Resolute Within Vacillating Winds

April 5, 2020

Hope Lutheran Church

Pastor Mary Erickson

Matthew 21:1-11; Matthew 27:11-54

Resolute within Vacillating Winds

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Lawrence Pertillar wrote the poem “By the Shift of Winds.” It starts like this:

And it doesn’t seem that long ago,

Spring would bring an end to Winter.

Or when Fall began,

Leaves of the trees would magically be colored.

I …

Am not surprised,

By …

The shift of winds.

Winds shift and bring a tide of changes. They change day by day, sometimes hour by hour!

Weathervanes help us determine the direction of the wind. They’re designed to respond to the slightest change in wind direction. They tell us which direction the wind is coming from at any given moment.

We use this information to our advantage. Airports utilize wind socks. The sock indicates the wind direction and also the wind’s velocity. With more wind, the sock will fill until it reaches a point where it flies horizontally.

Shifting winds. But wind isn’t the only thing that can shift in different directions. Public sentiment can, too.

Polling firms like Gallup measure the opinions of the public on everything you can imagine, from Chicken McNuggets to TV shows. They scrutinize public sentiment in the political world, too. Daily polling registers our opinions on various politicians. With every day, public opinion shifts up and down. Sometimes the changes can be quite dramatic.

Take President George H. W. Bush, for example. After the successful end to Operation Desert Storm in 1991, President Bush’s favorability rating skyrocketed upwards. 89% of the country viewed him favorably. That’s incredibly high! But the next year, the country hit a recession. The economy hit the skids. People struggled. By midway through the next year, the public’s opinion of President Bush plummeted 60 points to 29%.

Vacillating winds, fluctuating opinions. Public sentiment for Jesus changed with lightning speed. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a Sunday to wild acclaim. The public rallied around him. They shouted “Hosanna!” They called him the Son of David, the Messiah. The King of Israel was entering the capital city! They cheered him on. They cut down palm branches and laid them on the road in front of him. The king was coming home!

But only five days later, the winds of public opinion changed. The chant “Hosanna to the Son of David” ceased. Upraised hands closed into fists. Now they shouted “Crucify him!” In less than a week, Jesus went from being their Messiah to a reviled criminal.

Our vacillating human sentiment is best described by the weathervane. Our moods and loyalties spin and turn. Our fickle and faithless nature renders us vulnerable to forces blowing around us. We drift like fallen leaves, wherever the prevailing winds push us.

Contrast the weathervane with the sailboat. Both are affected by wind. But while the one helplessly spins in the vacillating winds, the other uses them.

The sailboat’s rudder cuts into the waters. It keeps the boat moving on a steady course. And by changing the angle of the sails, the vessel can harness the wind no matter what direction it comes from. Between the rudder and the sails, the ship continues to move forward, despite the fickle nature of the wind.

During the events of Holy Week, the crowds were like the weathervane. But Jesus was a sailboat. He was mission-driven. He knew his destination. And it wasn’t a regal throne in the center of the capitol city. He was coursing to a hillside on the outskirts of Jerusalem, to his cross.

Within the vacillating winds, Jesus was resolute. The changing winds around him propelled him forward to his final goal. And his goal, his purpose, was the redemption of the world.