The Heart of Christ
Luke 19:29-40.
Palm Sunday,
April 9, 2006
Back in February, Tony Campolo addressed the National Pastor’s Convention in San Diego, California. He told a story about the pastor in his church (he attends an African American Church in Philadelphia) speaking to the graduating high school seniors of the church. The pastor was trying to make the point that their legacy was going to consist of more than just their résumé’s. He told them that they were going to ultimately be judged by their life-commitment to Jesus Christ.
Campolo said that the preacher looked out over all of these young people and said, in the way only a Black preacher can say, “You are all gonna die! Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not for a long time. But someday, you are going to die. Someday, they will lower you down in the ground and throw dirt over your casket. And then your family and friends will come back to the church and eat ham sandwiches and potato salad.”
What matters, after all is said and done, is the impact you have on the world for Christ. Has the world been able to see Christ through your eyes? Has your neighborhood been able to catch a glimpse of Jesus through you? Does your workplace know a little more about Jesus because you are an employee? Has your family been able to see Jesus in your actions? When all is said and done, and you are in the ground and the left-over potato salad has been thrown in the trash, will they be able to say that the Kingdom of God on earth came a little closer because you had been here?
So here is the message for today. You are all going to die! That may not be the message you want to hear or expect to hear on Palm Sunday when we’re supposed to be happy and joyous. But that is the message. You’re all going to die. And on that day, there will be folks taking stock of your life. They will be remembering you and the things you did…or didn’t do. What do you suppose they will remember?
Not too long ago, I had a wonderful conversation with one of my sons. He’s getting married in July. He and Megan have been talking about children. They have been asking themselves when they will be ready for that important step. They are both in the mid-twenties and so are not in a hurry, but still, Matthew is looking forward to being a father.
I desperately want Matthew to be a better father than I was when he was growing up. So, as we were talking, I told him about all the times I had been a lousy dad. I told him I was sorry for all the times that I yelled too much and didn’t listen enough. I apologized for those times when I was too busy, when I had other things on my mind. I told him I was sorry for not paying more attention to what was important for him.
He told me something that I’ll never forget. He said, “Dad, I don’t remember any of that stuff. Do you know how many of my friends don’t have dads at all? He said, “I remember you’re always being there when I needed you.”
I have a great kid. But the fact of the matter is that, despite his faulty memory, someday I am going to have to stand before someone who will remember my life. Someday, I will have to stand before Christ, and he will ask for an accounting of my living. Someday, while my kids and friends are having conversation around their second cup of coffee in the church’s fellowship hall, I will have to lay it all on the line…all of the times I’ve messed up, all of the times I betrayed my professed faith, all of the times I acted in ways that give lie to my Sunday morning confessions, all the times that I’ve sinned and not really cared about it.
Jesus is going to want to know about my heart. He is going to want to know what I have kept in my heart. He is going to want to know if my heart has been grounded in the Word and tested in service. He is going to want to know if my heart has found residence in the faces of the poor and outcast. He is going to want to know if my heart has been open to everyone regardless of gender, race, creed, national origin, theological position, denominational membership, or anything else that divides the human family. He is going to want to know if my heart has ached for those who have not heard the good news. In short, he is going to want to know if my heart has been in tune with his heart.
So the questions to ask are: Where was the heart of Christ? Where was his passion? Where did he invest his energy? What took up his time? There is a good clue that is found in Luke 12:34. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Where was his heart? Where was his treasure? As he rode down the mountain that morning into the heart of Jerusalem, the crowds were lining up along the way shouting his praise. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord,” they shouted. “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven” they proclaimed. When the Pharisees in the crowd told him to make them stop, he replied, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” Eugene Peterson’s “The Message” says, “If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise.”
The treasure, the heart of Jesus, was found in the work of helping people see and praise God. He knew that people who are lost and searching need someone in whom to believe. He knew that people who had nowhere to turn needed an anchor in the storms of life. He knew that people who were captive to rigid religion and stifling piety needed to know a God who doesn’t measure faithfulness by the number of religious rituals that are kept. People were a treasure for Jesus. He had a heart for people that they might find their eternal home in heaven. And when people came to faith, his heart wanted their hearts to sing out, so that the rest of the world might know.
Secondly, Jesus found his treasure in those on the outskirts, on the outside; those who were maligned and mistreated, ignored and misunderstood, despised and neglected. His heart was with the poor, the sick, those in prison, those languishing in their own misery, those he called “the least of these.”
During the last week of his life, Jesus was in Jerusalem teaching and preaching. His time was short for this earth and he was busy trying to get his disciples to understand as much as they could. There in the 25th chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells about the coming judgment day. He said that God would separate the sheep from the goats at the judgment. The ones who were rewarded were the ones who answered the call of Christ to be in solidarity with those on the bottom rung of society.
…for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me (Matthew 25:35-36).
Thirdly, Jesus found his treasure and the place of his heart, with children. He was teaching one day when some children were brought by their parents for blessing. The disciples got angry at this, thinking that his time was much too valuable to be wasting it on children. Jesus, by way of contrast said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” (Matthew 19:13-15).
At another point in his San Diego address, Tony Campolo said that when we get to heaven, God is going to ask us a question. God will ask us how we’ve treated children. He said that it will be a good idea to have a kid next to you when that question comes, so you can poke him and get him to tell God that you really did help the little ones.
The heart of Jesus was with children because in children we learn how to receive the kingdom: without presumption, a sense of entitlement, or self-justification. In a child, there are no ulterior motives, no hidden agendas, and no selfish ambitions. One who receives a child is no longer worried about being the greatest.
Fourthly, Jesus found his treasure and put the energy of his heart into sinners because he knew that he had a better way. He knew what sinners were missing out on. He knew that there was blessing waiting to be grasped if only sinners knew it. He loved sinners more because they needed that love more. Remember he said that the healthy have no need of a doctor, but it is the sick to whom the great physician comes. “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners (Mark 2:17).
From his heart, he forgave the sinful woman who anointed his feet with her tears. He reminded his disciples that only if they forgave those who sinned against them, could they count on God’s forgiveness for themselves (Matthew 6:14). When Peter asked him how many times one was obliged to forgive a transgression, Jesus said 70 times 7 times (Matthew 18:21-22). Perhaps his greatest acts of forgiveness came when he opened his heart from the cross and asked, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). The heart of Jesus was with sinners who needed to receive forgiveness.
Fifth, Jesus had a heart for obedience. He would find himself alone in the Garden of Gethsemane the night that he was to be betrayed. He had done all that God had asked. He had accepted and carried out his mission and ministry with boldness. He had not been afraid to go to the hard places, to the needy places, or to the places where he would face certain trouble. He had called a dozen disciples, thus beginning the chain reaction which would become the church. He had walked the length and breadth of the land preaching, teaching, healing, and casting out demons. But this night, he was tired and worn-out. This night, he felt alone. This night was different than all other nights. This night, he had doubts.
In anguish, he cried out to God, “Father, if you are willing, removed this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done (Luke 22:42). Despite his desire for it to be otherwise, he was yet obedient to God to the end. Obedience is a word that we don’t like to use all that often anymore, but Jesus had a heart for it.
Finally, Jesus found the treasure of his heart in his unshakable faith in God. It has now become a cliché’ - a slogan for bumper stickers and T-shirts – but 1 plus God make a majority. He knew that God could be trusted. He knew that God was always in charge. He knew that God was always working God’s will in the world. He knew that the powers of evil and darkness, though they may put up a fight, are no match for the power of God. He knew that there is always morning after the night. He knew the darkness of Good Friday, but he also knew that Sunday’s was a’comin’.
He knew the power that was available to human beings if they constantly stood on God’s side in the battle. He said, “Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. (Mark 11:23). It may sound impossible, but not if your heart treasure is faith.
Jim Wallis has written a book titled, “Faith Works.” He ends the book with something he tells his son. He says that faith is believing despite the evidence and then watching the evidence change.
Today is Palm Sunday, the day of the triumphant ride of Jesus down into Jerusalem. This is a day when Jesus opened his heart for all to see. In the heart of Jesus we see treasure: the treasure of praise, the treasure of solidarity with “the least of these,” the treasure of children as guides and escorts into heaven, the treasure of reaching out to sinners to help them find a place of forgiveness and acceptance, the treasure of obedience, and the treasure of faith.
Jesus is entering a week in which he will be severely tested. He will not make it out of this week alive. But he will emerge from this week alive forevermore. This is the week in which we will see his heart opened and poured out for all of humanity. This is the week that we will recognize that we can never be the same because of his heart.
The heart of the Lenten season is found in the heart of Jesus. My prayer is that you will all be touched by his heart. I pray that you will all have a life-changing encounter with his heart. I pray that this heart may so stir your hearts that you cannot remain silent. May your hearts hear his words once again, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” May you hear those words and be unafraid to let your own hearts show.
