"More Than Just a Parade"
A story is told about a famous preacher long ago who pastored a church that was filled every Sunday by people who traveled miles on foot just to hear his messages. One day, as the church was emptying, a passerby asked one of the people in the church why this preacher’s messages were so compelling. The person responded without hesitation, “This preacher will take you up to the mountain and down to the valley, he will bring you to laughter and to tears, he will have you jumping with joy and then falling to your knees - - - but - - - by the time he is finished, he will always have you at the foot of the cross…”
This week is such a week, where the mixture of emotions goes from the exuberance of Palm Sunday and the crowds that must have followed not only Sunday but Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday through the streets of Jerusalem--- to the intimacy of the Last Supper on Thursday and the anger of the announcement that one of his closest friends will betray to the desperate prayers in Gethsemane’s garden late Thursday night -----this is the final week of Jesus on the earth and we want to experience the full range of emotions and circumstances yet, ultimately, we yearn to find ourselves at the foot of the cross on Friday…to witness the sacrifice of a Savior for the sins of the whole world - - - even your sins and mine
And the week begins with “Palm Sunday.” So let’s begin our journey together to the cross by considering Matthew’s version of Palm Sunday…
Matthew 21:1-11
One event - - four versions from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - - If four of us in this room were all sent to the same parade and then were asked twenty or thirty years later to write down our recollections of that event, then we would certainly focus on different aspects of our experience based on what we saw and to whom we were offering our thoughts. Such is the nature of the four gospels, or, the four versions of the life and ministry of Jesus. In each one we have a unique perspective yet, as we read all four, we get the WHOLE picture - - or at least all we need to know from God’s Holy Word.
And today, we focus on Matthew’s account of Palm Sunday. There are two significant things that I would like to discuss concerning Matthew:
In Matthew there are two animals in the Palm Sunday procession - - - a donkey and the colt, or foal, of the donkey. While we are not certain which one Jesus rides, we can assume, because other Palm Sunday accounts mention that the donkey had never been ridden that Jesus was on the younger animal and its mother came along.
Also in Matthew we have Jesus immediately cleansing the temple of those who are buying and selling things thus making it, as Jesus says, a “Robber’s Den.”
So on this day, we have two animals of which the Lord has need, we have a multitude of people shouting “Hosanna” (‘save now’) branches and cloaks spread on the ground and Jesus entering the city only to then go and wreak havoc in the temple square.
SO WHAT? What does this mean to us 2,000 years later? Well, it means a lot, but I’d like to focus on two things for your consideration as we seek to discover what Palm Sunday means to us. Because we really do find a great deal of tension in the image of Jesus riding into the city on the never-ridden colt and then the image of Jesus turning over tables and running people out of the holy place…
In one short period of time, Jesus was able to display those things that drew people to him, then and now - - his ability to tame the chaotic natural tendencies and bring peace to those places where there had been no peace - - where peace was not an expectation - - a young colt with a protective mother - - Jesus had the powerful presence of peace. Beasts of burden do not become that by nature - - there is training, there is an inherent wild nature to overcome before the donkey can be of use….but one like Jesus has the power of peace - - the power to bring peace where there has been no peace.
AND THEN - - he had the ability to disrupt those things that had been deemed right and acceptable and , instead, bring chaos to them. Saying to those that day who were in the temple that day , “I love you guys, but all of this has to go, for you are making a mockery out of my Father’s house.”
Jesus Christ - - “One who came to comfort to the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.” Jesus, with his humble presence and his assertive, tough love…Not only in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 2000 years ago, but in our time and this place on this Palm Sunday (weekend).
TWO QUESTIONS:
What is something in your life that needs to be disturbed? In other words, what long-accepted value of yours, or habit, or practice - - what thing in your life would Jesus just absolutely throw a “holy fit” over if he were to walk through the gates of your existence today?
Not a pleasant thought, is it? You woke up, today, maybe thought about it being Palm Sunday - - figured the children would sing, palm branches, “Hosannas” - - and now you’re being asked to consider what thing in your life does the Lord detest? Palm Sunday - -- it’s more than just a party - - - It’s Jesus afflicting us in the comfortable places in our lives that make a mockery out of the things of our heavenly Father.
Now, 2,000 years ago, he does that for four straight days in Jerusalem and it got him killed. And if he does that to us today, will we still want to follow him? Our walk in faith isn’t just about having that “deep down bubbly feelin’” for Jesus…It’s also about facing the harsh realities of our humanness.
Next question…..
What is something in your life that is disturbed to which Jesus can bring peace? In other words, if Jesus can bring calm to a colt never-ridden and its mother, then should he not have the power to bring peace to the chaotic parts of our lives?
This week, I made my monthly trip to Kingsley Place (assisted living center) to sing for the residents there (They love to have me come because I sing the songs that they grew up with and I love to go there because they let me sing the songs that I grew up with).
I began by singing a couple of “cross songs,” being sensitive to the time of the year that it was. Well, there was a new man and his wife there… and the man spoke up after the first several songs and said, “I want to sing ‘Silent Night’” …I kind of chuckled and said in my sometimes quick-witted playful voice, “I love that song but my guitar isn’t able to play it between January 1 and December 1.” and we all laughed and I sang a couple more songs. Then his wife spoke, this time a little louder and quite a bit more insistent, “WE WANT TO SING ‘SILENT NIGHT.’ Now I could see that neither was kidding and neither cared that we were smack dab in the middle of Lent and on the threshold of Holy Week, where Jesus wasn’t just born but over 30 years old by now! What do you think we did? We sang Silent Night-- there was another woman, there for the first time, who began to weep openly as we sang a song that obviously pulled the heart strings and brought tears of comfort to her troubled soul.
Isn’t is great that the Lord whose birth brought peace to the chaos of Bethlehem can do that all year round for every generation in every time and every place? There is a part of each of us that needs the calm and peace and comfort that only Jesus can bring. You don’t have to live with whatever it is that is bringing chaos to your life. The peaceful power and presence of Christ is offered to you today.
The moral to today’s story - - Sometimes we need to be uncomfortable… and sometimes we just need to sing ‘Silent Night’ so that His peace can be ours….So may it be with you in this Holy Week.
