“Why are you doing this?”
Scripture: Psalm 118: 19 – 29 read responsively and
Mark 11:1-11
Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ April 1, 2012, Palm Sunday
Unity Presbyterian Church ~ Terre Haute, Indiana
INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Psalm 118: 19 – 29 read
responsively This individual song of praise becomes a communal song of praise as it moves others to testify to what God has done in their lives. The celebrant could be any one of us who has born witness to God's mighty act of delivering us from bondage when we cannot free ourselves. Its theme fits well with Palm Sunday, when we recall the salvation of Christ entering our lives as he did the city of Jerusalem.
19Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
20This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through
it.21I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
22The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
23This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
26Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
28You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.
29O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Mark 11:1-11
I highly recommend Tom Long’s
commentary on this passage. He talks about the glorious questions asked of
those of us privileged to be ordained as elders or deacons, such as. “Will you seek to serve the people with
energy, intelligence, imagination and love?" He writes that: Such language implies that ministry is a brave white-water romp over the cultural rapids toward global transformation in the name of Christ. Never once is it mentioned that serving people with energy, imagination and love often boils down to stuff like ordering bulletin covers, changing light bulbs in the restrooms, visiting people in nursing homes who aren’t quite sure who you are, getting the brakes relined on the church van, making a breathless Saturday afternoon run to the florist because someone forgot to order the palm branches and, as two of Jesus’ disciples found out, finding a suitable donkey at the last minute.[1]
Often what is mundane is a sublime mission in our discipleship.
When they were approaching
Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of
his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and
immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never
been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you
doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord
needs it and will send it back here
immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the
street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are
you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they
allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their
cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road,
and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those
who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Then he entered Jerusalem and
went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was
already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.SERMON
Imagine that you hear a noise in your garage. You go out and discover two men trying to start you brand new convertible that you have saved for years to own. When you ask them “Why are doing this?” They reply, “The Lord needs it.” What would be the real surprise would be if you did not call the police or worse shoot them, but instead said, “Wait, let me go get the keys.”
Though no one knows what
these two disciples were thinking, I am pretty sure they had a grander and more
noble role on this triumphant entry to Jerusalem than being on donkey detail.
Mark does not name these disciples, but maybe they were James and John, who
only hours before had proposed to Jesus, "Grant us to sit, one at your
right hand and one at your left, in your glory." But it hardly matters
which two they were. All of the disciples had been jockeying for advantage,
angling for glory, arguing about who was the greatest. So it is deliciously
ironic that on this very public and glorious day of Jesus’ ministry, a day when
he will be welcomed into Jerusalem with joyous hosannas, these disciples
themselves engaged in a most unromantic form of ministry, mucking around a
stable, looking suspiciously like horse thieves, and trying to wrestle an
untamed and no doubt balky animal toward the olive groves. They may have been
wondering, “For this we left our fishing nets?”
But are we any different when opportunities to serve Christ come to us? I get stuck in the question of why, where, who and what. What is the goal, what is the purpose, how much will it cost are all familiar road blocks to just doing what needs to be done. What we know God wants us to do.
Here we are at the beginning
of Holy Week. It can be like watching a
train wreck, following Jesus to his death on Friday. In fact many of us to avoid the pain run
right past Friday to the Good News of Easter.
Jesus gave us the best example. In just a few (days) he will take off his tunic and wrap a towel around his waist and wash those same disciples’ dirty road-stained feet. He will tell us – all his disciples, “If I…have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.” He was willing to go all the way to the cross for those he loves. Though he was God, he took on human flesh. He humbled himself and became a servant. Service is the life he asks his followers to lead.[2] God is in the mundane as well as the grandiose.
So what does that mean for your life of discipleship? It means every act of service has value and is important to the life of Christ. Whether you are reading scripture, changing a diaper, singing a great aria, helping a stranded stranger; mowing the lawn, lighting candles or praying by a friend’s bedside all are important and of value. I know, I hear Jesus tell Martha that Mary as chosen “the better thing.”[3] Mary’s choice was valued because she first chose her relationship with Jesus over activity. If our activity flows out of our need to feel important or out of a sense of duty and obligation, we will not hear what we have truly been called to do. Listening to the stories of Jesus, studying God’s word with other believers, praying and meditation will inform you about your life, your ministry and your service. But remaining in the listening mode is not sufficient for disciples. We are sent on donkey detail. If you have a personal relationship with Christ, you may just be hunting those car keys. Amen.
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