Hi-Yo Silver
Once upon a time there was a very sick man. He had gone to many doctors, undergone numerous tests, and was prescribed lots of medicine. But he was still very sick. He tried everything from home remedies to herbal tea to mega-doses of certain vitamins along with his prescriptions. He still didn’t feel any better than before. Then he heard of a doctor who could cure diseases and illnesses that others couldn’t. So he called and made an appointment, all the time thinking, “Finally, I’ll feel well again.”
The doctor gave him a thorough exam and, after examining the test results, told the man that all he had to do to become healthy was lose about 60 pounds, exercise regularly, and eat more vegetables, fruits, and grains. The doctor also told him he didn’t need that medicine he was on.
The man was furious when he heard this. He demanded that the doctor prescribe some new medicine for him, possibly some experimental drug not yet on the market, which would cure his illness. The doctor patiently repeated his advice. "You don’t need medicine," she said. "You need to change your lifestyle." Well, the man cussed out the doctor and left. For the rest of his life, he would tell everyone who would listen that doctor was a quack who shouldn’t be allowed to practice medicine.
Once upon a time there was a woman who had run up a lot of debts, so she embezzled money from her employer. Of course, the company found out and pressed charges. Most of the money had been spent on alcohol and she had been arrested many times for driving while intoxicated. Her most recent arrest was a result of causing an accident that had killed the other driver. She didn’t know what to do, until a friend told her of an outstanding defense attorney who seldom lost a case. So she called him and he agreed to see her. She thought, “Whew. He’ll get me off the hook and everything will be fine.”
When they met the attorney studied her case and said, "What you did was wrong, and you may have to spend some time in prison. After you are released, you will need to get into an ongoing program of recovery from alcohol abuse. You will also need to get a steady job and repay the company the money you stole. If you will do this, you may be able to get your life back together again."
The woman was furious. She yelled at the attorney, "I don’t need you to give me a lecture, I need you to get these charges dropped. Whether I drink or not is my business, not yours!" She stomped out and began letter-writing campaign to have him disbarred for refusing to help a client.
Once upon a time there was a small nation that was deeply troubled. For centuries the people had been held down by foreign armies. Many of the citizens of this nation had become cynical about life, and as a result they cheated friends and neighbors in the marketplace. There was no peace, no prosperity. But then there appeared a tiny ray of hope in the midst of the darkness. There was talk of a messiah who would fix everything for them--a messiah who would overthrow the foreign army, establish a strong, independent government, and bring peace and prosperity to the nation.
Word came of a man from Nazareth, who was able to heal people, cast out demons, and even change water into wine. People came from all over to hear him speak. And he could hold his own when the scribes and Pharisees confronted him. The people felt that finally the messiah who would lead an army against Rome and reestablish Israel as a strong and prosperous nation was coming.
One day this man rode a donkey into the capital city of Jerusalem. The people poured into the streets and cheered his arrival. They waved palm branches, spread garments on the road, and shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!
We’ll come back for the ending of this story later.
It was October 29, 1896 when Charles Lindbergh was given a ticker-tape parade in New York City in honor of his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. 750,000 lbs. of ticker tape poured onto the streets. BUT THE BIGGEST TICKER-TAPE PARADE was on March 1, 1962, for astronaut John Glenn after he became the first American to orbit the earth in a spacecraft. The sanitation department cleaned up 3,474 tons of ticker tape, confetti and other paper along a 7-mile route of jubilation.
EVERYBODY LOVES A PARADE. And it was no different when Jesus came to town. Josephus, a Jewish historian, estimated the crowd to be as high as 3 million, or about one-half the population of Judea and Galilee.
Life was rosy on Palm Sunday! By Monday things were going downhill. On Monday Jesus made many enemies by driving the animals out the temple and turning over the tables of the money-changers and saying the priests had turned the temple into a "den of thieves." He recruited no army. He gave no speeches to rally the people against Rome. People were waiting. People were disappointed. They became angry. This man from Nazareth was supposed to be the Messiah, the Savior.
By Thursday, his death warrant had been issued and he was arrested. On Friday the people were shouting, “Crucify Him!” He was forced to carry His cross to Golgotha and was crucified between two other prisoners.
Oh, it’s easy to be a Christian on Palm Sunday, or Easter Sunday. Who wouldn’t want to be with Jesus at times like those? Sundays are good. Sundays are full of singing, fellowshipping, spending time with family. It’s generally a good day for us. But what about Monday? And Tuesday? The rest of the week? On Monday through Saturday, we work, pay bills, go to the doctor, cut the grass, wash clothes, fix meals, run the kids to soccer/baseball/piano/etc. practice, and dozens of other things. Sunday is a day when our faith is strengthened. Sunday is a day the prepares us for those things that happen the rest of the week. And this Sunday is even more special because it’s Palm Sunday.
Now to fully understand Palm Sunday, we have to go back to 1 Sam. 8, when Samuel was judge, prophet and priest. And getting old. The elders got together and asked Samuel to appoint a king just like the nations around them had. Samuel knew that it was wrong, so he prayed to God. God said they were rejecting Him and didn’t want to trust Him to rule over them as their king. They want a king and they insist on having the kind of king they want. A king to fight their battles for them.
So God tells Samuel to give them a king. History shows that most kings were terrible and led them in the wrong direction. Then centuries went by without a king. They were ruled by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians and now the Romans. The people were beaten down, but they had remembered God’s promise of a Messiah, a Messiah they think will fix everything for them.
When Jesus showed up, he seemed to be the long-awaited Messiah. He stood up to the scribes and the Pharisees, he healed the sick and spoke with authority. This time they had the right person- Jesus indeed was the Messiah, the long-hoped for king. But Jesus wasn’t the kind of king they thought he would be. They wanted a king to sit on an earthly throne. And so they had him crucified.
Jesus entered Jerusalem at a special time, Passover, when the Jews were preparing to celebrate their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Ten terrible plagues had fallen on Egypt before they were allowed to leave, the last being the death of all the firstborn of animals and men. To save His people God made provision to protect them. They were to kill lambs and sprinkle the blood on the doorframes of their homes. When God saw the blood He would “pass over” their house.
Just as the Passover lamb gave the Israelites the chance of a new beginning, so our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, gives us the chance of a new beginning. Jesus Christ fully fulfilled the requirements of the Passover lamb. The Passover lambs had to be inspected by the priests to make sure they were without blemish. Jesus, the Lamb of God, came before the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the civil authorities, who examined him and couldn’t find anything to accuse Him of. Pilate also says Jesus is qualified to be the Passover Lamb by finding no fault at all in Him. He was found to be without blemish before shedding His blood on Calvary, the perfect Lamb of God.
So, it was Palm Sunday and, like the Lone Ranger on his white stallion kicking up a cloud of dust, Jesus comes into Jerusalem to save the day. As Jesus passes by, people are asking, "Who is that masked man?" The bad guys have treed the town and Jesus was here to capture the ringleader, Satan, and his gang. He has a shoot-out with the gang, captures them all and throws them in jail.
A large crowd gathers to see what the commotion was all about. Jesus mounts his horse and pulls on the reigns. As the stallion stands tall, Jesus waves his white hat in the air and shouts, “Hi-Yo Silver, Away!” As Jesus rides off in a cloud of dust, you hear the William Tell Overture in the background.
What? That’s not how it happened? Oh, wait a minute, back to our story. One day this man rode a donkey into the capital city of Jerusalem. Why did he ride in on a donkey? One obvious reason is to fulfill scripture, “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” Picture another reason. Jesus riding on a donkey. Humble animal. Humble man. Not only to teach us about the nature of His kingdom, but about his own nature. It’s more than status. It’s personality. Some kings drive stallions. Some drive chariots. Jesus, the king of kings drove a donkey. If He drove a car, He wouldn’t be driving a new Lexus or BMW. No, more likely He’ll be in an ’89 S-10 or maybe a chevette.
A third reason. When a king rode a donkey into a town it was to symbolize that he was on a peace mission. Jesus is on a peace mission to reconcile man to God.
Jesus had a plan for the donkey. In our lives He has a plan for each of us. His plan for us is that we enter into a relationship of grace with God the Father. We need to realize the donkey was chosen to fulfill that plan. You might say the donkey’s use was pre-ordained. Scripture tells us that we too have been chosen (pre-ordained) to fulfill God’s plan.
Finally, we see that the donkey went where He was led. To be a part of the plan, the donkey had to go where he was led. God doesn’t always give us the route or even the destination...we are just to follow obediently.
A lady was driving home one night in nasty weather. It was pouring down rain and difficult to see. She blindly followed the taillights of the car in front of her since it seemed to be going in the right direction
Suddenly the car in front of her stops. She wondered why the car had stopped in the middle of the road like that. She was concerned about being hit, sitting in the middle of the road as she was.
Then the lights on the car in front go off! Now she’s getting mad. What was this person thinking, stopping in the road, then turning off the lights to boot?!?
Suddenly startled by a knocking on her window, she looked up to see a man standing in the pouring rain motioning her to open her window. She does and asks the guy, “What’s the problem?” The man replies, “That’s what I was going to ask you.” She says, “Hey, I’m not the one who stops in the middle of the road in the pouring rain and turns off my lights.” The man then tells her that they were sitting in his driveway, not the road.
This lady had chosen the wrong leader. She had chosen a leader who wouldn’t take her where she wanted to go. Often in life we have trouble seeing the road ahead. That’s when we need to find a leader to guide us. We need to be sure that we’re on the right road that will get us to where we want to go. We have to choose the right leader who is on the right road.
