Palm Sunday’s Passion: Following a Politician for the People (Lk. 19:28-44)

For Sunday, March 1, 2009

 

Last Sunday’s paper carried the story of Leonard Abess, Jr.[i]  You may have also seen Abess during last week’s Presidential speech.  Abess is CEO of City National Bank.  He recently sold a majority stake in the bank. The sale netted millions of dollars.  Then, Abess did something unheard of—he took $60 million of the proceeds and gave it to his employees.  Tellers, bookkeepers, clerks—all 399 workers on staff plus the 72 former employees received the $60 million.  Abess didn’t publicize what he had done.  He didn’t even show up at the office on the day the bonus envelopes were distributed.  Asked what motivated him, he said he simply had long-dreamed of a way to reward his employees. 

There is a man with passion.  There is a boss passionate about his employees.  What about you?  What are you passionate about?  Who or what would you do something crazy for? 

For most of us, our passions fall into one of four areas.  First, some of us are passionate for people.  It may be employees.  It may be our children.  And we’d do almost anything for them.  Second, some of us are passionate for our pursuits.  Maybe it’s your pursuit of a graduate degree.  Maybe it’s your pursuit of the perfect golf-game.  But you’re fanatical about it.  Third, some of us are passionate for pay.  What gets our heart beating is our pay and the things it can buy—the house, the car, or the laptop.  Finally, some of us are passionate about play.  What we do in our recreational time is what we live for—running, bicycling, or reading.

Take a few seconds right now and share with the person next to you your answer to this question: Of these four—people, pursuits, pay, play—which are you most passionate about?

The Bible talks about passion.  In fact, it says there are two kinds of passion—good and bad.  For example, Paul urges us to 22 Flee the evil desires of youth…  (2 Tim. 2:22 TNIV).  The word “desires” is elsewhere translated “passions.”  There are passions we have when we are young that we should run from.  But there are also good passions.  In Gal. 5:17 Paul writes that while we may struggle with sinful passions the Holy Spirit strives to fill us with godly passions.  And Peter describes people who follow Jesus as those who do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.  (1 Pet. 4:2 TNIV).  That is, followers of Jesus are people who are not passionate for evil things but are passionate for God.

What about you?  On a scale of 1-10 how passionate are you about God or Jesus?  Compared to your passion for people, pursuits, pay, or play, how passionate are you about following Jesus?

 

This morning we begin a seven-part series which explores that issue.  Called “Passion,” the series is designed to fan the flame of our desire for Jesus, to deepen our hunger for following Jesus, to remind us why we got into this Christian thing in the first place, or why we ought to get into it right now.  To deepen our passion, we will explore the Passion Week of Jesus, the week that runs from what is called Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday.  Each Sunday’s message will explore one day from the Passion Week. 

To help deepen your passion, we’ve produced a booklet.  The booklet contains a place for notes for each Sunday’s message in this series.  It also contains daily readings which will allow you to experience everything the Gospels record about the Passion Week.  Connected to the readings are a weekly text to memorize and a weekly set of questions to explore privately or with others. 

We believe passion for Jesus comes by spending time with Jesus.  Thus, using this booklet and this series, we are calling the Highland church to devote the next seven weeks to spending time with Jesus.  I can almost guarantee that if you engage wholeheartedly in this Passion Week event your passion for Jesus will grow significantly. 

Passion is often paired with waiting.  We often have to wait for that for which we are passionate.  For example, I enjoy writing.  It’s a pursuit I am passionate about.  That’s why I was so excited when my fourth book came out last year.  But that book came with a great deal of waiting.   I waited three years for it publication.  In 2005 I delivered the finished manuscript to the publisher.  It was the result of hundreds of hours of writing.  I was ready for the publisher to get it to the bookshelves in a matter of months.  But the publisher held on to it for three years.  It was excruciating.  By the end of last year, I could hardly stand it.  We often have to wait for that for which we are passionate.

 

 

In 2006 John Mayer sang about waiting in his song “Waiting on the World to Change”:[ii] Me and all my friends, we’re all misunderstood.  They say we stand for nothing and there’s no way we ever could.  Now we see everything that’s going wrong with the world and those who lead it.  We just feel like we don’t have the means to rise above and beat it.  So we keep waiting—waiting on the world to change.  We keep on waiting—waiting on the world to change.  The song became a popular anthem.  Those passionate about ending the war in Iraq used the song.  Others concerned about ending poverty took up the song.  For example, the television program 20/20 aired a segment in 2007 about poverty called “Waiting on the World to Change.”  People are passionate about ending poverty.  People are passionate about ending the war.  People are passionate for the world to change.  But that passion is accompanied by a lot of waiting.

The people in this morning’s text have also been waiting: 28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ “  32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”  34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”  35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.  37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”  “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”  40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”  (Lk. 19:28-40 TNIV).

 

 

This text introduces us to the first day of Passion Week.  It is Palm Sunday—called Palm Sunday because as the story is told in other Gospels the crowd spreads palm leaves on the ground and waves palm branches as Jesus draws near Jerusalem.

 

 

And if you had been living in Jerusalem, you had been waiting for Palm Sunday a very long time.  Hundreds of years ago ancient prophets wrote about this day.  For example, Zechariah wrote these words: 9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!  Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  (Zech. 9:9 TNIV)  Wait, Zechariah told the people.  The day is coming.  The day when a king will come.  He will be a righteous king.  He will bring salvation.  And he will arrive on a young donkey.  He’s coming, Zechariah says.  This king is coming.

And for hundreds of years the people in Jerusalem have been waiting.  They’ve been waiting for Zechariah’s words to come true.  Powers like Rome are still overrunning Jerusalem.  And the people are waiting.  They’re still waiting for the world to change.  They’re waiting for the one who can bring the change.

And their eyes have been on the Mount of Olives as they’ve waited.  Because they remember other words from Zechariah: 3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.  (Zech. 14:3-4 TNIV).  When he comes, Zechariah prophecies, it’ll be by the Mount of Olives.  So the people have been waiting—eyes fixed on the Mount of Olives.  They’ve been waiting for hundreds of years.

And when Jesus rounds that corner and comes across the summit of the Mount of Olives, they suddenly realize that Jesus is what they’ve been waiting for.  All those dusty promises were pointing to Jesus.  He’s the one they’ve been waiting for.  They get so excited that they say, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”   The phrase “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” was a common greeting used to welcome people who made their way to Jerusalem to worship at the temple.  But this crowd gives that greeting a twist.  They throw in the word “king.” [iii]  They see Jesus and they say “Blessed is the KING who comes in the name of the Lord!”  He’s the one Zechariah talked about.  He’s the one they’ve been waiting for.

They spread their garments on the ground for Jesus and his donkey to ride over.  This was an ancient expression of respect.  When a man named Jehu was anointed king in 2 Kings 9:12-13 we are told that the people took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”  (2 Kings 9:12-13 TNIV).  These people see Jesus rounding the corner and put their garments on the road.  This is the king.  This is the one they’ve been waiting for.

 

 

They respond in the same way the heavenly host responded at the birth of Jesus.[iv]  Upon Jesus’ birth, the heavenly host proclaim, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Lk. 2:14 TNIV).  And as the crowd welcomes Jesus to Jerusalem they similarly shout, Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.  This is the one they’ve been waiting for.

The religious establishment, however, disagrees with the crowd’s conclusion.  “He’s NOT the one you’ve been waiting for.  He’s NOT the object of your anticipation.”  They tell Jesus to tell his followers to shut up.  But Jesus replies that, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”  Jesus is the one they’ve been waiting for, and no silencing of the crowds is going to change that.[v]

And Jesus is what you’ve been waiting for.  At the deepest level, Jesus is that for which you’ve been waiting.  Your whole life, you’ve been waiting.  You’ve been waiting for things about which you have much passion.  You’ve been waiting to meet Mr. or Mrs. Right.  You’ve been waiting to get that degree.  You’ve been waiting to win that championship.  You’ve been waiting to get that promotion.  You’ve been waiting to have that baby.  You’ve been waiting to become an empty-nester.  You’ve been waiting for that grandchild.  You’ve been waiting for retirement.  You’ve been waiting to find a job.  You’ve been waiting to get that apology.  You’ve been waiting to fit in.  You’ve been waiting for that career change.  You’ve been waiting for your church to get moved.  You’ve been waiting for the economy to bottom out.  And while there is something legitimate about all of those things, there is also a sense in which they are merely symptoms of a much deeper waiting.  What you’ve really been waiting for is Jesus.  You may have not been able to put your finger on it, but all that waiting has really been a waiting for Jesus.

 

 

The 1995 film “While You Were Sleeping” tells of Lucy, a lonely fare collector on the Chicago elevated railway.[vi]  Her highlight each day is saying “hello” as a dashing man named Peter passes her toll booth.  She has never actually met him but dreams of marrying him.  One day Lucy sees Peter being mugged on the platform and pushed onto the tracks.  She rushes over and saves his life.  But in the struggle his head is hit and he falls into a coma.  Lucy accompanies him to the hospital.  In the chaos, she mutters “I was going to marry him,” and the hospital staff assumes Lucy is his fiancé.  They introduce her as such to Peter’s family who has gathered at the hospital.  Suddenly Lucy finds herself in an awkward situation.  But she decides to carry out the lie, because she’s so enamored with Peter.  So she waits.  She waits for him to awake.  She waits for the possibility of actually marrying him when he learns she saved his life.  She waits for her future with Peter.  But while he is sleeping in that coma, while Lucy is waiting, she meets Peter’s brother Jack.  And it turns out that he’s far more caring than Peter could ever be.  So while Peter sleeps, Lucy falls in love with Jack.  She thought what she was waiting for was Peter.  But in fact, all along, she had been waiting for Jack.

You may think that what you’re waiting for is that marriage, that promotion, that degree, or that championship.  But while you’re waiting for that, Jesus is drawing near.  He’s what you’re really waiting for.

 

Why?  Just look at this Jesus: 41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 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. 43 The days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 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.”  (Lk. 19:41-44 TNIV).  The one they’ve been waiting for has come to weep for them and with them.  He comes as a king, but it’s a very different kind of king.  He comes as a king who weeps for his people.  He comes as a king who weeps with his people. 

It turns out that what we’ve all been waiting for is one who weeps. We’ve been waiting for one who weeps for us.  We’ve been waiting for one who weeps with us. 

A few years ago, when my brother and his family lived in Oklahoma City, OK we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.  It commemorates the 168 people murdered when the Murrah Federal Building was bombed in 1995.  But one of the things that touched me most was something not in the memorial.  Across the street at a local church is a large statue of Jesus.  His back is turned to the bombing site.  One hand covers his face.  And he is weeping.  For those of us who remember the bombing, we also remember the waiting.  Waiting as rescuers dug through the rubble.  Waiting as investigators searched for suspects.  Certainly the families and survivors remember the waiting.  Waiting to be saved.  Waiting for word from friends in the rubble.  Waiting for justice.  But all along, what we were really waiting for was that Jesus across the street.  What we were really waiting for was for someone to come down from heaven and cry with us.  Someone to come down from heaven and cry for us.  Jesus is that one.  He’s what you’ve been waiting for.

And when we finally get that, it changes everything.  When we finally embrace that, it transforms our lives.  And we suddenly become just like the people who had been waiting so long in Jerusalem: 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.  37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”  “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.  When we finally get it, this is what happens.  When we finally realize that for which we’ve really been waiting is now here, we explode in praise and worship.  We erupt with celebration and shouting.  We suddenly become passionate in a way we never thought possible.  We shout aloud, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”