Sunday Sermon at St. Paul Lutheran Church

Minden , Nebraska

Sixth Sunday in Lent – Palm/Passion Sunday

“Oh To Say Glory! No Hurrying To Easter!” (Luke 19:28-40)

April 1, 2007

Details. If ever there was a week to slow down and pay attention to details, for Christians, Holy Week is a week to slow down and pay attention to details. Holy Week is the only week of the Christian Church year with a set of detailed “Propers” - appointed lessons & collects, psalms & graduals for each day of the week. Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Eve. Seven holy days to slow down & pay attention to details How important are details?

John Wooden, former coach of the UCLA Bruins who has won more NCAA basketball championships than any other college basketball coach once said, It's the little details that are vital. In life, it is as it is in basketball; little things make big things happen.

Details. Life is paying attention to little things - cell phone numbers to remember, mort-gage to pay off, income tax to figure & file before April 15, home improvements to make, school events to attend, appointments to schedule, different seed numbers to plant, different pills for different medical problems to take, and what about the on-going hassle some older people have with trying to figure out Medicare Plan A or Plan B prescription drug coverage.

Then you come to church and what do you find but more details? Church is more details to pay attention to. The right worship responses, right hymn numbers, right readings for the day, when to stand, when to sit, stuff to confess, stuff to listen to, and stuff to remember. The word “liturgy” actually means “work of the people,” and liturgy is a lot of work, especially when it comes to this time of year, Holy Week, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Traditions, Easter Services.

“Pastor,” I hear people say. “You sure have been busy; so many de-tails to tend to; how do you keep it all straight?” And there is A LOT to keep straight; a lot of important details; a lot to Holy Week.

It begins with Jesus approach and entrance into Jerusalem .

If ever there was someone big on details, it was Jesus. You wouldn't think so, but it's true. It's the little details that stand out in Luke's account of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem .

Luke doesn't just report Jesus' entry into Jerusalem . Luke gives us the exact location: the Jerusalem suburbs of Bethphage & Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives . Luke reports how Jesus pulls two of his disciples aside and says to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.” Jesus has clearly spent time on details pre-paring for this day. He knows exactly what type of colt he wants – one that's not ever been ridden. He knows exactly where the colt is, at the edge of a village they will pass through.

Jesus has even worked out a response if it appeared to anyone that his disciples were swiping the colt. “If anyone asks you just say, ‘The Lord needs it.'”

 

Details! Why was Jesus so specific? Why did he ask his disciples to find him a ride into town? Why a procession? Why so public? Why such loud praises to God from men, women, and children?

Because Jesus was fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy of the long-awaited Messiah.

“Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, hum-ble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey!” Z.9:9

According to Luke, Jesus is determined to get his entrance into Jerusalem exactly right. Luke is determined that we know every detail about the arrival, the procession, the honor & glory given to the One who came to be our true king, a humble & faithful “servant king.”

Why pay attention to these details? For one thing, sometimes people think Christianity or spirituality or just plain believing means freedom & release from details. It's not uncommon for people to think spirituality means living spiritually in the world but not of the world. Therefore, s piritual people don't worry about monthly bills, mortgages, doctor's appointments, community clean-ups, or committee meetings at church. Spirituality is equated with Christians reading their Bibles, going to church, saying their prayers, meditating, blocking out a distracting, detailed-filled world.

But that's not a true biblical view of spirituality. A biblical view of spirituality is not to live a life that minimizes or fails to be concerned with details, but a biblical view of spirituality knows which details are the right details to pay attention to and which detains are not the most important details.

For example, a lot of life's details we think important Jesus did not pay much attention to.

Jesus did not let things urgent crowd out things important . Jesus was never in a hurry. On the way to the home of a father named Jairus to heal Jairus' 12 year-old dying daughter, Jesus stopped to attend to a woman with a chronic blood disease who had touched the hem of his robe. Jesus could have hurried on past her, away from her to get to the dying girl, but He didn't. It was important to Him & to her that Jesus stopped to heal her, and He did.

Jesus did not pay much attention to numbers, progress, production, effectiveness. When Jesus spoke of sowing the seed of God's word, He was quick to tell a parable about a farmer who scattered seed every-where while only some fell on good ground. For Jesus, to be “kingdom oriented” did not mean He was success-oriented or power-oriented. Jesus does not call those who would follow Him to be successful; powerful; He calls us to be faithful, available, merciful even as He Himself is merciful, caring, compassionate; not numbers-oriented, but people-oriented, service-oriented.

Jesus did not pay much attention to details pertaining to busy-ness, hard work, reputation, recognition. One day when Jesus was at the home of Mary & Martha and Martha was slaving away in the kitchen while was Mary listening to Jesus, Martha came storming out of the kitchen wanting Jesus to recognize her efforts as hostess. All Jesus had to do was give her a certificate saying, Martha Is a Hard Worker . But Jesus doesn't do things that way. Instead, he focuses attention on people who remain anonymous; like the little boy with his lunch of two small fish & five loaves of bread, or the widow giving her last two mites as an offering of all she had.

Although we all know people who probably have a hard time keeping straight the dates & details of their busy schedules & weeks to come without a day-planner or Palm Pilot or school calendar, Jesus did not pay a lot of attention to busy schedules & tomorrow's details.

In fact, in His Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to the span of your life? . . So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. (Matt. 6:27,34)

 

Cost of living increases, bills, mortgage payments, statistical reports, investments, job benefits, home improvements - important de-tails that these may be to us, Jesus did not consider them of first importance. Instead, Jesus was more concerned about those details we tend to overlook or take for granted.

Seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matt. 6:33)

Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matt.4:4)

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his own soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul. (Mk.8:36)

In Ephesians 5 verses 15 and following the apostle Paul gets it, right, knows what details ought to be of first importance, so he writes . .

Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be foolish, but under stand what the Lord's will is.

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph. 5:15-20)

When Jesus sat upon that young colt and began to ride into Jerusalem , some of the people around him were wise enough to recognize the moment of their salvation. They began to shout, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”

Writes one commentator, Singing the psalms was a liturgical act repeated at every Passover and feast day. Every time the people worshipped, they worked through those psalms. Year after year, week after week, day after day they paid attention to the details of waiting, looking for a Savior. And when the Savior came, some were ready.

Are we? We know the details of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter vigil. We go thru these details year after year. Why do this again? Why slow down & not hurry on to Easter? It's true, what a wise, old architect once said, “God is in the details.” The excellence of good things is in the details.

The reason for Holy week is that it's the one week every year when we Christians take our eyes off all the daily stuff, the busy-ness of life, things urgent, calendars crowded, bills to pay, and focus our eyes, our hearts, our minds on the glory, the humility, the sacrifice the selfless love of a Savior for whom our salvation, our hope, our joy, our peace with God was the most important detail in His life.

Oh, to slow down and say, “Glory” – Glory be to Jesus, Who in bitter pains Poured for me the life-blood from his sacred veins.

Oh, for a week to slow down, not hurry too quickly to Easter & take time this week to remember, to reflect, to confess, to repent, to be renewed in our believing & saying: Grace and life eternal In Christ's blood I find; Blest be His compassion, Infinitely kind.

And the Good News is, once we've learned to look for Jesus, to look to Jesus, we will find him in every detail of life.