Rev. Clark Lynn Callender, 2/21/10
A number of years ago, when my eldest daughter, Samantha, was in middle school, one day she was late coming home from school. You know how you have the regular bus and then the late bus – and then sometimes, the late-late bus? Well, I was working around the house that day when suddenly I noticed that it was now about a half-an-hour after even the normal late-late bus time, and Samantha was still not home. I began to become concerned.
Well, sometimes Sam would go over to a friend’s house after school – although normally she would call if she was doing this; so I called my wife at work to see if Sam had planned to go over to one of her friends. Traci said no, that Sam had not mentioned doing so; but maybe I should call around. I hung up and did this – called all of the parents of Samantha’s friends. No Sam. And their children had all been home for quite awhile.
Well, now I’m starting to get anxious. I call the school. No reply. So leaving the front door unlocked and note for Sam in case she comes home while I’m out, I race over to the school. Getting there, I track down everyone I can, look everywhere. No Sam. I race back home.
Still no Sam. It’s over an hour late now. It’s dark. I call Traci again. We’re now both beside ourselves. We decide I have to call the police. You feel like a jerk doing so; but I figure it’s better to be embarrassed for calling then to not have called and something has happened.
So I call the police. The woman on the line is wonderful. I explain the situation, she asks if I’ve done this and that – and I’ve done everything I should have. She says, “I’ll send an officer over immediately.”
I’m now going crazy. It’s an hour-and-a-half late. The police are on the way. I hang up the phone. And with that, what happens? You’ve got it:
The front door opens and in walks Samantha!
Well, I’m so overjoyed that I run over to her and start hugging her. And with that, with the intense anxiety that has been building up over the last hour-and-a-half released, I begin to cry. And I don’t just mean a little tear here and there; I mean a WATERFALL! I’m wailing!
Poor Sam doesn’t know what’s going on. From her perspective, all that’s happened is that she’s been on the bus for a long time because they happened to have a new driver who constantly got lost and had to make all sorts of extra stops! But I’m hugging her and crying and so... she just begins to cry too! She doesn’t even know why!
We’re hugging, we’re weeping, we’re a mess... it’s embarrassing! Finally we gather ourselves together a bit and Sam asks, “Dad, what’s the matter? Why are you crying?”
And I reply, “Sam, it’s so late... I thought I’d lost you!”
Well that causes us to cry some more, and then Sam – in classic, practical, get-to-the-point Samantha - says, “Well, I guess I never have to worry about whether or not you love me!”
A parent’s tears over even just the thought of losing one of their children. A torrent of weeping over even just the possibility, let alone the reality.
Do you ever stop to think that God, your heavenly Father, weeps the same way over even just the slightest possibility of losing you? Well this is precisely what I would like to talk about this morning...
Today we begin a new series that will take us through the season of Lent, a series in which we are going to be exploring the events of HOLY WEEK – the final week of our Savior’s life, the week that contains the pivotal events that define our faith. Each Sunday we will look at another day of the week: Beginning today with Sunday; then next week Monday; and so on.
We begin today with Sunday of Holy Week – what we traditionally know as PALM SUNDAY. After three years of ministry, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. And he arrives triumphantly, a conquering hero proclaimed by the people to be the long-awaited Messiah come to rescue them. A ticker-tape parade is held in his honor, everyone is rejoicing, there’s dancing in the streets, it’s a great day, everyone is overjoyed... Everyone, that is, except the hero himself. As everyone is partying, he is CRYING:
What’s the problem? Isn’t this what he sought, wasn’t this the goal: the people joyfully proclaiming him the Messiah? Jesus explains:
Essentially, what Jesus says is this: He knows where things are headed. The people are proclaiming him the Messiah; but shortly they will discover that he is not the kind of Messiah they expected and they will turn on him. They desire a militaristic leader, a king who will lead them into battle against the Romans, their enemy. But Jesus has come not to take up the sword but to pierce the soul. The people who praise him now will turn on him shortly and as a result a horrible destruction will come upon them. Jesus foretells events that will come to pass in 40 years:
Following the people’s rejection of him, other false prophets will appear, claiming to be the Messiah – the type the people want: violent, political. Under this leadership, the people will rise up in revolution against Rome, only to be put down entirely. In 70ad Jerusalem will be laid waste by the Roman Empire, and thousands of Jews will be slaughtered.
This is what Jesus sees as he looks out over Jerusalem, as he looks to the week ahead of him. The crowd sees only victory, Jesus sees nothing but LOSS: That most will miss entirely the point of what he is about, will reject him, and thus be LOST TO HIM, lost to life itself – their lives to end in horrible suffering. And this BREAKS HIS HEART!
In effect, the people are parting; but Jesus is saying:
“There’s a much bigger party going on here, the party you absolutely must get in on – the party of the Kingdom of God. But most of you are going to miss it!”
“The road is wide that leads to destruction and many people follow it; but the road is narrow that leads to salvation and few find it!”
Holy Week, the road into the Jerusalem, the road to Calvary, begins with tears – tears of a loving God weeping at the thought of even just one of his children being lost to him. Tears that will then drive the whole week: God doing whatever it takes to keep this from happening, to rescue us from this!
As Jesus looks at our lives this day... as Jesus looks at your life... Is he rejoicing or is he weeping? Are you on the verge of being lost, of missing the “party”?
Lent begins with tears. Jesus weeping at our lives – that we may not be lost to him. How do we keep this from happening? Well, as we begin our journey into this Holy season, let us consider some of the things that Jesus’ words and tears here tell us about how we become lost...
(I)
To begin with, we become lost when we SEEK AFTER A SUPERFICIAL SAVIOR.
Basically, this is what sort-of “kicks things off” here: the people want Jesus, they expect their Messiah, to fix the EXTERNALS of their lives – that’s all they want out of him: To take away their problems, get rid of their oppressors, give them prosperity and power. But Jesus, you see, came to work on the INTERNALS: to change their hearts – and the hearts of everyone. To CHANGE THEM not simply their situation. The people didn’t like this so they turned on him and were lost.
And this is the first way we become lost as well: When we want God simply to “fix our problems” not to FIX US. To change our situation not ever to change us. We say: “Jesus, take away my grief, repair this relationship, heal my body, put money in my bank account!” But Jesus says: “Let me work on you – that’s where life is truly found! Let me alter your priorities, let me change how you live, let me draw greater things from within you, let me transform your heart!”
To keep from being lost, we must be refuse a SUPERFICIAL faith that simply seeks the externals; and instead demand a deep faith that changes the INTERNALS. In his commentary on Luke’s gospel, pastor and author Kent Hughes tells the following story:
“Several years ago one of my wife’s friends took a missionary furlough with her husband and family after an unusually tiring stint of service. She had been looking forward to this time with great anticipation. For the first time she was going to have a place of her own, a new, large townhouse-styled apartment with a patio. She is very creative and made the patio the focus of her decoration.
“After a few months some new neighbors moved in. The kindest word to describe them would be ‘coarse.’ There was loud music day and night along with a constant flow of obscenities. They urinated in the front yard in broad daylight. They totally disrupted her peace. She could see nothing good in them.
“She asked the Lord to help her be more loving, but all she got back [from her neighbors] was disgust and rejection. The crisis came to head when she returned home to discover that her neighbors’ children had sprayed orange paint all over her beautiful patio - the walls, the floors — everything! She was distraught and furious. She tried to pray but found herself crying out, ‘Lord, I cannot love them; I hate them!’
“Knowing she had to deal with the sin in her heart, she began to converse with the Lord in her inner being, and a Scripture came to mind: ‘And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.’ In her heart she questioned, ‘Lord, how do I put on love?’ The only way she could picture it was like putting on a coat. So that is what she determined to do - she chose to wrap herself in the love of God! As a result she began to experience a deeper life of Christ within her.
“She made a list of what she would do if she really loved her exasperating neighbors, and then did what she had listed. She baked cookies, she offered to baby-sit for free, she invited the mother over for coffee - and the most beautiful thing happened: They didn’t really change, but she began to know and understand them. She began to see that they were living under tremendous pressures. She began to love her ‘enemies.’ She did good to them. She lent to them without expecting anything back.
“Well, the day finally came when they moved - and surprise: she wept! An unnatural, unconventional love had captured her heart, a supernatural love - the love of Jesus Christ.”
We say: “I want the world to change for me.” Jesus says: “How about you change for the world?” We become lost to life and God weeps, first, when we SEEK A SUPERFICIAL SAVIOR.
(II)
Beyond this, we then also become lost when we SETTLE FOR A SELFISH FAITH.
This, of course, is what stands at the center of the Palm Sunday celebration that begins Holy Week: a fundamental SELFISHNESS. That is: The people are expecting Jesus to come and defeat their enemies. The Messiah is there for them, for the people of Israel not for anyone else – most especially, not for the Romans!
Unfortunately, Jesus has come not to divide but to unite, not for one but for all. He’s come not to destroy but to work peace – to join people together in love and understanding. This is where he is found!
Once again, how often is this something that we miss and thus miss out on the whole thing: The focus of all this is ME, and, essentially, “the heck with anybody else!” Not that we don’t try to help other people; it’s only that... that’s OPTIONAL. “I’ll get around to that if I have time, once my needs are met, not before!”
You know, preacher Tony Campolo was once invited to speak at a certain Christian college, and in his sermon, in the process of exploring the idea that we Christians tend to get it all wrong by making our faith just about ourselves, our getting Jesus as the most important thing – Campolo suddenly said to the congregation: “Did you know, that in the last 24 hours, as in every single day, 50,000 children worldwide died of malnutrition or violence? That’s horrible. But what’s even worse is that most of us don’t give a damn about it. And what’s worst of all is that most of you, right now, are probably more upset that I said the word damn than that 50,000 children have died!”
We so often see our faith in Christ as a PERSONAL POSSESSION not as something that, by definition, must – MUST - draw us into the lives of others (where Christ is truly found) – and thus we become lost to him! So consumed with ourselves that we perish!
A great missionary once offered the following prayer – he said: “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” Do our hearts break for the things that break the heart of God? Simply put: Jesus weeps for the lost... do we? Is all of this just for us or for somebody else – somebody not here, somebody we don’t like, somebody who doesn’t deserve to be here? Does our faith, by definition, draw us into the lives of others – work for them; or only for us?
We become lost to life and God weeps, secondly, when we SETTLE FOR A SELFISH FAITH. From which, then, pushing even further...
(III)
We become lost when we PUT OFF GOING TO JESUS.
In the midst of all of this, in Jesus’ explanation of his weeping, notice how often he mentioned the DAY:
Essentially his point is that this was a SPECIAL DAY, a day in which the people had the opportunity to change ALL THEIR DAYS. But the people missed this, they MISSED THEIR MOMENT, they had a chance and they failed to act correctly. LIFE IS MOMENTS SEIZED or lost.
Simply stated: A lot of times we become lost, our lives go horribly wrong because while we hear the call of God, while we feel some tug upon our heart; we fail to act. We put it off – either through fear or laziness or apathy... and all is lost – and Jesus weeps at what might have been. “There’s always tomorrow to repent, there’s always tomorrow to change our ways... there’s always another day to say ‘I’m sorry,” there’s always another day to say, ‘I love you’... there’s always next week to act, there’s always next month to give, there’s always next year to help that person in need...”
Wrong. One day missed can lead to all days lost!
Have you ever heard of the Procrastination Club? It sounds like a club in which most of us could probably become members, right? Well believe it or not, the Procrastination Club has absolutely NO MEMBERS at all. You know why? Because if you actually get around to applying for admission... you don’t qualify!
What’s the old saying? “Never put off until tomorrow that which you can put off until the day after tomorrow." How much of life is being lost by our “putting it off”?
We become lost to life and God weeps, thirdly, when we PUT OFF GOING TO JESUS. This is the day! And finally...
(IV)
We become lost, most especially, when we FORGET THAT JESUS WEEPS FOR US.
Returning to where we began: Jesus looks out over the city of Jerusalem and he weeps. They’re going to reject him, mistreat him, crucify him - and he weeps. Think about that...
The people are going to turn on him, they are going to get it as wrong as wrong can be; but does Jesus condemn them, does he turn on them for this? No he weeps for them! And in those tears will do whatever it takes to rescue them from this! And this is the very heart of the whole matter:
That when our lives go wrong for whatever reason – even when the wrong is our own fault; Jesus doesn’t turn on us, he weeps for us! So many people finally become lost simply because they just don’t know that God weeps for them, they don’t believe that God weeps for them. They look at their circumstance and it seems God doesn’t care; they look at what they’ve done and think, “There’s no way God could forgive me!”
Well, if you get nothing else out of all of this... If you get nothing else out of Lent, if you get nothing else out of Holy Week, if you get nothing else out Good Friday and Easter, if you get nothing else out of the cross and empty tomb; get this: YOU NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT GOD LOVES YOU BECAUSE THERE IS NO WAY TO BREAK THAT LOVE! A love that weeps at even just the thought, the possibility, the slightest hint that you might be lost!
If your circumstance seems to say, “God is gone;” if your heart says, “You are bad;” if your head says, “All is hopeless;” if others say, “God doesn’t love you;” if the world says, “No one cares”... if everything you’ve counted has fallen away around you; if the whole thing is collapsing; if even those closest to you have cut out on you and failed you... know that God has not, and will not, cut out on you! As it is written: “Even if my mother and father should forsake me, the Lord will take me up!”
“As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it.” Know that Jesus weeps for your life, however it has become lost – and those tears drive him, unceasingly, to do whatever it takes to rescue you! Let yourself become lost in those tears alone, hold to them and nothing else, and those tears will see you through! Christian author Phyllis Zeno writes:
“One day a beautiful, but very troubled, little girl came through the door of my day nursery. From the very beginning I became captivated by this child who had so little but needed so much. I was heartbroken that a four-year-old could suffer such heartache and pain. She was born in prison after her mom had used marijuana, crack and cocaine her entire pregnancy – and then rejected her.
“The little girl was nonverbal and had very little control. Whenever somebody approached her, she became violent for long periods and ended up in a fetal position on the floor crying out. I found myself praying for her day in and day out.
“As the months rolled on, I began to bond with this child that no one wanted. She and I worked very hard taking one step forward and four steps back. Daily, we sat in the big rocking chair in my office, swaying back and forth and back and forth. During our rocking time I sang ‘Jesus Loves Me.’ She always settled down and became very still at the melody. Though she never spoke, peace seemed to fill her face as she listened to the song.
“One day, after a very long battle, I held my special girl to again calm her fears and pain. In silence we rocked back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. Then she looked at me with tear-filled eyes and spoke for the first time, ‘Sing to me about that Man who loves me,’ she said.
“Blinking back my own tears of joy, I knew the battle had been won.”
A new life thanks to a God whose tears flowed for all. A God who moves heaven and earth when one of his children is lost.”
It is said: “The eyes are the window to the soul.”
We begin Lent by looking into the eyes of Jesus – there to discover tears. Tears of a parent weeping at even just the possibility that one of his children may be lost.
Don’t let yourself be lost, don’t miss out on the party: Demand depth. Reach out. Act now. And never forget that Jesus weeps for you!
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