We’ve been doing a sermon series
called “Road Trip!”, looking at things that happened to Jesus and the disciples
while they were on the road. You know, we usually think of a road trip as
something that’s fun. We’re going to go to different places, we’re going
to see different things, we’re going to do things we don’t usually do, and we
won’t really have to worry about anything. And we usually have people we
really care about along with us: our family, or maybe some close friends.
We think of a road trip as something we’re really going to enjoy,
something we’ll look back on with happy memories for a long time.
And I’m sure there were times when
Jesus’ life on the road was like that. He did, after all, have the
disciples with him, and those were people he really cared about. He cared
about everyone, of course, but these were the closest friends Jesus had while
he was on earth. And they did go to different places and see different
things.
Still, I suspect there were times
when Jesus’ life on the road was anything but fun. After all, it was not
exactly a worry-free, carefree time for him. He was constantly teaching,
constantly healing. Everything he did, or at least everything he did that
we know about, was done with a reason and for a purpose. Jesus never
really had a time when he could just let go and relax, and least not for very
long.
And even though the disciples were
the closest friends Jesus had on earth, I suspect Jesus was lonely a lot of the
time. Because even though the disciples believed in him, they never
really understood him. They never really understood who he was and what
he was doing. That’s probably one of the reasons we read about times when
Jesus went off by himself to talk to God the Father. There just were some
things he could not talk about with the disciples, because there was no way he
could make them understand.
And there’s one other thing that
makes Jesus’ time on the road different from the road trips we take. For
us, a road trip is a temporary thing. We’ll be gone for a week, maybe
two, maybe a little longer. But then we come home. And usually,
we’re happy to be home. We may not like having to get up early and go to
work and all that, but even so, there’s a part of us that’s happy to get back
into our regular routine.
Jesus did not have a regular routine
to get back into. Jesus did not have a home to go to. We read last
week about how he said that foxes have holes and birds have nests, but that he,
the Son of Man, had nowhere to lay his head. Jesus knew that his road
trip was not going to end happily. His road trip was going to end up on
the cross.
And in our reading today, Jesus is
nearing the end of the road. This is a reading we usually have for Palm
Sunday, where Jesus is making his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. And
the crowd is going nuts. They’re cheering for him, they’re spreading their
cloaks in front of him, sort of like rolling out the red carpet, you might say.
We’re told they were shouting, “Blessed is the king, who comes in the
name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
And of course Jesus knows that all
this cheering, all this excitement, all this spreading of cloaks and all the
rest, does not mean a thing. He knows that in just a few days, all these
people are going to abandon him. Some of them are even going to demand
that he be killed. Even his closest friends, the disciples, are going to
abandon him. All this cheering, all this applause, and it’s all totally
meaningless.
How would you feel, if you were
Jesus, and you knew all that? I don’t know about you, but I think I’d be
pretty mad. I’d be ready to chew them out. All these people
claiming to love me, and none of them are going to stand by me. Not only
that, but if I had Jesus’ power, and I got mad, I’d--well, I’m not sure just
exactly what I’d do, but I don’t think anyone would want to be in the way when
I did it, I’ll tell you that.
But that’s not what Jesus did.
Jesus did not use his power to do anything to these people. He did
not chew them out. He did not even get mad. What did he do?
He cried.
He did not cry for himself. He
did not cry because of what they were going to do to him. Jesus did not
feel sorry for himself at all. He felt sorry for the people. He
cried because of the chance they were missing. Here was their chance for
peace, and for salvation, and they were missing it. And they were going
to miss it. And it made Jesus sad.
You know, sometimes people have the
idea that God is a vengeful, punishing God. We get the idea that God is
watching everything we do, just waiting for us to do something wrong so God can
nail us for it. I don’t think God works that way, and our reading for
today is one of the reasons I don’t think so. If ever Jesus had a reason
to be angry with people, it would be here, knowing that soon he was going to be
killed. But Jesus was not angry. He was sad.
I think that’s how God reacts when
we turn away and do our own thing instead of following God. God is not
angry with us. God is sad. God is sad for us. God is sad because of
the chance we’re missing. God knows that if we would just live our lives
the way God wants us to, if we would just say the things God wants us to say
and do the things God wants us to do, our lives would be so much better.
God knows that if we would just trust God and let God guide us and direct
our lives, we would be so much happier. We would have so much less to
worry about if we would just turn our lives over to God instead of insisting on
doing things our own way. We have this wonderful chance to live lives of
peace and joy, and we’re missing it. Not always, not a hundred percent of
the time, but a lot of the time. And it makes God sad.
Now, don’t take this the wrong way.
There are passages in the Bible that talk about the day of judgment, and
that talk about condemnation, and I believe in those passages, too. God
is loving and forgiving, but God is also just and righteous. But while I
believe those passages, I don’t think for a minute that God enjoys condemning
anyone. I don’t think for a minute that God wants to do that.
That’s why God gives us chance after chance after chance to turn around,
to trust God, to follow God. God never gives up on us. God keeps
working on us, and working with us, even when we turn away, even when we refuse
to believe. God always stands ready to forgive us and to welcome us back
into God’s presence. Not only is God ready to do that, God is eager to do
that. God wants to do that for us. God wants us to take advantage
of that chance to live lives of peace and joy that God offers us.
But God gives us free will.
God allows us to make choices. The people of Jerusalem had a
choice. They could have chosen to stand by Jesus. They could have
chosen to really believe the words they said when they welcomed Jesus into
Jerusalem. But they did not. And because they did not, Jerusalem
was destroyed, just as Jesus said it would be. Jesus took no joy in
predicting the destruction of Jerusalem. It made him very sad to do it.
But it was not the result of what Jesus did. It was the result of
the choice the people made.
We have choices to make, too.
We can choose to stand by Jesus. We can choose to really believe
the words we say when we claim to accept Jesus as the Son of God and as our
Savior. We can choose to really mean it when we pray, “Thy will be done.”
We have that choice. But we also have the choice not to mean those
words. If we don’t, that choice will have consequences. God takes
no joy in enforcing those consequences. It makes God very sad to do it.
But it’s not the result of what God does. It’s the result of
choices we make.
But here’s the good news. It’s not too late for us.
It’s not too late for you, and it’s not too late for me. We can
turn our lives around. Again, it’s not that we’re all terrible, horrible
people, but we can do better. We can truly living our lives the way God
wants us to. We can truly say the things God wants us to say and do the
things God wants us to do. We can truly trust God and let God guide and
direct our lives. We can turn our lives over to God and stop insisting on
having our own way. We can stop missing out, and truly live lives of
peace and joy. We’ll still have problems, of course, but we’ll have peace
and joy anyway, because we’ll know that God is there with us, despite our
problems.
God has given us an incredible
chance to live lives of peace and joy. Let’s take advantage of that
chance. Let’s stop missing out. Let’s turn our lives over to God.
When we do, the results may truly astound us.
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