The Triumphal Entry

     How fickle could they be?  At one point in Jesus' ministry, He fed a crowd of over 5000.  Soon after that, it was a crowd of 4000.  We always hear of multitudes and so many people around Him that He couldn't tell who touched Him.  The number of His followers would rise and fall.  Early in the book of John it tells of a number of them leaving because of His hard teachings.  Evidently enough left that He questioned His apostles if they also were leaving.  It was Peter who said, "Lord, to whom shall we go.  You have the words of eternal life."  

     Then, all four gospels record an event at the end of Jesus' life.  He comes into Jerusalem for His last Passover riding on a donkey.  He's not the conquering hero that many expect riding in on His white steed to lead the armies of Israel to once and for all defeat this occupying force of Romans.  Yet the 2.5 to 2.7 million people (according to William Barclay) are clamoring for a king.

"Hosanna to the Son of David."

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

"Hosanna in the highest."

"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David."

"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord."

"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest."

"Blessed os the King of Israel."

     Sounds to me as if they were wanting a king.  Jesus was willing, but not the kind of king they wanted.  He wanted to save them from their sins.  They wanted Him to save them from their captives.  Oh, if they only realized they were captives of their sins.  His offer was much more valuable than the one they wanted.  But they misunderstood.  

     Why did Jesus come into Jerusalem the way He did?  First, I think He was trying to tell them they really didn't want a king in the sense they wanted a king.  They were thinking David or Solomon.  One doesn't have to be much of a biblical scholar to realize the utter failure the Israelite kings were.  Those kings were really a concession from God.  Perhaps Jesus rode into town on a donkey to say, "I'm not like the other kings."  

     But I think the second reason why Jesus came the way He did is a little more subtle.  Right after the account in John some Greeks come to Philip and they ask to see Jesus.  Wait a minute.  Jesus' ministry was for the Jews.  Right?  Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell of Jesus cleaning out the temple right after His entry.  In Mark, Jesus makes this statement.  "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."  Could it be that Jesus was saying to the world, "It is now time for salvation to come to all."?  Neither Jew nor Greek, Slave or Free, Male or Female, but it's open for all!  Jesus ushers in this new age because He knows He has come to die for all.  

     As the disciples meet in Jerusalem after Jesus' resurrection, we find there are only 120 followers.  Wow!  How sad.  Yet, the Bible does say that the road is narrow.  Few will find it.  Not because He restricts it.  But because we are too stubborn to admit our need for a Savior.

    Thank you, Lord, for coming into the city in the way you did.  May you come into our lives the same way.  Humbly.  And I pray that we will be one of those who accepts You for who You are...the Savior of the World.  Our King!

How Can I Even Come Close?

     Preachers struggle (At least I do.  I'm sure others do, too.)  with adequately proclaiming the Message.  My prayer every Sunday is an apology to God that I wasn't able to fully describe what He wanted to be proclaimed.  God is faithful and He can take the weak words of someone and make them into something relevant.  That's what I count on every time I speak.
     Last Sunday's sermon was extremely difficult for me to satisfactorily communicate--it was about God's love.  But I take heart in the fact that even the Scriptures struggle sometimes to describe His love.  Superlatives are almost always used.  "For God so loved the world..."  "See how great a love he has lavished upon us..."  "God has poured out his love into our hearts..."  The Old Testament, especially the Psalms, talk of God's unfailing love.  I was amused the other day when I read something in the Psalms where the psalmist was questioning God.  He said something like, "Has your unfailing love ceased?"  If it's unfailing, how could it cease?
     But why does God love me?  ME?  That's what I have a hard time wrapping my arms around.  In the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye says something to the affect, "Why do we do the things we do?  I'll tell you.  I don't know.  But it's tradition!"  Why does God love me the way He does?  I'll tell you.  I don't know.  But He does!  He demonstrates it by giving His own Son.  Paul tells us in Romans that nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  Our problem is we oftentimes refuse to accept His love.  There's the rub.  He never quits.  We often do.  And there comes a time when even He has had enough.  Don't believe me?  Read the stories of the Israelites and see what happened to them.  He'll do the same to us, too.
     O, how He loves you!  Please.  Please.  Let's not let Him down.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:17-19

Washing Feet

     I don't know why Jesus didn't just start over.  The twelve He had were incorrigible, stubborn, selfish, egotistical.....I think you get the idea.  John doesn't tell us this, but we get the message from the Synoptics.
     Let me set the scene for you.  The time for Jesus to die is fast approaching.  The Passover was a feast that all good Jews celebrated.  If you lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem, you were required to be there for the feast.  Right before the feast evidently the apostles were having a discussion.  Feud would probably be a better description of what was going on.  They were arguing among themselves who was the greatest.  Peter may have had the inside track because he seemed to be the one who had the right answers.  James and John could have made a good argument because they were there with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Matthew could have made the case that he once had lots of money, but he gave it all up to follow Jesus.  To which they all probably said, "Join the club!  We've all left everything!"
     During this "I'm better than you are" talk, Jesus gets up from the table, wraps a towel around His waist, pours a basin of water and starts washing their feet.  This is typically a job for the house slave. It was the basic bit of hospitality--much like us offering something to drink today.  It was just assumed that you would do that at the very least.  But they were too busy jockeying for position.  The Creator of the Universe, the Savior, the Messiah, the Way, the Truth and The Life got on His hands and knees and washed the dirty, smelly feet of the apostles.
     Here's how John described it.  "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power,"  (Think about that!  He had all the power in the world!  Yet, He took the role of the servant.) "and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."  John 13:3-5
     I bet that stopped all the arguments!  But note what John said.  He had come from God and He was returning to God.  Isn't that all of us?  Didn't we come from God?  Isn't that our ultimate destination at the end of our lives to return back to God?  So what do we do while we're here on earth?  Serve.  It's what Jesus said to do.  No task is too menial.  No one is above anything that advances the Kingdom.  No matter how dirty, no matter how silly it looks.
     Friends of mine work for the corporate giant Tyson Foods.  They are a well known chicken company based in Northwest Arkansas.  All of their employees where khaki pants and khaki shirts that have their name and the company logo on it.  Even the higher ups wear the traditional garb.  One day I asked one of the chief executives why he didn't wear a suit.  He said, "Jim, let me ask you a question.  If you were wearing a suit, would you likely go into a chicken house?"  Touche!  All right, let's wrap our towels around our waists and let's start serving.  JW

The Cup

     Several images come to my mind when I think of "The Cup."  My first thought goes to the Lord's Supper when Jesus calls His apostles to drink the cup in His memory.  Another idea is that of fellowship.  Let's sit down and have a cup of coffee (or chai in my case...sorry, not a coffee drinker).  But it conjures up the image of fellowship, having something in common.
     In ancient times, it was a form of capital punishment.  If convicted you drank a cup of poison.  Socrates died in such a manner by drinking a cup of hemlock.
     James and John sent their mother to do their dirty work; they had her ask Jesus if one could sit on His right side and the other on His left side when He came into His kingdom.  Jesus asked them if they could drink the cup that He Himself was going to drink.  Mark makes it a little clearer when he quotes Jesus as saying, "Can you drink the cup I drink I drink or be baptized with baptism I am baptized with?"  (Mark 10:38)
     Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus agonized in prayer over His coming death.  He prayed to God, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken away from me."  Later in the same scene, the mob comes to arrest Jesus and Peter uses his sword to cut off Malchus' ear.  Jesus says to him, "Put your sword away!  Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"
     So I get the idea that this cup image is something important.  It's used enough times for me to take heed and listen.  Is Jesus calling for a suicide pact of some kind?  My answer?  Yes and no.  His not calling for us to kill ourselves physically.  He says, we need to die to ourselves.  Paul said, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  He also said, "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless not I, but Christ lives in me."  Jesus calls us to take up our crosses....daily.
     William Barclay told the story of an ancient coin that was found with an image of an ox facing two things--an altar and a plough.  The inscription reads, "Ready for either."  In other words, if God asks us to sacrifice our lives even to the point of death, we are ready.  Isn't that what John says in Revelation where he said, "Be faithful unto death."?  Or, we should be ready to put on the yoke of Jesus and live "the long routine of Christian life, with all its daily sacrifice, its daily struggle, and its heart-breaks and its disappointments and its tears."  Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."
     Whatever He calls us to, Jesus asks us to drink the cup with Him.   Come what may, we accept His fate as ours and serve Him all the days of our life.  Blessings on your day.

JW

Like Little Children

In Matthew 18, the disciples come to Jesus and ask Him who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?  There are several interesting things about this whole situation.  First of all, it's the wrong question.  All indications are that they were arguing among themselves about who was the greatest.  Both Mark 9 and Luke 9 tell the story, but they indicate that the apostles were arguing among themselves about this very question.  Their thought process was that Jesus was going to overthrow the Romans and He would become the leader.  He would then need a Secretary of State, a Secretary of Treasury, a Speaker of the House...  They, as they often did, missed the point.  It wasn't about an earthly kingdom, it was about God's kingdom at large.

Another interesting point is, Matthew doesn't bring up the fact that they were arguing among themselves.  Mark does.  Luke does.  But not Matthew.  Mark wasn't an apostle.  Scholars feel he told the story from Peter's perspective.  Luke wrote Acts and Luke and sent them to Theophilus.  Luke was a physician, a missionary mate of Paul.  He wasn't an apostle either.  So neither of them weren't afraid to tell the story.  Perhaps, Matthew was a little too embarrassed about this because maybe, just maybe he was in on the argument.  So "let's just not bring that up."

So Jesus places a child in their midst and says that's what the kingdom of heaven looks like.  William Barclay says it may have been Peter's son.  That's an interesting twist!  He tells those who were acting like children that they need to be more like children.

In my sermon Sunday, I gave five characteristics of children that I think Jesus would want us to emulate.

Trust--
Depenence-
A Sense of Wonder--
Overlooked--
Humble--

I think you can see all of these except for the "overlooked" one.  In his book, Jesus, A Gospel, Henri Nouwen says to be like a child is to pay attention to those who are often overlooked.  "Children should be seen and not heard," is the saying.  Yet, Jesus says they are the ones to look to as our model.

Learn from a child.  See how he still has the purity of youth and has not yet been overcome with the curse of cynicism.  Learn to trust God and to be dependent.  May we always have a sense of wonder and awe at what God has done and is  doing.  And may we follow the example of Jesus when he says he is meek and humble in heart.

Blessings to you this day.  JW

Seeking and Worrying

My sermon topics are determined months (sometimes as much as a year) in advance.  As I was preparing for last week's sermon, I realized my view on a passage of scripture has been wrong....sort of.  The passage used was Luke 12:27-32 with a parallel passage in Matthew 6:33.  Matthew says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

As I studied the passage I looked at the context of the saying.  Take yourself to the first century when it was written.  Food was not extremely available.  Bread was a staple of life.  Many lived from one day to the next.  "Give us today our daily bread" Jesus said in the Model Prayer.  He didn't ask for our weekly or monthly bread.  I'm thinking most people who lived then wondered where the next meal might be coming from.  And then there is the clothes issue.  The soldiers bartered for Jesus' garments at the cross.  He didn't have a whole wardrobe to fight over.  So Jesus uses the illustration of birds not gathering into barns and lilies of the field being dressed more beautifully than Solomon.  Then he assures the listeners that they are much more valuable then birds or flowers, so seek the kingdom of God.

As I contemplated what this means for us I started to think that we don't worry too much about food.  We have pantries full.  Our children come and look into the larders and claim there is nothing to eat. We have closets full of clothes.  We debate which shoes to wear and what shirt or dress or what accessory will make us look good.  So it's really not something we worry too much about.

There's the rub.  This passage is about worry.  So, if you don't worry about clothes or food, what is it that makes you worry?  What do think of me?  How do I look?  Do I have enough money?  How long will my car last?  Are my kinds going to turn out all right?  Am I going to heaven?  The list is endless.  We worry about everything.  Paul said, "Don't be anxious about anything."  Peter said, "Cast all your anxieties on him for he cares for you."  Jesus said, "Who of you can add a single hour to your life by worrying?"

What happens when we worry?  Worry keeps the emphasis on us and takes the focus off of Jesus. It may not be food or clothing for you.  But what is it that keeps you awake at night?  What makes your stomach churn?  Jesus said whatever you are worrying about, what you need to do is to seek the kingdom of God.  In essence, He says whatever is big in your life, God is bigger.  Whatever distracts you from God, stop worrying about it.  I think the Hebrew writer says it best when he says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great clouds of witnesses (see Hebrews chapter 11), let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles (worry), and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus (emphasis mine), the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  Hebrews 12:1, 2

So let's get off the throne and take off the crown and realize there is only one King.  God is on the throne and He wears the diadem.  Stop worrying and seek first the Kingdom!

Clarity

I read this week a story about a man who went to work in India with Mother Theresa.  He went to her one day to ask her to pray for him.  "What do you want me to pray for?" she asked.  He responded, "I want clarity in my life."  She refused his request.  She preceded to tell him that in all her years of working with the lepers, she never had clarity.  She only knew to trust in God.  And that is what she would pray for him.

I've prayed that prayer before.  I've asked for clarity.  That's kind of like asking to know on what day you will die.  Then you plan around it.  Can you imagine if Abraham had asked for clarity?  "Lord, I know you've told me that you'll make of me a great nation, but just where am I to go?"  Instead, God just told him to go and He would show him.

God tells us to just hold His hand.  We don't know what way the road will take us.  He never said it would be easy.  He never said we wouldn't receive some scars along the way.  He did say He would never leave us.

I love an old hymn we hardly ever sing these days.  But the words of the chorus go like this.

Trust and obey,
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.