“I Trust in You, Lord”
Psalm 31:9-16
How are you doing this morning?
How are you feeling?
This is the fourth Sunday that we have not gathered together as a church family.
For some of us, this may very well be the first time in our adult lives that we have gone four weeks without worshiping together with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
For many of us, Red Bank United Methodist Church is a huge piece of our existence.
The people of this church are our family.
Many of our closest relationships are with members of this church; some of our fondest memories took place among the people of this church.
Some of you were, perhaps, married here or your children were married here.
Many of your kids were baptized where I am standing, and a number of you were baptized here yourselves.
You have knelt at these chancel rails…how many times?
You have prayed here—hundreds, thousands of prayers.
You have shared Communion, some of you have even given your life to Jesus Christ, for the first time, in this place.
It is the primary arena through which your spiritual life has grown.
How many sermons have there been?
How much laughter?
How many tears?
A few days ago, I was in the church library and I happened along a photo album entitled: “Red Bank United Methodist Church Picnic, 1991.”
As I opened it up, I could tell right away that this particular church picnic took place up at Camp Lookout.
And as I scoured through the photos, I saw so many of you.
Some of you looked much younger—I mean it was nearly thirty years ago--and remarkably, others of you looked pretty much the same as you do now.
And as I looked at these pictures, many of you with your young children-many in the prime of your lives—and some of you children yourselves…
…the thought occurred to me just how many of you folks have been a part of this church for a very, very long time.
And so, isn’t it strange to be worshiping online, rather than in this sanctuary?
Especially on Palm Sunday?
I mean, think about it, this is the first Palm Sunday in, at least, 40 years that no child is riding this wooden donkey down the aisle of this church as folks smile and wave palm branches.
Perhaps one or more of your children have been the one to ride the donkey.
Maybe, even you have been the one to ride the donkey.
So, I ask, “How are you doing this morning?
How are you feeling?”
You’ve been isolated for several weeks now.
Some of you live alone.
This social distancing stuff is getting old, is it not?
It is lonely.
And we weren’t created to be alone.
And it’s Palm Sunday.
And we aren’t together.
So, it’s alright to be sad.
It’s alright to be a bit sorrowful this morning.
It’s normal to be rocked by a bit of grief.
And, you know, I think these are some of the feelings Jesus was dealing with on that very first Palm Sunday some 2,000 years ago.
How couldn’t He have been?
He knew what was coming.
He knew what lay ahead.
He knew that even though His disciples and the rest of the crowd were in a state of euphoria as they waved palm branches and crowned Him king, that in a few days Judas would betray Him, the disciples would fall away, Peter would deny Him, the religious leaders would plot to kill Him, Pilate and Herod would sentence Him, and soldiers would mock and beat Him and nail Him to a bloody Cross.
Jesus knew all this, even though, on Palm Sunday He was the Grand Marshal of a big Parade as He entered the city of His death.
And so, in the midst of all this excitement, there is a deepening despair.
There is sorrow.
For Jesus knows what it is means when a smile hides a tear.
In verse 5 of Psalm 31
David writes, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
According to Luke 23:46, these are the exact same words Jesus spoke before He took His last breath on the Cross.
A number of scholars speculate that Jesus may have been reciting this entire Psalm as He hung from the Cross.
We don’t know that for sure, but what we do know is that Jesus knew this Psalm very well.
And I think He not only knew the Words, I think He lived them—especially during the last week of His life.
And as He lived them, I bet He was reciting and praying this Psalm over and over again in His head—even as He rode that donkey with all that fanfare.
“Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress…
…My life is consumed by anguish…
…I have become like broken pottery.”
This is how Jesus felt as He lived the last week of His life.
The Psalm describes Jesus’ isolation and rejection.
He will feel forgotten, invisible, untouchable, unlovable.
Indeed, His very life will be overcome by grief.
No one but Jesus knows that death is so close at hand—how lonely that must have felt.
Misery isn’t just physical; it is psychological as well.
And Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior experienced misery beyond compare during His final week on this earth.
Isn’t it something that Jesus understands the very worst of human suffering.
Always remember that whatever you are going through, no matter how bad it might be, Jesus Christ has been there as well—and He is there with you now.
He can comfort you.
He understands what you are dealing with, and He loves you.
For Jesus is in such solidarity with you and with me that when we suffer He suffers with us.
(pause)
There is no greater psychological pain than to be betrayed by one’s friends; there is no greater physical pain than having one’s hands and feet nailed to a Cross.
And so, during the last week of Jesus’ life, Psalm 31 took on a meaning for Jesus that it, perhaps, never had before.
No wonder He quoted it from the Cross.
No wonder it must have been going through His mind the entire week.
I mean, listen to the Words again: “Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish…my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak…
…I am the utter contempt of my neighbors and an object of dread to my closest friends—those who see me on the street flee from me…
…For I hear many whispering…
…They conspire against me and plot to take my life.”
(pause)
You know, if this is all there was…
…if the Psalm ended here…
…if the story of Jesus ended here…
…if we ended here…
…this life would be nothing but a cruel joke.
There would be no hope, no purpose.
But in verse 14 we come upon a big BUT…
“But, I trust in you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’
“All these awful things are happening.
I am riding toward my death, ‘But I trust in you, Lord.’
My friends have all deserted me, I am being whipped and mocked and spit upon, ‘But I trust in you, Lord.’
My mind is in torment, I know what is going to happen to me, ‘But I trust in you, Lord.’
My body is being torn to pieces, the pain is beyond compare, ‘But I trust in you, Lord.’
I have been nailed to a Cross.
People pass me by and mock.
I can hardly breath.
‘But I trust in you, Lord.’
My times are in your hands…
…Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
These are the Words of Jesus Christ.
This is the faith of Jesus Christ, the One Who said, “I do nothing on my own, but speak just what the Father has taught me.”
God has been present, God will continue to be present—no matter what the situation—Jesus knew this.
Do you know this; do I?
Many of us may ask ourselves, “How can a person count one’s blessings in the midst of such great suffering?
How can a person possibly trust in God when one’s life is filled with such sorrow, when strength fails because of misery, and bones waste away?
How can one say, “You are my God” when they are a horror to their neighbors…a broken vessel?
How can one even speak of the “steadfast love of God” when terror is all around and enemies scheme together to take one’s life?
How?
Can it be because this Psalm and life itself attests to the fact that God can be trusted?
Can it be because, although Jesus Christ was facing, on that first Palm Sunday, the most horrifying week anyone could ever imagine…
…Can it be because, although He will be betrayed with a kiss and nailed to a lonely Cross…
…that God answers Jesus’ prayer with a gift—the gift of trust?
“I trust in you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’
My times are in your hands.”
This is more than confidence that things will work out for the best.
Jesus is confessing a new reality here: “Trust in God” is the greatest gift the world will ever know.
It was trust in God, that enabled Jesus, on the night He was arrested to say: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
It was trust in God, that enabled Jesus to willingly give up His life on the Cross.
And God proved trustworthy, indeed, when on Easter morning Jesus Christ rose victoriously from the grave!!!
And because of Jesus’ trust; because of what Jesus has done, because God is proven trustworthy we too can receive from God the greatest gift—the gift of trust.
We too, can put our whole lives into His hands.
And no matter what is happening around us…
…no matter whether we are all alone due to the Coronavirus, no matter whether we are facing possible financial ruin due to this dread disease, no matter whether the world seems like it is going to end…
…we can say: “But I trust in you, Lord; I say you are my God.
You will save me through your unfailing love!”
Do you have this trust?
If not, pray to God until you do.
