death of a mere man, but the lamb of God whose sacrifice is more than sufficient for our sins. Jesus became the path to God and not radical love per say. We can't be saved from "aligning" with Jesus ie to love as Jesus did, but instead to accept the love of Jesus by placing our sins on the Cross of Calvary.

Jesus chose the path of death, because without death there is no life. Without His death, there can be no salvation. Radical love and action alone per say was not enough, for it was the message proclaimed. It was the message that got Jesus killed - because when Jesus came into Jerusalem, He was worshiped as the one coming from God, ie God Himself.

The religious leaders vary that Jesus would cause a backlash from the Romans, but also perturbed that Jesus was claiming far beyond just a message of love but that He was God Himself - which they considered as blasphemy. When Jesus publicaly challenged them, in their home base at the temple, it was just too much and they took Jesus to court to condem Him by the Jewish laws with a death penalty.

The praises to Jesus as the King and the Messiah from God, turned from adoration to cries of "crucify Him" a few days later as Jesus was captured and then accused of blasphemy. When it was declared that Jesus came not only in the name of God but declared Himself to be God, the crowd turned into their self righteous indignation and rose up to kill Jesus. They were so self righteous and religious that they threw stones and curses at their Messiah and watched with glee as He stripped naked in death. We are reminded of the blood thirsty actions of the people of faith as they raise their rethoric and condemnation against gays for a perceived sin.

Jesus had refused to deny the charges that He is of God. If it was just about love, they would have not killed Jesus. Yet, Jesus stepped over that boundary that few religious leaders have gone through. He declared Himself as God!  In doing so, when Jesus died and rose again, He became the way, the truth and the life and not just any path of love and good works to reach God.

If it was only about radical love, Jesus would not have gone to the Cross for they would not have crucified Him. Jesus insisted that He is God, not a prophet as some religions say He was - for in no religion did God came down not only to be vulnerable but to die for us. The gods and the angels in the ancient times did come down to show their humanity and being vulnerable, but none chose the path of suffering and death. It was not a quick death but a long drawn out suffering and pain.

During this Easter, it is God of heaven who came down. If they had known that He was God, there would not be any raising of palms, and all the activity would have stopped in the city and they would have bowed down, their eyes not daring to look up, for none shall live if they had seen God.  

We have not presented Jesus as the God of radical love to the GLBT community. We have used the name of Jesus to crucify gays instead. The church is the main supporter of 377a against gays. We have forgotten why Jesus came into Jerusalem - it was not as a Messiah seeking death and desctruction against those that had transgressed the law, or coming in the behalf of God to defeat the Romans hence restoring justice.

Jesus came that He might take us back to God - He came to set the return path back to God. There are generations of gay men and women who have gone astray from God as a result of the persecution and rejection from the church. They are lost forever.

We go back to the crowds praising Jesus as He came into Jerusalem, and so would Christians be declaring "Hosanna" during this final week of lent. But missing from the crowds would be many gay men and women and God's heart today is for the message of grace, the message of salvation to go to the back streets of life to those rejected by the hierachal church.

We can't outreach to the GLBT community for none will believe the message of radical love because this love has been grossly distorted by the church to cause incredible harm and deaths. It will fall of deaf grounds.

Today, we knock at heavens door. We asked for a great revival, we asked for those who come in the name of God, to bring the message of salvation of the Good news to the GLBT community - not the legalistic and law based message that their were sinners because of their innate same sex orientation, but that Jesus loves them and died for them and their sins that they may return to God. They have already been accepted for Jesus loved them and declared that they are clean even though gay.