March 16, 2008

Holy Week 08 – Palm Sunday

Hail! King Jesus!

Mark 11:1-11

Opening Words: There are fifty two-weeks in a calendar year. But there is week in the time line of the world that that stands out from the rest. It changed everything! We call that seven day period Holy Week. It began on Sunday when Jesus rode into the Golden City on the humble animal. On Monday he cleansed the temple. On Tuesday he cursed the fig tree. On Wednesday he taught about the Kingdom of God. Thursday was a busy day for the Master. He washed the disciple’s feet, observed his final Seder and went to the garden to pray. In those quickening hours, he was tried and interrogated several times. On Friday he went to the cross and died. From a human perspective the story was over but through the eyes of God it was just beginning. On Saturday his closest friends grieved. Then came the surprise ending, early Sunday morning a handful of women showed up at his tomb and found it empty. The once dead Jesus was now alive! Holy Week started on the back of a humble animal and it ended with an empty tomb. This morning we remember how that Holy Week began. We remember that very first Palm Sunday. May God give you ears to hear.

Mark 11:1-11 ¹As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, ²saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' "

    ⁴They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, ⁵some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" ⁶They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. ⁷When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. ⁹Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
   "Hosanna!"
   "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
    ¹⁰"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
   "Hosanna in the highest!"

    ¹¹Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Once upon a time, in the heart of an ancient Kingdom, there was a beautiful garden. And there, in the cool of the day, the Master of the garden would walk. Of all the plants of the garden, the most beautiful and most beloved was gracious and noble bamboo. Year after year, bamboo grew yet more noble and gracious, conscious of his Master’s love and watchful delight.

One day the Master came and spoke these words, “Bamboo I would use you.” Bamboo flung his head to the sky in utter delight. The day of days had come, the day for which he had been made, the day to which he had been growing hour by hour, the day in which he would find his completion and his destiny. His voice came low: "Master, I’m ready. Use me as you wish." "Bamboo," The Master’s voice was grave "I would have to take you and cut you down!" A trembling of great horror shook Bamboo…"Cut …me… down? Me…whom you, Master, has made the most beautiful in all thy Garden…cut me down! Ah, not that. Not that. Use me for the joy, use me for the glory, oh master, but do not cut me down!" "Beloved Bamboo," The Master’s voice grew graver still "If I do not cut you down, I cannot use you." The garden grew still. Wind held his breath. Bamboo slowly bent his proud and glorious head. There was a whisper: "Master, if you cannot use me other than to cut me down.. then do your will and cut". "Bamboo, beloved Bamboo, I would cut your leaves and branches from you also". "Master, spare me. Cut me down and lay my beauty in the dust; but would you also have to take from me my leaves and branches too?" "Bamboo, if I do not cut them away, I cannot use you." The Sun hid his face. A listening butterfly glided fearfully away. And Bamboo shivered in terrible expectancy, whispering low: "Master, cut away" "Bamboo, Bamboo, I would yet… split you in two and cut out your heart, for if I cut not so, I cannot use you." Then Bamboo bowed to the ground: "Master, Master… then cut and split." So did the Master of the garden took Bamboo… and cut him down… and hacked off his branches…and stripped off his leaves… and split him in two…and cut out his heart.

And lifting him gently, the Master carried Bamboo to where there was a spring of fresh sparkling water in the midst of his dry fields. Then putting one end of the broken Bamboo in the spring and the other end into the water channel in the field, the Master gently laid down his beloved Bamboo… And the spring sang welcome, and the clear sparkling waters raced joyously down the channel of bamboo’s torn body into the waiting fields. Then the rice was planted, and the days went by, and the shoots grew and the harvest came. In that day Bamboo, once so glorious in his stately beauty, was yet more glorious in his brokenness and humility. For in his beauty he was life abundant, but in his brokenness he became a channel of abundant life to his Master’s world.

If you can understand that simple fable then you can understand the events of Holy Week. On Christmas Eve we gathered to celebrate the birth of Jesus, God incarnate. He came into the world to experience all that we experience. On Holy Week we do two things. First, we admit his greatness and perfection. Only a pagan world questions his significance. Second, we are humbled by his humility. The perfect life of Jesus cut premature so we may live. John Henry Jowett said, “Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.” Jesus did so much because he gave everything!

The scripture text for this morning is the picture of sacrificial love. It is one of the most familiar passages in the Bible. In Matthew, Mark and Luke it comes near the end of the gospel narrative. The reason is obvious. The events of Holy Week are the climax of Jesus’ earthly ministry. By using your sanctified imagination or with the help of some Hollywood magic, you have seen the scene many times. The streets are filled with people! Everyone is cheering, “Hail! King Jesus!” Some believe in Jesus. Some question Jesus. Others are present only because the Master is suddenly trendy. The truth is no one in the crowd really understood Jesus. The world is always near sited. The world lives by the theme: Look out for number one. In other words, the world doesn’t understand or relate to the fable of the bamboo. My question for you today is do you understand the fable of the bamboo? Do you understand real sacrificial love? Do we as a church understand real sacrificial love?

Soren Kierkagaard said, “I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, "If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me." Do we as a church understand real sacrificial love? Today, let us examine sacrificial love. It was the kind of love King Jesus demonstrated during that Holy Week! Hail! King Jesus! And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

Generous

Sacrificial love is generous. It means we are generous with our time, talent and financial resources. John 3:16 says, “For God,” in His amazing generosity, “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

I love the story of Alexander the Great. One day a beggar asked him for alms. He was the picture of brokenness, poor and wretched. He had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand. Yet the Emperor threw him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished at his generosity and commented, "Sir, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar's need. Why give him gold?" Alexander responded in royal fashion, "Cooper coins would suit the beggar's need, but gold coins suit Alexander's giving." Does your generosity suite the Master?

Do the people in your life consider you a generous person? Or do the people in your life consider you tight fisted with your time, talents and financial resources? Sacrificial love is generous. Jesus was generous! As a disciple of Jesus you must be generous with your time, talent and financial resources. Hail! King Jesus! And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

Unconditional

Sacrificial love is unconditional. It means to love people without reservation in all situations and in all circumstances. During Holy Week Jesus experienced the worst this world had to offer but he continued to love the world unconditionally. That is the kind of love that God expects us to have in our personal relationships and our understanding of the world.

Robert E. Lee was once asked to give his opinion of a certain man. He replied, “He is decent and honorable. I recommend him highly!” The questioner replied, “General, he has nothing nice to say to us about you!” Lee said, “You didn't ask me what he thought of me. You asked me what I thought about him. He is decent and honorable. I recommend him highly!” That is unconditional love.

Do the people in your life see you as an example of unconditional love? Or do you withhold your love for special people, who live up to your standards? Sacrificial love is unconditional. Jesus loved unconditionally. As a disciple of Jesus you must love unconditionally. Hail! King Jesus! And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

Self Giving

Sacrificial love is self giving. It was on Good Friday that Jesus died on the cross. He just didn’t give away his time, talent and his financial resources. He just didn’t love unconditionally. On Good Friday we remember of Jesus gave his life for us. It was not a pretty scene but he began the picture of sacrificial love. Sacrificial love is self giving.

William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons, told a touching story. The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child's breath. Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, "Momma, kiss me!" Without thinking of herself the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. She got diphtheria and some days thereafter she went to be forever with the Lord. Real love forgets self. Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn't count the cost. The Bible says, "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it." Hail! King Jesus! He is the very picture of sacrificial love. He died so we may live! And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

There are fifty-two weeks in a calendar year. Everyone is important but only one is remembered for changing history. We call it Holy Week. It was that seven day period when Jesus demonstrated his love for you and for me. May we become more generous. May we become more loving. May we become more self-giving. May we can become more like Jesus. Hail! King Jesus! And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”