"The Truth Will Come Out"
Isaiah 50:4-9a Luke 19:28-40
Most of us have either read or watched Romeo and Juliet. If we were to read it or see it again we would know what is going to happen in the end and it is not the ending we would choose. Have you ever read or watched it and thought to yourself, maybe something miraculous will happen, maybe Juliet will wake up from her drugged sleep in time to save Romeo. But it never turns out that way.
I think Holy Week is like that. We know what is going to happen. Jesus is going to ride into
Wouldn't it be nice if one year we didn't have to face the cross on Friday? If today someone would let us in on the April Fool's joke. Jesus didn't really die on the cross. We were just kidding. Wouldn't it be nice if somehow we finally got it right. The cross is no longer necessary. But then we recognize the truth. We need that cross. We know that we have not been the people God wants us to be. We know that the cross is as necessary today as it was 2000 years ago. We are sad and glad at the same time. Sad that we still need the cross. Glad that God continues to love us despite what we do.
While the crowd was full of hope, shouting Hosanna and waving the palm branches, they were not very observant. If they had been looking closely at the man riding on the donkey they would have seen that he was not joining in the celebration. He did not wave to the crowd like people do who are riding on a float during the Rose Parade. He didn't high five anyone. His face was set like flint. While they thought he was coming to take over the city, he knew that he was headed for a cross and an agonizing death.
And the cross was not a pretty sight, it was messy. Spikes being nailed into flesh, blood pouring out. I mention that because someone sent me an article this week about the messiness of Christianity. Christianity is about taking the message to places we may not want to go, to people we are not used to being around. It is working in the Food Pantry, volunteering for IHN, tutoring. Following Jesus is not just worshiping in a beautiful sanctuary. It is sharing our lives with people recognizing that we are all different and we all need God's love. It is demonstrating to the world that we are all one in Christ. If Jesus is willing to shed his blood on a messy cross, we should be willing to get our hands dirty in a messy world.
The question we might ask as we enter Holy Week is "Am I doing my part?" The disciples did their part. They retrieved the donkey. It was a small part but they were obedient. Jesus did his part. He laid his life down for us. Am I doing my part, no matter how small or large that part is, to help usher in the
The Pharisees got upset with the crowd that day. They told Jesus to tell the crowd to be quiet. Jesus responded that if they were silent the very stones would cry out. Jesus is the truth, if we do not proclaim it, someone will. God's salvation story will be told, with us or without us.
Is there any evidence in our lives that suggests we are new people because of what Jesus has done for us? If are hands are squeaky clean, if we are not willing to get messy, we may have missed what this Holy Week is all about. It is about overthrowing the tables of the moneychangers. It is about a plot to kill someone. It is about betrayal and denial. It is about an innocent man being beaten and spit on and hung on a cross to die.
It is about God getting messy for us. Why? Because God knows what we need. We need love, we need forgiveness, we need grace. God will do whatever it takes to make us new and whole. God is willing to get messy for us. Are we willing to get messy for him? Not just one week out of the year on a mission trip but right here in our own community, day after day, week after week.
I think sometimes we see the church as an escape from the world, when in reality the church is our entry into the world. We don't come here to escape. We come here so that God can prepare us for the work that lies ahead of us, so that we can witness to the good news of salvation in a messy world.