Where Is God When I Need Him?
Call to Worship
L: Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
P: Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
All: Hosanna in the highest heaven! — Mark 11:9-10.
Hymn Majesty, Worship His Majesty # 98
INVOCATION /LORD’S PRAYER Merciful Lord, our hearts are overwhelmed with thanksgiving for your enduring the barbs of sinful and foolish humans and for going all the way to the cross in order to save us. May our lives be filled with faith and love and so prove that your suffering sacrifice for us was not in vain. In the name of Christ
GREETINGS
PRAISE SONGS Glorify your Name # 10, I’m so Happy,
Prayer Holy God, Judas sold your Son for thirty pieces of silver. We often sell him for even less: a way to save ourselves embarrassment; a little incorrect change we decide not to return; a grudge we hold far too long; a fling with someone to whom we are not married; an edge over someone else at work; a little lie that keeps us out of trouble; and on and on we go, selling our Savior day after day. God have mercy on us. Forgive us and transform us. Let Jesus' sacrifice melt our stony hearts, and turn us into the faithful disciples that Jesus showed us we could become. We pray in the name of the One whom we betrayed, but who has never betrayed us.
(Continue in silent prayer.)
Because of his sin, Judas destroyed himself. Peter sinned no less than Judas, but he went on to become the rock upon which Jesus built the Church. The difference is that Peter found forgiveness from a risen Savior, and stayed the course. our sins cost Jesus his life, but Jesus is not defeated by death. He rises from the grave, and proclaims the forgiveness of all our sins and the beginning of new life for each one of us! Thanks be to God, and thanks be to the Son of God, now and forever more!
We already know the ending to this story. Though we participate in Christ’s betrayal, our salvation is sure because God raised Jesus from the dead. Hear and believe this incredible good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen!
praise
troops
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mourn
new pastor
SPECIAL MUSIC Melanie Clark
Scripture Reading Philippians 2:5-11
Offering
Hymn The Old Rugged Cross # 484
Scripture text Matthew 26:14-27:66 choose what to read or the Message
Sermon Where Is God When I Need Him?
"Truly, this man was God's Son!" (Matthew 27:54 NRSV). "This man really was God's Son!" (Ibid, CEV) said the soldier, at the foot of the cross, as Jesus died. So where in heaven was God while his Son hung there between heaven and hell; between life and death? Between the hosannas and the hallelujahs - the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, the not so triumphal exit come Friday - and Jesus' triumphant return to life on Easter - where was God?
The simple, straightforward, orthodox answer is this: Right there in front of everyone. Right there; riding on a donkey, receiving the adulation of an expectant crowd. That's where God was. Standing before the Roman Governor receiving the third degree.
Rejected by rabble-rousers who called for the release of a man called Jesus Barrabas, instead of Jesus called the Messiah. Scorned by the powers that be, for whom his activities meant a change in the status quo and in the equation of political power.
Beaten barbarically by soldiers who were "just following orders." Paraded through the streets of the City a second time, this time not on the back of a donkey, but with a big piece of wood on his back. Put upon, spat upon, and finally hung upon a cross. Not a decorative cross like ours in the sanctuary, but a deadly cross, the only purpose of which was to kill as deliberately and demonically as you or I could imagine.
That's where God was that week. That week we call "holy," because of what happened - but a week more ghastly than good. That week that begins hopefully today, descends to the depths of hopelessness by Friday, and ends with a new beginning and new hope as the first day of a new week became the eighth day of this "Holy Week," with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God was there. For everyone to see. Hanging on for dear life on the back of a donkey. Hanging onto life itself in a politically charged situation that finally demanded his death. Hanging on a cross. That's where God was.
We need to pay attention to that before we get to next Sunday with its emphasis on where Jesus wasn't. He wasn't in his grave. Come next Sunday.
But that's next Sunday. This Sunday, called "Palm Sunday" because they waved palm branches as he came into Jerusalem; and "Passion Sunday," because people waving palms quickly gave way to soldiers wielding whips; this Sunday we need to ask where God was while Jesus was "descending into hell." Where is God when my life is hell? Where is God when I need him? We need to ask that, and pay attention to that, because otherwise we end up with what I call "pogo stick" theology. Boinging down on Palm Sunday long enough to enjoy the parade, and then bouncing over to Easter long enough to enjoy the flowers and the fun; without ever coming down to that other reality in between.
But miss the middle and you miss the point. Miss the mess in which Jesus quickly found himself, and you miss the meaning of Easter.
Just about everyone missed it the first time around. And we still do. The crowd missed it that Palm Sunday. They celebrated the way we celebrate: in anticipation of getting what they wanted - in their case, a "messiah." One who would take up the role of king and lead them to freedom from the rule of the Roman Empire. Here was someone they would follow into battle, to fight the "evil empire" of the Roman government, to free themselves from tyranny.
If Jesus had gotten off the donkey and yelled, "Charge," many of them would have. They'd have charged the governor's headquarters with its cohort of Roman soldiers, and died for the right to be free of Roman rule. From time to time during the history of the Jewish people, they did just that. And many in the crowd that first "Palm Sunday" were itching to do it again. They were remembering, perhaps, as only the Jews can remember, events of just 150 years before when a revolt had been led by one "Judas Maccabeus." The story is in that part of the Bible we call the "apocrypha," the books that lie between Old Testament and New Testament times. My study Bible describes "... Judas Maccabeus as the ideal Jewish warrior - one who prays before battles and gives thanks afterward, always careful to observe the Sabbath and other Jewish rituals."1 The crowd was curious. Could Jesus be like him? The crowd was hopeful. Maybe he will be like him. When it became clear that he wasn't like him, the crowd deserted Jesus for someone else, asking, instead of mercy for Jesus who had healed their sick and held out hope of a new way of living with friends and enemies, for the freedom of one called Jesus Barrabas. It is the same name, according to the best manuscripts. Our word "Jesus" is really Joshua in anglicized Hebrew. Yeshua. A name that means "Yahweh is salvation." "God saves." The answer to the cries of "hosanna," meaning "save us," is the name of the one on the donkey, "Jesus," which means "God saves." God was there, from donkey to death, but few could see it. What they would soon see clearly was that the Jesus on the donkey would not "save them" the way they wanted to be saved - would not lead a military revolt, or a mob-based uprising against Rome. So given the choice, they chose one, perhaps, who would; who his own name, would give them what they wanted. I've always wondered about the seemingly arbitrary choice of "Jesus Barrabas" as the people's choice. Why a criminal? Perhaps, because to them he wasn't a criminal! The King James Version of the Bible simply calls him a "prisoner." Prisoners are bad people. Right? So why this bad guy, Jesus Barrabas, over the good guy - Jesus of Nazareth?
Maybe it's a matter of perception. Barrabas was a bad guy in the eyes of Rome, so he was in a Roman prison, but maybe he was a good guy in the eyes of fellow Jews. The translators of the Contemporary English Version of the Bible call Barrabas a "well known terrorist" (Matthew 27:16 CEV). Exactly the kind of guy to do what Jesus wouldn't. If Jesus won't, maybe Barrabas will! Maybe the people got exactly what they wanted, while missing what they already had. Not just someone named "God is salvation," who goes on to do things his way, Jesus Barrabas; but the God who comes to save, Jesus Christ, who goes his way on a donkey doing good. And when that wasn't good enough - getting crucified for it.
They crucified him! Something most political pundits of the day could no doubt have predicted. Jesus was up in the polls on Palm Sunday, but down in his grave on Friday. That week was like a political primary - Barrabas won, God lost. They crucified Jesus- called the Messiah - the Christ. They crucified him. Death by being nailed to a cross, that has come to mean in our day political or social death by being nailed, - by being persecuted and accused of things unfairly. /// Back to my original question. Where was God in all that? More importantly, where is God in all that? Things are not all that different today. Where is God now? God is where he's always been: with us in all that. In the midst of all our hopes and dreams, even when they turn into despair and nightmares, God is still with us in Jesus Christ. As surely as God was present on that donkey that first Palm Sunday, he is present with you and me on this Palm Sunday, and is ready to go with us into the week to come.
The story of Holy Week is not about God waving a magic wand, but about God walking the walk - the via dolorosa, the way of sorrow, the way of life, with you and me. This week is about God's presence in your life and mine, assuring us, and when necessary reassuring us, that whether it's hope that dies, or one we love who dies, or even ourselves who must die, death does not defeat life in the end. For in the end, as in the beginning, God is there. God is here, to guarantee it.
The old spiritual says, "Jesus walked this lonesome valley...." This lonesome valley is life as you and I live it. God lived it too, in Jesus Christ. Holy week was a lonesome time, as people turned against him, denied knowing him, and finally abandoned him.
There is only one set of footprints from today to Easter Sunday. The footprints of Jesus Christ, God himself, who in this holy week, begun as he was carried into Jerusalem on a donkey, got off the donkey and walked alone, carrying you and me.
1. The Harper Collins Study Bible, 2 Maccabees "Contents," p. 1691.
HYMN Were You There #218
Benediction May you be haunted by Jesus' story day and night, so that you may never forget the depth of his love for you. Now live lives worthy of the royal blood that has redeemed you for eternal life, in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.