It was the Depression. The father was able to keep bread on the table, but that was it. When his little boy burst into the house excitedly talking about the circus coming to town, the father knew that he could not afford the $1 admission. The boy had never seen the circus and it wasn’t right that a boy not see a circus, especially when he was eight.
So the father made a deal. He told his 8-year-old son, “You find enough odd jobs to earn 50 cents and I’ll give you the other 50 cents.” Well, the little boy did it. The day before the circus came to town, his little piggy bank held 50 cents. True to his word, the father gave him the rest of the money and the boy bought his circus ticket in advance.
When the circus parade went by, he was right at the curb not missing a thing. When the clown danced past him, the boy handed the clown his ticket. When the parade was over, he rushed home to tell his dad all about it. The father, surprised at his son’s early return, asked him to describe what he saw at the circus.
Crestfallen, the father took the boy into his arms and said, “Son, you didn’t see the circus; all you saw was the parade” (Glen V. Wheeler, Holiday Illustration Collection).
When it comes to participating in worship, I’m afraid that’s what many people do. They don’t see Jesus. They just see the parade. They don’t experience His presence. They just watch the ritual. Please, don’t let it happen to you this morning. Determine to really see Jesus, not just the parade.
The question is “How?” Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 12, John 12, where Jesus tells us how after His big parade into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday nearly 2,000 years ago.
John 12:12-16 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him (ESV).
JESUS MAKES HIS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.
And it’s a grand parade! People are waving palm branches, the symbol of victory. The crowds proclaim Jesus as their King, and they have come to see Him do some spectacular stuff.
John 12:17-19 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him” (ESV).
Sure the whole world has gone after Him, but they don’t understand what He’s all about. The glory they seek and the glory He seeks are two different things. They seek the glory of a conquering King. Jesus seeks the glory of the cross, as we shall see.
On a Palm Sunday some time ago, 5-year-old Stephanie sat on her aunt’s lap while they listened to the pastor’s sermon together. He described Jesus' approach to Jerusalem and how the crowds cried, “Hosanna, Hosanna!” At that, Stephanie perked up and began to sing, “Oh, Hosanna, now don't you cry for me!” (Brenda Fossum, Duluth, MN, “Heart to Heart,” Today's Christian Woman; www.PreachingToday.com)
She got caught up in the moment, but she had no idea about what was really going on. That’s the way it was with the crowd on that first Palm Sunday, and that’s the way it is with many people today. They get caught up in the excitement, but they have no spiritual perception. Then some Greeks come on the scene.
John 12:20-22 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus (ESV).
These Greeks want to see Jesus, but how? Well…
John 12:23-24 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (ESV).
Jesus is saying, “I am going to die, but by that death I will be glorified, because my death will produce many more believers and followers of God, who like seeds will be able to reproduce themselves in still more believers and followers of God. You see…
JESUS CAME TO DIE.
His triumphal entry into Jerusalem was not the main event. It was only the parade before the main event. The main event was His death on the cross for you and me. He came to give His life so that many could gain eternal life through faith in Him.
A few years ago, Jack Alexander wrote about a man who gave his life so many could live.
His name was Welles Crowther, and from the time he was six years old, Welles wore a red bandana. His father gave it to him, explaining the clean white hand¬kerchief in breast pocket was "for show," the red bandanna was "for blow." Welles took that red bandanna everywhere. When he volunteered with the Empire Hook and Ladder Company at age sixteen—joining his father on the force—he carried it with him. When he played lacrosse for Boston College, he tied it around his head and wore it under his helmet. Even when he took a job as an equities trader, working on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower, he brought it with him.
In a culture of starched white handkerchiefs folded neatly in Italian-suit breast pockets, Welles kept his bandanna close. And it was with him on Sept. 11, 2001, when United Airlines Flight 175 exploded into the South Tower, cutting a fatal swath between floors 78 and 85.
Several floors below Welles, Lin Yung was blown back by the explosion and couldn't see anything at first because her eyeglasses were covered in blood. When she wiped them off, Lin saw a world of nightmare: mangled bodies strewn around her, dust and debris everywhere. Lin didn't know how long her luck would hold.
Then she saw a young man through the smoke and ash, seemingly more shadow than flesh. He said, “I found the stairs. Follow me.” Welles led Lin and others down seventeen flights of stairs to where firefighters led survivors down another twenty floors to a set of still-working elevators. But Welles didn't follow them. Instead, he went back up, a red bandanna wrapped around his nose and mouth.
He found Judy Wein in the rubble—her arm was broken, ribs cracked. One of her lungs was punctured. Welles called out: “Everyone who can stand, stand now. If you can help others, do so.” Welles led Judy down the stairs, again to a band of waiting firefighters. And then he went back up. Again.
Welles didn't make it out of the South Tower. Perhaps he never expected to. His body was found six months later, surrounded by the bodies of uniformed firefighters. It's said that he saved perhaps as many as a dozen people that day. He was twenty-four years old. Wein told CNN, “People can live 100 years and not have the compassion, the wherewithal to do what he did.”
Lin keeps a photo of Welles in her apartment. She says, “Without him, I wouldn't be here. He saved my life. And he will always be in my heart. Always be with me.”
Welles is gone, but his bandanna is not. It's on display at the 9/11 museum as a symbol of the man's heroism and self-sacrifice (Jack Alexander, The God Impulse, Baker Books, 2018, pp. 99-101; www.PreachingToday.com).
In the same way, the cross is symbol of Christ’s sacrifice not just for a few, but for millions of people around the world. It’s the reason why Jesus came—not to head up a victory parade, but to die on a cross
Jesus exchanged his wealth for your poverty. He traded his righteousness for your sin. He died so you could live forever with Him in glory. All you need to do is trust Him. All you need to do is ask Him to save you from your sins.
My friends, if you’ve never done that before, I invite you to do it right now. Put your faith in Christ, who died for you and rose again. Trust Him with your life and your eternal destiny. Follow Him to eternal life. Then let Christ use you to lead others to eternal life in Him.
Verse 24 says His death produced “many seeds,” which are able to reproduce themselves in still more “seeds” to His glory! Jesus didn’t save you just to give you eternal life. He saved you so you could help many others find eternal life in Him, as well!
In November 1964, anarchy broke out in the Belgian Congo. Assemblies of God missionary J. W. Tucker knew he was at risk, but he stayed where God had placed him. One day, a mob attacked and killed him with sticks, clubs, fists, and broken bottles. They took his body, threw it in the back of a truck, drove a good distance, and then tossed his corpse to the crocodiles in the Bomokande River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
J. W. Tucker had risked everything, yet he seemingly had nothing to show for it. But 30 years later, John Weidman, a close friend of Tucker's, was in the country (by then known as Zaire) and learned how God used that missionary's sacrifice.
The Bomokande River flows through the middle of the Mangbeto tribe, a people virtually without the gospel. During a time of civil war, the Mangbeto king became distressed with the violence and appealed to the central government in Kinshasa for help. The central government responded by sending a man called the Brigadier, a well-known policeman of strong stature and reputation who came from the region of Isiro. J. W. Tucker had won the Brigadier to the Lord just two months before he was killed.
The Brigadier determined to reach the Mangbetos with the gospel, the only way to peace. Being a relatively new Christian, he did his best to witness, but he was met with no response. Then one day he heard of a Mangbeto tradition that said: “If the blood of any man flows in the Bomokande River, you must listen to his message.” This saying had been with the Mangbetos for as long as anyone could remember.
The Brigadier called for the king and all the village elders. They gathered in full assembly to hear his address. “Some time ago a man was killed, and his body was thrown into your Bomokande River,” the Brigadier began. “The crocodiles in this river ate him up. His blood flowed in your river. But before he died, he left me a message.
“This message concerns God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to this world to save people who were sinners. He died for the sins of the world; He died for my sins. I received this message, and it changed my life.” As the Brigadier preached, the Spirit of God descended and people began to fall on their knees and cry out to the Lord. Many were converted that day.
And since that day, thousands of Mangbetos have come to Christ and dozens of churches have started, all because of a message from a man whose blood flowed in the Bomokande River (George O. Wood, general secretary of the Assemblies of God; www.PreachingToday.com).
When a seed dies, it produces many more seeds, and that’s why Jesus came. He came to die to produce the seed of eternal life in people, so they can in turn bring more people to life in Christ. Jesus came to die. So, if you want to see Jesus this Holy Week…
GO TO THE PLACE OF DEATH.
Risk your life for Him. Give your life to see people find eternal life in Christ. That’s what Jesus said in verse 25. Look at it.
John 12:25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (ESV).
Now, when Jesus first spoke this, He meant it literally. By the end of the week, He was going to be hanging on a cross. And if those Greeks they were serious about seeing Him, they would have to go to the cross at the risk of their own lives.
Do YOU want to see Jesus this morning? Then you too have to go to the cross. I.e., you have to die to your own agenda. You have to give up your own rights and risk your life to follow Christ.
People may think you’re stupid or weird. People might criticize you. In some cases, people might even kill you for being a follower of Christ. But if you want to see Jesus, if you want to enjoy being with Him this week, then that’s the risk you have to take.
Now, that will keep a lot of people back from going after Christ, perhaps even some of you. But I urge you, go ahead and take the risk, because life without risk is no life at all. If you seek to protect your life, you are going to lose it. But if you risk your life for Jesus’ sake, then you will really live. That’s really what Jesus is saying in verse 25.
Tyrtaeus, an old Greek poet who lived before the time of Christ, wrote something very similar to what Jesus said here. Tyrtaeus wrote, “The man who risks his life in battle has the best chance in saving it; the one who flees to save it is most likely to lose it” (Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 2nd ed., p.95b). If you want to live, then take a risk!
Gary Haugen is president and CEO of International Justice Mission. It’s a Christian organization dedicated to fighting sex trafficking. He writes:
After we have poured into our children all the good food and shelter and clothing, after we have provided them with great education, discipline, structure and love, after we have worked so hard to provide every good thing, they turn to us and ask, “Why have you given all of this to me.”
And the honest answer from me is, “So you'll be safe.”
And my kid looks up at me and says, “Really? That's it? You want me to be safe? Your grand ambition for my life is that nothing bad happens?”
And I think something inside them dies, Haugen says. They either go away to perish in safety, or they go away looking for adventure in the wrong places. Jesus, on the other hand, affirms their sense of adventure and their yearning for larger glory” (Gary Haugen, Just Courage, InterVarsity Press, 2008, pp.124-125; www. PreachingToday.com).
Don’t live to be safe, Jesus says. Don’t “love your life.” Instead, risk your life, “hate your life,” for my sake and find it.
Gary Haugen then talks about the risk he took in starting the International Justice Mission. He said:
“I vividly remember when I finally had to make a decision to abandon my career at the U.S. Department of Justice to become the first employee of a not-for-profit organization that didn't yet actually exist, called International Justice Mission. I had worked for three years with friends on the idea of IJM and was very excited, in theory, about this dream of following Jesus in the work of justice in the world. But then I had to actually act. I had to walk into the Department of Justice and turn in my badge… I tried to be very brave and very safe. That is to say, I walked in and asked my bosses for a yearlong leave of absence… My bosses politely declined.
“I was suddenly feeling very nervous,” Haugen says. “What was I really afraid of? As I thought about it, I feared humiliation. If my little justice ministry idea didn't work, no one was going to die. If IJM turned out to be a bad idea and collapsed, my kids weren't going to starve. We'd probably just have to live with my parents for a while until I could find another job, but with my education, odds are I would soon find a job. The fact is, I would be terribly embarrassed. Having told everybody about my great idea, they would know that it was a bad idea or that I was a bad leader. Either way, it would be humiliating.
So there it was: My boundary of fear. I sensed God inviting me to an extraordinary adventure of service, but deep inside I was afraid of looking like a fool and a loser. This was actually very helpful to see, because it helped me get past it. When I am [older], do I really want to look back and say, Yeah, I sensed that God was calling me to lead a movement to bring rescue to people who desperately need an advocate in the world, but I was afraid of getting embarrassed and so I never even tried?”
Haugen says, “Fear is normal, even among the earnest and devout, and it can be overcome. But first we must see the opportunity it provides—a revelation that only comes as we step to the precipice of action” (Gary Haugen, Just Courage, Inter Varsity Press, 2008, pp. 129-130; www.PreachingToday.com).
My dear friends, Jesus invites you to step to the precipice of action. He invites you not to a life of safety, but to a life of risk and adventure for a cause that has eternal significance. Oh, He may not be calling you to lead a movement. But He may be calling you to invite a neighbor to church next Sunday or to say a word on His behalf. Go ahead, take the risk! Sure, you might have to die a little, but only in death do you find real life.
If you want to see Jesus this week, go to the place of death. But not only that…
GO TO THE PLACE OF SERVICE.
Don’t go to the throne room. Go to the servants’ quarters and there you will find Jesus. In verse 26, Jesus says…
John 12:26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him (ESV).
Just like life comes in the place of death. So honor comes in the place of service.
David Brooks, columnist for The New York Times, once said, “Commencement speakers are always telling young people to follow their passions. Be true to yourself. This is a vision of life that begins with self and ends with self. But people on the road to [real success] do not find their vocations by asking, what do I want from life? They ask, what is life asking of me? How can I match my intrinsic talent with one of the world's deep needs? (David Brooks, "The Moral Bucket List," The New York Times, April 11, 2015; www.PreachingToday.com).
In other words, find real success and honor in service.
Pediatrician, David Cerqueira, tells the story of a little girl in his wife’s Sunday School class. His wife had prepared a lesson on being useful and told the children that everyone can be useful in serving God. There was a short moment of silence, and a little girl named Sarah spoke up. “Teacher, what can I do?” she said. “I don't know how do to many useful things.”
Mrs. Cerqueira had not anticipated that kind of response, but she quickly looked around and spotted an empty flower vase on the windowsill. “Sarah,” she said, “you can bring in a flower and put it in the vase. That would be a useful thing.”
Sarah frowned. “But that's not important.”
“It is,” her teacher said, “if you are helping someone.”
Sure enough, the next Sunday Sarah brought in a dandelion and placed it in the vase. In fact, she continued to do so each week. Without reminders or help, she made sure the vase was filled with a bright yellow flower, Sunday after Sunday. When her pastor found out about it, he put the vase in the main sanctuary next to the pulpit. That Sunday he gave a sermon on the honor of serving others, using Sarah's vase as an example. The congregation was touched by the message, and the week started on a good note…
But during that same week, Sarah’s family discovered she had leukemia. David Cerqueira was her pediatrician, and he did his best to explain to Sarah's parents that nothing could be done to save her life. He says, “I don't think I have ever had a more difficult conversation than the one that night.”
Eventually, Sarah became confined to bed and to the visits that many people gave her. She lost her smile. She lost most of her weight; and then, the end was near.
That Sunday, at the end of his sermon, the pastor suddenly stopped speaking. His eyes wide, he stared at the back of the church, and everyone turned to see what he was looking at. It was Sarah! Her parents had brought her for one last visit. She was bundled in a blanket, a dandelion in one little hand.
She slowly walked to the front of the church where her vase was still perched by the pulpit. She put her flower in the vase and a piece of paper beside it. Then she returned to her parents.
Four days later, Sarah died… At the funeral, the pastor showed Dr. Cerqueira the note Sarah had left. It said, “Dear God, This vase has been the biggest honor of my life. Sarah” (David Cerqueira, “Sarah's Vase,” Today's Christian, March/April 2008, adapted from Evangel magazine, December 2005; www. PreachingToday.com).
Sarah understood life more than most, even as she was dying. The biggest honor of all is in service.
Dear friends, if you want to see Jesus this week, go to the place of death and go to the place of service. Find life in death. Find honor is service, because there you find Jesus Christ.
King Jesus, why did you choose a lowly ass to carry you to ride in your parade?
Had you no friend who owned a horse – a royal mount with spirit for a king to ride?
Why choose an ass, small, unassuming beast of burden trained to plow not carry kings?
King Jesus, why did you choose me, a lowly unimportant person to bear you in my world today?
I'm poor and unimportant, trained to work not carry kings – let alone the King of kings,
And yet you've chosen me to carry you in triumph in this world's parade.
King Jesus, keep me small so all may see how great you are; keep me humble, so all may say,
“Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord,” not what a great ass he rides (Joseph Bayly, “Psalms of My Life,” Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 5; www.PreachingToday. com).
