The Coveted Messiah
Pastor Mathew Magera – 4/9/17 – Sermon 224
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
When the crowd by the side
of the lake saw Jesus feeding five thousand plus with five loaves and two fish,
at least one person didn't see the sign. They saw people eating. When the
guests at the wedding in Cana witnessed Jesus turning water into wine, at least
one person didn't see the sign. They saw people drinking. Even when the people
watched Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, at least one person didn't see the
sign. They saw invincibility. They watched Jesus. They studied Jesus. And they
got him wrong. It doesn't always look that way, but they did. In John 6 the
people tried to corner Jesus and make him their king by force, for all the
wrong reasons, but Jesus knew this was going to happen and he snuck away alone.
The people are mesmerized by what Jesus is doing and they think to themselves,
Jesus will ensure that we are fed. Jesus will ensure that we have good wine to
drink. Jesus will ensure that we can be brought back from the dead. With enough
food, drink and extra lives, we will never be knocked down again. They wanted
him king right now so that he could be their Savior. The crowd wanted to make
Jesus their kind of king and Jesus wanted no part of it.
The Bible says you shall not
covet your neighbor's house, wife, servant, ox or donkey or anything that
belongs to your neighbor. The final two commandments. You shall not desire to
make yours what you do not have. The people wanted Jesus to be their kind of
king. They wanted to be well off. They wanted to be powerful. They wanted to
stop the oppression. They wanted to end the Roman rule. They conjured up an
image in their minds of the king they knew they needed and they were going to
do whatever it took to get that king, even if it meant crowning him by force.
They desired something that they did not have. They desired the very image of
Caesar himself but for them. They desired the military prowess of the Empire
that was occupying their land. They wanted the tables turned. They wanted what
the Romans had. Rome was their coveted Messiah. If Rome can do this, why can't
we?
These commandments deal not
with anything physical or external but with everything internal. They confront
our inner dialogue, our inner struggle. They show that even if we do not act on
any evil deed, our thoughts and our inner struggles that could lead us to this
act are the very roots of sin itself and should be condemned. Do this, do that.
Don't do this. Don't do that. And now, don't even think about doing this or
that. It doesn't stop at the actions, but don't even think about it. You would
think, God, why go this far? If I don't do it, isn't that good enough? No.
Absolutely not. Don't even think about it. I say, God, how can I not think
about something? The moment you tell me not to think about something you know
what I'm thinking about? That thing you told me not to think about. It's the
surest way to get me in trouble.
We say this at home don't
we? Don't even think about it. I find myself even saying this to my dog. She'll
be eyeing a piece of meat on the table. I look right at her. Don't even think
about it. Does it even make any sense to say that? Of course she's probably
already thought about it, she's looking right at the piece of meat on the
table. She can't even understand a word I'm saying. But, when I say it, not
only do I not want her taking the meat from the table but I want her to have
not even the faintest thought of doing so. I want her to be absolutely perfect.
I say it in the car. I see another vehicle coming up quickly behind me and I
just know they are going to cut me off. Don't even think about it, I say.
Doesn't help. I'll be putting on the golf course and if after I hit the ball I
see it might take a trajectory different than I had planned. Don't even think
about it. Won't do a bit of good. I'll still miss the hole. It's not like the
ball is going to say to itself, aww nuts, I was just thinking about making him
miss this putt but he told me not to think about it so I might as well just go
in the hole and make him happy. Now, see, if the ball hadn't thought about missing
the hole, I wouldn't have to worry about saving par. Don't even think about it.
But, why? Remember what I
said when I was talking about my dog. I said, I don't want her taking the piece
of meat, nor do I want the thought to enter her mind. I want her to be a good
dog. I don't want her to get into trouble and the best way to keep her out of
trouble is to take away every bad thought she might have in her sneaky little
head. I want her to be absolutely perfect. Now, can you see why God might have
included these commandments here at the very end. Don't do this. Don't do that.
Don't even think about it. God says, because I don't want you to get into
trouble and the best way I know how to keep my children out of trouble is to
take every bad thought from their sneaky little heads. I want my children to be
absolutely perfect, God says. That's why he tells us this. He wants us to be
the perfect child that he created us to be. But we're not, are we? We covet
this. We covet that. We think about this. We think about that. Today,
specifically on Palm Sunday, I want us to think about even coveting our
Messiah.
Our Palm Sunday story begins
with a crowd that is flooding Jerusalem for the Festival of Unleavened Bread
wanting to make Jesus their kind of king. They hear Jesus is coming and they
are ready to ambush him and they want to do it quickly because they know the
Pharisees have already decided to kill him at their first opportunity. They
were on the lookout for him too. They even wanted to kill Lazarus, who Jesus
had just raised from the dead because Lazarus was evidence they needed to hide
under the rug. And so the crowds were waiting for Jesus, they wanted a king.
The Pharisees are waiting for Jesus, they want him dead. The crowds were
waiting to hold Jesus up with their arms. The Pharisees were waiting to hold
Jesus up with nails.
And just like we did when we
sung our opening hymn, the people waved palm branches. They laid them on the
ground as Jesus rode up to Jerusalem. They shouted praises. They worshipped him
and they sought to make him their kind of king. This is the moment we need to
reflect on. If you waved your palm earlier get it out again. We waved palms
just like the people did as he rode into Jerusalem but do you realize what
these palms represent? If we are to take this seriously, when we wave our palm
branches in the air we are waving them as people who have no expectation
whatsoever that Jesus would go to the cross, much less willingly. These palm
branches that we wave on Palm Sunday do not hail King Jesus at all, or at least
the true king, they hail the coveted Messiah. These palm branches represent our
expectations. These palm branches represent our cry for our kind of king.
No one in that crowd outside
of Jerusalem would be waving a palm branch if they knew Jesus was going to the
cross. They would have abandoned him and left him for dead. If the crowd came
from the feeding of the five thousand, or from Cana, or from Lazarus' hometown,
they came for a miracle worker. They came for one who would give them all they
could ever desire. If the crowd came for Jesus' showdown with the Pharisees,
they wanted and expected a revolution to overthrow the status quo. And here we
are waving our expectations high in the air. What are those expectations? These
palm branches are our expectations, they represent our coveted Messiah. Can you
look at your palm branch, count the number of leaves and name one personal
expectation that you have of Jesus per leaf?
What are yours? Perhaps you
are expecting Jesus to lead you to earthly success. Perhaps you are expecting
Jesus to make sure you have all the best in food and drink, possessions and
property. Perhaps you are expecting Jesus to take away that pain that you live
with every day. Or the loss. Or the heartbreak. Or the disease. Or the abuse.
Or the struggles. Jesus makes it very clear that he will be no part of our
expectations. When the crowd was going to crown him by force, he snuck away.
Jesus is committed to being God's kind of king.
When our expectations take
over, Jesus withdraws. He knows that he has come to die. He's predicted it many
times. He has not come to honor our expectations. He is not the king we are
looking for. Jesus enters Jerusalem with a twist. Seated on a donkey, he rides
into Jerusalem in the form of a king but not in the manner of a king. He rides
in on an animal that is the physical form of a servant and not a symbol of war.
He confirms to the people that he is a king, but a different kind of king. He's
not riding into Jerusalem like Oprah handing out miracles to everyone he sees.
He's not riding into Jerusalem like a politician, shaking hands and kissing
babies hoping for their vote. He's not riding into Jerusalem like a war
general, ready for battle. He's riding in humility. He is a king but not the king
we expect.
You remember the crowd that
once hailed him as king would soon be crying out for his death as soon as they
discover he is not worth their worship and praise any longer. This is what
becomes of our expectations. They make us bitter and angry and disappointed.
But, Jesus is not giving in because he knows what his kingship is all about. He
knows his end will be met with a crown of thorns and not a crown of jewels. He
is the suffering servant Messiah.
I want you to picture being
at that first Palm Sunday procession right now. Pushing your way up to the
front like you are waiting for a parade to go by. You have your branches and
you place them on the road for the donkey that is coming and you look at
everyone else do the same thing. There are shouts of praise and joy and Jesus
is coming down the road on the donkey. Your branches that you have placed on
the ground represent all of your hopes for this king, your hopes for a better
life. Your expectations are there on the ground as the donkey approaches but
what are your expectations going to receive as your Jesus passes by? They might
get kicked by a hoof, or they might even be where the donkey chooses to let
down a fresh pile. What good are your expectations now being there on the
ground? What good are they there?
You know, sometimes I'm
driving down the road going somewhere and I can tell when I've traveled down
the road that an Amish family has just been by. You know how? I see horse poop
in the road. Sometimes even I'm coming up behind a horse and buggy and I'm so
focused on making my way around the buggy and making sure no traffic is coming
toward me and I don't notice the fresh pile the horse has just left in my lane
until I'm half a mile past and I can smell the stench ground round and round on
my tires.
When we lay our expectations
on the ground for our coveted Messiah, atop his donkey to pass by, the only
thing they are going to catch is a fresh pile and an ugly stench. We're going
to be disappointed because Jesus is not interested in our expectations.
But, we have another option.
There is another place we can take our expectations. We can take them to the
foot of the cross. We can lay our expectations before Jesus and say we are not
worthy to have him as our king for we continue to think only of ourselves and
what we want. And if we lay our expectations at the foot of the cross where
Jesus hangs forgiving us for our expectations, they are not going to catch the
same thing as they would have on the road. They aren't going to catch a fresh
pile. Instead, they are going to catch, drop by drop, his blood, as it works to
wash us clean and raise us up to have a fresh start once again.
When we lay down our
expectations like palms on the ground, we are showing our desire for our best
life now. We are showing that we want the treasures in this life. What we get
from Jesus is something rather different. Jesus promises us our best life but
not right now. We are going to hurt in this life, we are going to struggle from
time to time but it does not change the promise that is made to us. Even though
Jesus may not be the king we want as we see him pass by on the donkey, he is
still riding into Jerusalem with the intent to display the power of God's
kingdom. Our expectations don't stop Jesus from loving us and going to the
cross anyway.
So we must follow him. We
must follow him, not to the throne but to the cross. We have to go there. We
have to go to the cross. Our journey this week will take us there and I invite
you to journey with me as we lay our sins, our expectations, on Jesus that he
may exchange them with eternal life. No more following our coveted messiah with
our expectations. It's time we let Jesus take our expectations to the cross and
give us something much, much better. It is a great leap in faith but we can
trust in the promise he makes to us and he will soon confirm it for us when
even after death he is raised from the dead. To God be the glory, now and
always. Amen.