The Weekly Message
March 16, 2008
Scripture Luke 19:28-40
Choosing to stand
Last week I listened as Marion Hewines shared a story about being out on a street corner in Toronto as a young person– listening to the Salvation Army band, sharing about people giving there testimonies and people coming to kneel at the Salvation Army drum and give there lives to Jesus. But I think the thing that moved me most about what she shared was that this was held right across the street from an Eaton’s store – and that in those days not only was the store not open – but there was a curtain drawn across the window so that people weren’t even tempted to look. I’m guessing that this story took place in the 60’s.
I’ve given a lot of thought to that picture. I’ve thought about the picture of “the day of rest” one day where we did not labour – one day to pause – and I thought what happened that this great country that was founded on the word of the Lord – has lost its way.
I think that our scripture today, that we have come to know as Palm Sunday – holds an answer for us.
Jerusalem at Passover season as the delight of the Jews and the despair of the Romans. Thousands of devout Jews form all over the world would arrive in the Holy City, their hearts filled with excitement and nationalistic fervor. The population of Jerusalem more that tripled during the feast, making it necessary for the Roman military units to be on special alert. They lived with the possibility that some enthusiastic Jewish Zealot might try to kill a Roman official or incite a riot, and there was always potential for disputes among the various Jewish religious groups.
From Jerusalem to Jericho was only twenty miles, and now Jesus had almost reached His goal Jerusalem, His journey’s end, lay just ahead. The prophets had a regular custom of which the made use again and again. When words were of no effect, when people refused to take in and to understand the spoken message, the prophets resorted to some dramatic action which put their message into a picture which none could fail to see. We will get examples of such dramatic prophetic action in Jeremiah 13:1-11 (story of the belt that was to be hidden in a crevice in the rocks – many days later the lord said to me “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
Then the word of the lord came to me: “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt-completely useless! For as this belt is bound around a man’s waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honour. But they have not listened.’ Ezekiel 4:1-3 & 5 you see God’s call to his people. In Ezekiel he has a message concerning His people and the consequences of their sin.
It was just such a dramatic action which Jesus planned now. He proposed to ride into Jerusalem in such a way that the very action would be an unmistakable claim to be the Messiah, God’s Anointed King.
Jesus came riding on a colt.
There is a symbolism in the use of the colt on which no man had ridden. Anything offered to God had to be pure and perfect. So Jesus chose an unused, unbroken animal. The donkey was a symbol of peace in those days. Horses were symbols of military might. Conquering generals came on horses. An ambassador coming on a peaceful mission rode a donkey. Jesus was an ambassador of peace for the Kingdom of God. “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Vs 38 – is a direct quote from Psalm 118:26
Parades are for those who watch as much as for the heroes. The original Palm Sunday parade was primarily for Jesus, but it was also for the disciples. It was for the crowd, offering them one more chance to respond to the King. The parade was for you and me because Jesus is still passing by in your life and mine, giving us one more chance to say, “Yes, I want what Your offer.” Or, “No, deal me out.”
In that original crowd was Bartimaeus, who was once blind, and now could see after Jesus had touched him, there, crying out, “BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Was Zacchaeus who had been such a traitor and had turned his life around and been restored and forgiven – there calling out “BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD -Was the woman at the well there – who received the living water that Jesus had to offer and who brought Salvation to many from her community; but the question that I have this morning is ‘ Would I have been there – waving palm branches – laying my cloak down along the path – would you have been there.
I used to wonder why one day this gathering of people were one moment dancing and laughing and singing and saying hosanna in the highest – and next moment turned to be a people angry and mocking and saying “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” but today - I don’t think it was the same crowd – but a different crowd – I think the crowd that were one day praising – the next day were quiet – overwhelmed by the angry mob – I think the first crowd were afraid and therefore quiet or asleep – like the disciples in the garden – they were overwhelmed by the Chaos, by the confusion – by the conflict. They failed to stand – as we fail to stand – in spite of what they knew – in spite of all the signs – in spite of the promise of victory in Jesus.
I hope we can all take home three points to ponder through this Holy week in order that we will pass through the valley of the shadow to our day of resurrection.
Verse 41-44 says “ As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Not very cheery verses – but remember “keep on believing – Jesus is near – Keep on believing – you have nothing to fear.
Confusion - , If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
I saw a sign last week that said “ If you’re not confused – you’re not paying attention.”
Mt 12:25 divided against itself will not stand
1 Co 10:13
out so that you can stand up under it.
Eph 6:14 stand firm then, with the belt
2 th 215 stand firm and hold to the teachings we
James 5:8 You too, be patient and stand firm, 1 Peter
Conflict - your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
Choosing to stand in the midst of your enemies – The message translation in Luke 12 says “I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being…Stand up for me among the people you meet and the Son of Man will stand up for you before all God’s angels.
Chaos - They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls –
Message translation of the sermon on the mount.
“Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens you name to discredit me. What it means is that he truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like! – of even though they don’t like it, I do…and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.
In his book “Searching for God knows what” Don Miller writes about a little girl named Maya Angelou, who at the age of 8 had been raped by her mother’s boyfriend. He writes “She spoke about having to heal from the crime, but also about how she told on the man, and how he had gone to prison and, shortly after being released, was beaten to death by men in the community. Angelou believes she was the one who caused the man’s death because she told about the rape. I was amazed to read that after the beating, the terrified young child didn’t speak for years. It was much later, during a walk with her mother, that she would find the source of her life of freedom, beauty, and creativity.
Her mother stopped, turned, and spike to her: “Baby,” she said, looking the young woman in the eye. “You know something? I think you are the greatest woman I have ever met. Yes. Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Rossevelt, my mother, and you—and you arethe greatest.” Maya Angelou said in the interview that she boarded a streetcar with tears flowing down her cheeks, stared into the wood paneling of the car and thought to herself, Suppose I really am somebody?
Maya Angelou became a brilliant poet – she wrote a poem that she delivered during President Clinton’s inauguration. Far from the girl who spent years living in fear and silence, the brilliant poet stood before the natuion and spike compellingly:
But today, the Rock cries out to us,
Clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny!
“the rock cries out to us.”
Jesus the rock – stood as a rock for us – and he asks us to stand firm – when the storms of life buffet and forgive me if this offends you “all hell breaks loose”.
1 Co 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.
On this Palm Sunday what do we take home with us other than a palm branch –
Open my eyes Lord; I want to see Jesus; to reach out and touch Him – to say that I love Him; open my ears Lord, for I want to listen, open my eyes Lord, I want to see Jesus.