This is Not What You Expected
This is Not What You Expected
Matthew 21:1-11
Introduction:
Have you wanted to experience a surprise? I mean have you ever wanted to lay your expectations aside in hopes of maybe experiencing something better? There have been a few occasions in my life where this has been true. Amanda and I have discovered something that we’ve done a couple of times and it has been a lot of fun. In fact, I encourage you to do at some point in your life. What you do is go to a nice restaurant…a restaurant that fits into your price range. Instead of ordering off the menu, look your waiter or waitress in eye and tell them to surprise you. Tell them that you’d like a dinner and a dessert, but you don’t care what it is…you just want it to be nice. First, it’s fun to see how the server reacts. Will they look forward to the challenge or will they back out of it? Sometimes they try to back of it, because they fear that you will be disappointed, but usually they get a little spark in their eye and rise to the occasion. Second, it’s fun to try and guess what you are going to get served. You’ll have no expectation other that than the simply hope for an enjoyable meal. When the meal comes, it’s fun to eat something that you probably would have never ordered. It’s fun to not be saddle with expectation. Expectations do have a positive side, but sometimes they lead to the long dusty road of disappointment.
We Americans struggle with this quite a bit. Author Bill Bryson illustrates this by explaining the difference in how products are sold in Great Britain and the United States. For example, an advertisement in Britain for a cold relief capsule would promise no more than that it might make you feel a little better. You would still have a red nose and be in your pajamas, but you might be able to put a smile on your face. A commercial for the selfsame product in America, however, would guarantee total, instantaneous relief. A person on the American side of the Atlantic who took this miracle compound would not only throw off his pj’s and get back to work at once, he would feel better than he had for years and finish the day having the time of his life at a bowling alley. The drift of this was that the British don’t expect over-the-counter drugs to change their lives, whereas we Americans will settle for nothing less. The problem is the wrong kind of expectations will always lead to long dusty road of disappointment. It’s sort of like a "Peanuts" cartoon from years ago. In the first panel Charlie Brown says, “I learned something in school today. I signed up for guitar, computer programming, gym, and home economics class." He continues, "I got spelling, history, arithmetic, and two study periods." Linus asks, "So, what did you learn?" Charlie replies, "I learned that what you sign up for and what you get are two different things.”
That lesson could be applied to most things in life, couldn't it? How often do our expectations and our experiences clash? How often do we sign up for one thing and receive something entirely different? I imagine Jesus' disciples felt that way all the time. Jesus was always surprising them. They zigged, he zagged. Every time the disciples thought they had Jesus pinned down, he did something unpredictable that sent their expectations into a tailspin. This was exactly what happened in the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. You remember that happy occasion. When Jesus entered the great city of Jerusalem, the townspeople came out to cheer for him. They threw palm branches--the symbol of victory--in his path. And of course, the disciples and follows of Jesus had some expectations. Let’s read about the occasion. It comes from Matthew 21:1-11. Read.
It all began on Palm Sunday and it was a day of great celebration. It was Passover time. The city was jammed with pilgrims from all over the world. Families were exhausted from the long trip but will filled with excitement for the festivities that awaited them. Traders had filled the market places with high aspirations of making a large profit. It was one the most celebrated occasions of the whole year. Roman authorities were on pins and needles. The last thing that they wanted was a political revolt of any kind and the entire city was aware of the unusually large number of soldiers on duty, with their clanking arms and shiny swords. Early one morning a commotion arose on the road east of the city. A peculiar Galilean rabbi, riding on a donkey, was the center of interest for a growing number of villagers. Generals and kings rode a horse only when they went to war. But when a king or a general came in peace, he rode a donkey. The whole procession seemed remarkably excited. Palm branches were being waved and thrown into the path of the rabbi; cloaks were being thrown down, songs and shouts arose from the crowd. “Hosanna,” they kept shouting. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Don’t you wonder how the disciples felt…especially the two who were sent on the donkey mission? They probably felt, “Hey, this is great! Something big is about to happen. We're finally getting some respect around here. All our hard work and sacrifice are paying off. People are coming around to Jesus' view of things. It's time to begin campaigning for that new kingdom the Master's always talking about. Time to get our candidate's message out there. And what better place to do it than Jerusalem and in what better way than fulfilling the words of Zechariah the prophet? Yes, Jesus sure is savvy. He knows exactly how to get a donkey and work a crowd. He must have planned this all along." In the disciples' minds, this was the day they had been waiting for. Finally they are on the same page with Jesus. This fit perfectly with all they had been waiting for. But then some strange things begin to happen. Jesus zigs and the disciples zag. “Very truly, I tell you,” Jesus says, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” The disciples think to themselves, “What's that? If it falls? If it dies? What's he talking about?” But Jesus doesn't stop there. He goes on to say, “Those who love their life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." The disciples get that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach. “Why does Jesus have to make everything so hard? Why can't he just relax and enjoy the moment? He's never been more powerful or more popular than he is now? Can't he just muster up a rebel army, take over the throne, and name himself king? This is the man who can walk on water and raise the dead! Why doesn't he just use a little bit of that power?” As the week progressed, these first disciples were beginning to sense that there was a little more to being a follower of Jesus that just a great celebration. They were beginning to realize that there was a cost…that discipleship could be tough…that following Jesus might actually cost them something…maybe even their life.
This is not something most people get excited about. We don’t talk about a lot about carrying the cross. We are much more likely to lift up the superficial benefits of following Jesus, than we are to talk about the dying part, the surrender part, the cross carrying part. It is sort of like the old hymnal that contains a hymn titled “Jesus Demands My All.” In this particular edition of the hymnal, an asterisk appears next to the title, so that as the singers read “Jesus Demands My All,” their eyes can drop to the bottom of the page where the words next to the footnote read, “For an easier version, see #438.” What was meant, of course, was that there was a musically less challenging tune that you could use. Yet how often do we find ourselves looking for an easier version. Jesus knew that which is very difficult for us to learn. Jesus knew that true life would only come through obedience and sacrifice. That’s probably why he called such attention to his entrance into Jerusalem. He probably even planned his own parade. He had very carefully, up until that moment, avoided public attention and publicity. But now, he seems to actually reach out for it. He arranges for a donkey. He shows up at the right place and the right time. He does this because he wants to show that that this is just the beginning. It is the beginning of the most significant part of his ministry. During the last week of Jesus some very important things occur. It is interesting to note that in all four Gospels after Jesus enters Jerusalem to the shouts of Hosanna and palm branches there are only a few miracles recorded until the after the resurrection. On the face of it this may not seem significant but when you consider that almost half of the Gospels are devoted to the last seven days of Jesus life, you then you understand the significance. It is almost as if Jesus is saying, “The time for miracles is over. The time for obedience is now.”
While there are not a lot of miracles recorded in these chapters what you will find is a persistent call to radical acceptance of others. Hopefully, this sounds a little familiar because we’ve just spent some time talking about how to Walk Across the Room to people who are living far from God. Notice that as Jesus enters Jerusalem, he goes to the temple and drives the moneychangers out. That’s not all that he does. After the temple has been emptied, he then invites the lame, the blind, the sick, the outcasts of society. He dares to bring into the church those whom the world has put on the outside. It is his way of saying that this is what the Kingdom of God is going to be like. I hope that this idea of radical acceptance has taken root in your life. Personally, I have found that studying and praying about Jesus’ radical love has helped me see things in a different light. I don’t make the same kind of decisions I used to make. They are just simple things. For example, we were eating at a restaurant the other night and we had some coupons. We actually had two coupons for the same restaurant. Of course, we could only use one. So as we were eating we noticed that there were a couple of tables around us. We weren’t eaves dropping, but we did notice that the conversation at one of the tables was talking about church stuff. The words “Seminary” and “James Dobson” were mentioned. We thought that there was a strong possibility that these folks were Christians. The words spoken at the other table weren’t exactly Christian words which the alcohol probably didn’t help. Our suspicion was that maybe they didn’t know so much about Jesus. The question that popped into our mind was, “Who are we going to give the extra coupon?” There was a time in my life when I would have wanted to give the coupon to the Christian table. Especially, if somebody there was seminary student. Seminary students are always poor. It would have been a good call. But that’s not what I wanted to do. Because the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to reach out to someone else. If there was any chance that someone at the other table didn’t know about a life changing relationship with Christ, I wanted to make a connection. And so we did. We walked across the room, gave away the coupon, and had a conversation.
In the last seven days, Jesus dares to bring into the church those whom the world has put on the outside. It’s not what you would expect. In the last week, Jesus also talks about commitment. He was hungry one morning and stops by a fig tree and finds no figs. And so he causes the tree to wither because it’s not producing fruit. It’s an obvious object lesson that shows Jesus demand for fruitful committed lives. Then he tells a parable is told: Who is more committed? The son who says, “I will work” and then does not or the son who says, “I will not work,” repents, and gets the work done? It is the son who does the work. A little later in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives the greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor. It is a call to commitment. This is a struggle for us. We don’t like to make too many commitments. There is a story of a campus minister who was talking to a group of students. The students within the group had expressed an interest in the ministry. When he asked how many of them were committed to going into the ministry, only one raised he hand. One young lady spoke up and said: “I have a problem with your use of the word commitment. That sounds very binding and restricting.” Ann Weems, in her book, Kneeling in Jerusalem, captures the spirit of this. She says, "We're good at short term planning! Give us a task force and a project and we're off and running! No trouble at all! Going to the village and finding the colt, even negotiating with the owners is right down our alley. And how we love a parade! In a frenzy of celebration we gladly focus on Jesus and generously throw down our coats and palms in his path. And we can shout praise loudly enough to make a Pharisee complain. It's all so good, the parade! It's between parades that we don't do so well. We don't do so well from Sunday to Sunday. We forget our hosannas between the parades.
In the last seven days, Jesus talks about the cost of commitment. It’s not what you would expect. In the last week, Jesus also talks about the cross. Jesus began to talk more and more about a cross. In the early part of his ministry Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God. This they wanted to hear about, especially since they might have something to gain from the kingdom. But increasingly Jesus began to talk about sacrifice. It’s not what the disciples expected. Of all the surprises, the cross was the most shocking. They just didn’t see it coming. They…like the crowds who gathered on this day…and like the world around us…were asking the wrong question. “What’s in it for me?” That’s what they wanted to know. There are many people in this world who think that their life is all about themselves. “It’s my life,” the teenager screams at her parents, “I don’t care what you say. I’m going to do what I want!” A patient diagnosed with cancer cries, “Why is this happening to ME?” We often forget that our lives are not just about ourselves. Our lives have something to do with our friends, our family, our wives, our husbands, our children, our parents, our neighbors, our coworkers, our acquaintances, and yes, even our enemies. No one’s life is all about me, or you, or him, or her. And in the kingdom of God life is only about one thing. It’s all about the cross. The cross of Christ is the lens through which we see and understand the world around. The truth is that my life is not about me, but it’s about Jesus Christ. Your life is not about you. It’s about the one who died for you. It’s about what he will do in your life, for your life, and through life.
The mother of a nine-year-old boy named Mark received a phone call in the middle of the afternoon. It was the teacher from her son's school. “Mrs. Smith, something unusual happened today in your son's third grade class. Your son did something that surprised me so much that I thought you should know about it immediately.” The mother began to grow worried. The veteran teacher continued, “Nothing like this has happened in all my years of teaching. This morning I was teaching a lesson on creative writing. And as I always do, I tell the story of the ant and the grasshopper.” The teacher summarized the story. The ant works hard all summer and stores up plenty of food. But the grasshopper plays all summer and does no work. Then winter comes. The grasshopper begins to starve because he has no food. So he begins to beg, 'Please Mr. Ant, you have much food. Please let me eat, too.'” At this point in the story, the teacher says to the class, “Boys and girls, your job is to write the ending to the story.” Young Mark had raised his hand and asked permission to draw a picture. The teacher gave him permission as long as he wrote an ending to the story. The teacher said, “Mrs. Smith, in all my years of teaching, most of the students said the ant shared his food through the winter, and both the ant and the grasshopper lived. Over the years there were a few children who wrote, 'No, Mr. Grasshopper. You should have worked in the summer. Now, I have just enough food for myself.' And so the ant lived and the grasshopper died. But your son ended the story in a way different from any other child, ever. In his story, the ant gave all of his food to the grasshopper; the grasshopper lived through the winter. But the ant died.' And guess what the picture was. At the bottom of the page, Mark had drawn three crosses." This young man had drawn the cross because it was the lens through which he saw the world. And more than that, he knew what the cross meant. It meant sacrifice and salvation.
Through the power of cross, there are some amazing possibilities. Because you don’t know what life is until you live life in the kingdom of God. There is nothing better. There is nothing richer. There is nothing that will bring you more joy or genuine fulfillment. The Palm Sunday message is all about expectation. What do you expect from Jesus in your life? Do you expect him to be the easy button for all of life’s difficult problems…or do you expect something greater. Do you care more about how he might fulfill your own aspirations and dreams…or do you worship him for who he really is? The funny thing about Palm Sunday is that celebration was right. The words they said…the excitement they had…their hope for the future…it was all good. “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” They said the right words, but they didn’t quite understand. Jesus wasn't just going to declare himself king over Jerusalem, or over the Jews, or over the Roman empire. He had bigger plans. By his death, Jesus broke down the wall between humanity and God. By his death, he would draw all peoples to himself. Whose dream are you dreaming? Are you dreaming about the fulfillment of your own goals and aspiration…or are you dreaming God’s dream of abundant life?