Community Church Sermons
Palm Sunday – March 24, 2002
"My Times Are In Thy Hand…””
Psalm 31:9-16
It is important that we not get so caught up in the parade today that we lose sight of the significance of Palm Sunday. Although it appears on the surface that this is a joyful day as Jesus triumphantly enters the city of Jerusalem, there is much more going on here than what meets the eye. Yes, the procession will appear to prepare the way for a coming King. Yes, the Roman authorities will become alarmed and hatch a murderous plot. Yes, one of his own disciples will betray Jesus, another will deny him three times, and all of them will abandon him and run away. Yes, the tide of public opinion will turn against him. Yes, he will be arrested, tried and convicted. And yes, the Palm Sunday cries of “Hosanna!” will become Good Friday calls to “Crucify Him!” and he will, in fact, be executed on a cross on a hill called Calvary.
We know all these things in
advance as Palm Sunday leads us into the holiest week of all. And yet, we may
still not have really gotten down to the nitty-gritty of what all this means to
us and how WE live during Holy Week 2002..
You see, Palm Sunday is not entirely about the events leading up to and including Jesus’ death and resurrection. And if the events are all you concentrate on, you’ll miss out on an important discovery – Holy Week is not so much about how Jesus died, but about how Jesus lived in the face of death. When the walls of his life came tumbling down, when his world crumbled apart and evaporated like dust, how did Jesus deal with it?
So there is much more here than abstract theology-in-the-making. There is a human story being played out before us this morning, and through the course of this week. And it is not just Jesus’ story. It’s your story, too.
I’ve decided to use the Psalm reading out of today’s lectionary texts because it captures what I think is the true essence of Jesus’ human struggle during Holy Week:
“Be gracious to me, O Lord, because I am in distress. My vision, my body and my soul waste away with grief. My life is spent with sorrow and sighing. My strength is gone, and I waste away.”
This is the picture of Jesus as he rides into Jerusalem on the back of a humble donkey. Though the crowds are chanting cheers of victory, the Gospels tell us that Jesus weeps over what lays ahead.
“I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my closest friends…I hear the whispering of many as they scheme together and plot to take my life.”
Someone once commented that it’s absolutely amazing how many important events in history took place right next door to a gift shop and a concession stand! I might add to that that it’s amazing to me how many Civil War battles are reenacted in our area by costumed actors playing Union and Confederate soldiers who – after they form the formations and carry out the maneuvers and shoot their blank bullets and get shot - get to go home afterwards and watch the NASCAR race on TV.
But what a different feeling you get when you stand in the middle of one of those awesomely hallowed battlefields and, rather than watch a reenactment of events, instead try to look at it through the eyes of the stunned eighteen-year-old farm boy whose hands shake too much to even load his rifle as he stares into the face of the last few minutes of his life.
And in the same way, when you look at this week through the eyes and experience of Jesus, you begin to identify with him, and to gain understanding. You start to see yourself and the struggles of your own life. Is there anyone here today who has never cried out with Jesus, “Help me, God, for I am in distress!”? Is there anyone here today who has never felt spent, and sorrowful, and weak, and all alone, and at the limits of your ability to endure?
There is a human drama being lived out here this week about living in the face of adversity – even the ultimate adversity, which is death.
And today, as Jesus rides that little donkey into the gathering darkness of life, I hope you’ll take for yourself the words of the psalm that became for Jesus the inspiration he needed to continue on.
What does it mean to truly trust in God with the times of our lives? I mean, how do you actually do that, not when everything is going your way, but when your life is falling apart?
To listen to many Christians today, trusting in God is to get your theology straight – you trust God by believing that God exists, by believing that God has a plan for your life, by believing that the Bible is true, by affirming certain truths and acknowledging certain ideas, and by believing that everything will work out in the end.
But that’s not really trusting God.
Fred Craddock tells of his younger years as a brash young Bible scholar. He had just finished reading Albert Schweitzer’s “Quest For The Historical Jesus” and found it, in his twenty-year old wisdom, woefully lacking – more water than wine, Craddock says. He marked up the book as he read. Made notes in the margins. Raised questions. Challenged ideas.
Then one day, Fred read in the Knoxville News Sentinel that Schweitzer was going to be in Cleveland, Ohio to present a dedication concert for a new organ at a big church up there. According to the announcement, Dr. Schweitzer would remain afterwards in the fellowship hall for conversation. So Craddock bought a Greyhound bus ticket, and – book in hand – went up to Cleveland. He wrote out his list of questions on a separate page, along with references to the pages in the suspect book, and he was ready to do religious battle.
Well, Fred got there and heard the concert. Then he rushed down to the fellowship hall where he was the first to arrive. He got a seat in the very front row. He pulled out his papers and organized his notes. Schweitzer had played a wonderful concert, and Fred was somewhat awed by the fact that this man was a master organist, a medical doctor, a philosopher, a biblical scholar, a lecturer, a writer – everything. But Craddock – the twenty-year old zealot - was ready, sitting there with his notes. Well, after a while, Albert Schweitzer came in – shaggy hair, big white moustache, stooped over, and 75-years old. Schweitzer thanked everybody for coming.
“You’ve been very warm and hospitable to me. I thank you
for it, and wish I could stay longer among you, but I must get back to Africa.
I must get back because my people there are poor, and sick, and hungry, and
dying, and I have to go. We have a medical station there at Lambarene. If
there’s anyone here in this room who has the love of Jesus, would you be
prompted by that love to go with me and help?”
Fred Craddock says he
looked down at his sheet of questions and theological arguments. They seemed so
absolutely stupid, he realized, in the context of Schweitzer’s life. And, he
says, “I learned, again, what it
means to be Christian, and had hopes that I could be that someday.”
What does it mean to
trust in God, and to place our times in his hand?
It means not to believe
religious theories but to live in godly ways –
like Albert Schweitzer. Like Jesus.
Do you realize that, as
Jesus’ world fell apart during the course of that week long ago, he did some
amazing life-centered things that demanded tremendous trust in God?
For one thing, he took
care of his mother. Scholars are uncertain as to where Joseph was at this point
in Jesus’ life. He’s not mentioned at all after the birth stories. Most likely,
Joseph died at an early age, like many men of the period. And Jesus, as the
eldest son, had the responsibility of taking care of his mother. Do you
remember that beautiful moment on the cross, when his own life was slipping
away and it would be easy to become lost within his own pain, how Jesus spoke
from the cross, and told John to take care of his mother?
What does trusting God
with the times of your life look like? It looks like Jesus, facing what he
faced, yet still taking care of the responsibilities God had given him for his
family.
And then there was
another thing. Do you remember? In the face of death itself, Jesus made sure to
love his friends to the end. They were not the best friends in the world to be
sure. One of them would betray him. Another would deny him three times. All of
them would run away, scared for their lives. And Jesus knew that. But still, he
arranged a goodbye meal for them. He washed their feet. He assured them about
the future. He encouraged them to be strong. He led them singing some hymns.
And asked them to pray with him. He told them that he would love them forever.
What does trusting God with the times of your life look like? It looks like Jesus, in the face of the worst crisis he’d ever experienced, still taking care of the responsibilities God had given him for his friends.
Do you see? Holy Week is such a beautiful story of a man facing incredible adversity by never losing sight of the responsibilities God had given him. He took care of his mother, supported his friends, and still stood up for what was right, too! Surely he knew that his own situation would be made worse by stepping into the corruption of the Temple, and overturning the tables of the money-changers. But still, he did it. Because that’s what God’s people do. We step out of our own self-concern to stand with others. Can you imagine being laid off from work, and on your way home stopping to participate in an anti-racism march? Can you imagine coming home from the doctor’s office with a devastating diagnosis, and yet taking time to be with your child to celebrate the “A” they received in class that day? I hope you can, because this is what Christians do!
Look at all the living Jesus did on the way to dying! For me, one of the most touching moments comes when Jesus, who has been wronged and unjustly injured by everyone, makes sure that he does not die before giving them all the gift of forgiveness.
What does it mean to trust God with the times of your life?
It means to live well in the moments you have. It means to be faithful in the face of adversity. It means to take care of the business God has given you even though the world is crumbling all around!
Now I know that there are many in the congregation today who are really being challenged by life these days. It may be that the pain is so great, the injury so severe, the depression so deep, the disappointment so huge, the betrayal so large, the problem so massive that it would be easy to simply give in and become bitter – self-absorbed – paralyzed people.
Don’t give in to that!
Cast your lot with Jesus who shows us another way. A better way.
Trusting God with the times of your life, take care of your family, love your neighbors, stand up for the right, heal the broken, feed the hungry, live as God calls you to live!
And now, as you prepare to go out into the real world of your life this week, I give you the words of the Psalm to hold on to: