As He Came Near

Scripture Lessons: Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29 and Luke 19: 28-44 Sermon title: As He Came Near Preached on April 14, 2019 This Second Scripture Lesson from the Gospel of Luke is so familiar and is read so often, that it’s possible to miss how strange it is. It is strange. It starts out strange, when you think about it. Consider how the owner felt when she woke up and went looking for the colt she’d been saving up to buy. Or consider this plan Jesus comes up with. You can tell he’s not used to stealing colts. “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. [And] if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” This plan is strange, and it requires a lot of his disciples. Think about it. I didn’t have a bike lock last Thursday. Cece needed to borrow mine, and as I set my bike in the nice bike rack right outside our church unlocked, I wondered how I would feel if some guys walked off with my bike. Would I feel any better if they told me, “the Lord needs it”? Well, I need to get home. What about that? How would you feel if you were the owner of that colt? Or, how would we feel if we were the disciples asked to go and take it? I suppose the point is that we would feel the same as we should feel every day, for every day Jesus requires us to step beyond what we are comfortable with. Every day he calls us to follow him as he leads us beyond what we are used to and towards the Kingdom of God. “Take up your Cross the Savior said” is how the hymn goes. If you would my disciple be; Take up your cross with willing heart, and humbly follow after me. Let not its weight fill your weak spirit with alarm; Christ’s strength shall bear your spirit up and brace your heart and nerve your arm. That’s a good hymn to sing, though it’s a hard hymn to live. Some might like the song, “Jesus take the wheel” but most of the time we’re his worst backseat drivers. That’s why I admire those two disciples made horse thieves. They heard him speak and they obeyed. I don’t always do that, so I can relate to the Pharisees in the crowd. There they were. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, [but] some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” I told you before, this is familiar passage of Scripture. You’ve heard it so many times, we all have, that the weird parts seem normal. But consider how strange this is, for as Jesus rides his borrowed colt, the Pharisees were in there with the rest of the crowd. It’s easy to miss that detail, because the Pharisees are often painted with such a broad brush that we’d never imagine them there, happy about Jesus riding into Jerusalem. From Sunday School lessons it’s easy to see them as one dimensional. As those upright and haughty religious authorities who opposed Jesus. We sometimes think of them as self-righteous, and so heavenly minded as to have been no earthly good. We have to be careful about such assumptions, for the Gospel writer tells us, that they were not sitting off the side of the road glaring at the disciples, but that they were “in the crowd,” that they were a part of the parade, that they were just as happy about Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem as every other disciple of Jesus Christ. Only, they were still Pharisees, and the thing that separates a Pharisee from a disciple is often a thin line. They might have been happy about him entering the city, but they probably wouldn’t have borrowed a colt for him. They didn’t want to cause too much of a fuss. That doesn’t make them bad. That doesn’t make them evil. It just makes them cautious. Right? You can understand. Nicodemus was such a Pharisee. He too was a member of this religious group that enjoyed authority among the people and toleration by the Romans. Nicodemus was even a member of that high court of religious authority called the Sanhedrin. He was admired by the devoted, and being a man rooted in the Ancient Scripture saw in Jesus the embodiment of his same ideals. He wanted to know this man and so he went to him saying, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” What a thing to say! But Nicodemus was only able to say such a thing in the presence of Jesus at night. He went to go see the Savior when no one else was looking. He would only step into his presence when it wouldn’t cost him the admiration of his peers and the approval of the powers that be. So, it makes sense that those Pharisees were in the crowd, because this is Jesus we’re talking about. But he didn’t ask a couple Pharisees to go borrow a colt for him. He didn’t call on Nicodemus to help him out. No, for the difference between a Pharisee and a disciple is that disciples live the Gospel out in the light of day. Disciples are still Christians even when the Gospel makes them a little uncomfortable. Disciples still follow even when it costs them. That’s a level of devotion that’s not for everybody. It gets dangerous, for did you noticed what the people were singing? Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king. These are treasonous words, because if Jesus is the king, it means that Caesar’s not, and Caesar doesn’t want to hear that. The Pharisees know this about Caesar, and so, they chose to keep quiet themselves and to try and keep the crowds quiet. For disciples, that’s not always an option. Last week we heard again about Mary, and when it came time for her to choose between appearing like a respectable, decent, and orderly hostess or steeping out and taking a risk as a devoted disciple, she poured $10,000 worth of perfume out on his feet and wiped them with her hair. That was a bold thing to do, and you can imagine how the Pharisees reacted. They were there of course, because Pharisees want to be at the party where Jesus is a guest, but when they leave the table, they still want to live in the same world they’ve always lived in. Pharisees like Jesus, but they don’t want him changing too much. Pharisees don’t want to get their hands dirty. They try to follow Jesus, while keeping the peace. They ask, “can’t we just keep quiet and still believe?” And they say, “I’d love to follow Jesus, so long as it doesn’t cost me anything,” but on Palm Sunday, the Pharisees find out that following Jesus requires them to take a risk. That’s just what happens when he comes near. On Palm Sunday “as he came near,” it so quickly became clear who his real disciples were. It’s one of those moments, like on a threshing floor when the grain stays but the chaff is swept away with the wind. So today, when he comes near once again, like every Pharisee or Disciple in that crowd, we too must be ready to make a choice. Will we allow him to purify us? Are we ready to take such a risk? For nothing will be gained unless we are willing to make some changes. There will always be evil systems that benefit from our silence. There will always be corrupt forces that urge us to keep quiet. There will always be parts of our own souls that resist the kind of purification that Christ brings as he draws near, and we must decide if we are willing to let our light shine for all to see. That’s a hard thing to do, but that’s what’s required of us when he comes near. I’ve recently benefitted from a book about the ministry of Dr. Frank Harrington. Sheila Tyler let me borrow her copy, and in this biography of that great preacher who served the Lord at Peachtree Presbyterian Church so well, is the story of a relative, who during the dark days of segregation heard a crowd of African American men and women march through the street singing. Dr. Harrington remembers how this relative of his, loving and faithful in so many ways, just wanted the crowd to quiet down. But what were they singing? We shall overcome. We shall overcome. We always have this choice to make. Will we sing with the parade, or will we swallow our desire for justice down once more to keep the peace? Will we say something to the friend who always drinks too much, or will we watch as her children lay a blanket on her sleeping body? The Pharisees among us and within us will say, “Just keep quiet. Let her sleep,” but will change come from our silence? When will we speak? When will we sing? When will we let the rolling waters flow, rather than try to hold back the flood? Each moment we spend hiding the problem rather than inviting him to help us is a moment wasted. Each second we spend tolerating brokenness is a moment spent carrying a heavy burden that he would free us from. Each day we spend trying to hold up the corruption of Rome is a day we could have spent building a better future. Each lie we live is time wasted when we could have been rejoicing in the truth. These Pharisees who want everyone quiet are just hoping to keep the peace. But as the Prophets said, “We say peace, peace, when there is no peace.” If you want peace, then as he comes near, sing. As he comes near, dance. As he comes near, let him change you and rejoice as he changes the world. Amen.