April 4, 2020
Yes, our separation from one another is now extending through Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter. We at Zion Church and most people in our world are living through one of the most challenging trials in human history. From a wide variety of communication sources, we are being bombarded with humor and horror, maturity and madness, faith and fear, selflessness and self-centeredness, conviction and confusion.
As I was writing this note, a man rode by our home sitting on top of his car through his sunroof playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” on a trumpet. A moving and inspiring expression of faith! Ultimately, we need to look beyond one another to the Lord and his Word for encouragement and hope, where that classic jazz tune directs our attention. This week, we can appropriately consider the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry on the first Palm Sunday:
When [Jesus] had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples and said, “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”
So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
“The Lord needs it,” they said.
Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it. As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road. Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!
Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.” – Luke 19:28-40
I have often been intrigued by Jesus’ declaration that the stones would cry out to him if the disciples kept silent. The current crisis seems to be silencing us by blocking our gatherings for worship and the proclamation of the Word. In truth, our worship and his Word cannot be silenced any more than the stones could be silenced that lined the path into Jerusalem as Jesus reached the climax of the journey to his cross and crown. He walked through monumental trials as he reached his eternal triumph.
Peter beautifully used the image of stones in his first letter, figuratively giving them life:
“As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 2:4-5
Jesus gave us another magnificent image of himself as our Rock:
“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.” – Matthew 7:24-25
As your life is pummeled in so many ways during these days of trial, may you realize to the core of your being that you are a living stone built on the Rock, Jesus. Later, in the same letter quoted above, Peter told his readers not to be surprised by the fiery ordeal they faced (1 Peter 4:12). He was referring to the persecution of the early Christians, but we can equally expect plenty of hardships in this fallen world. Jesus will carry us through this storm, and in the end bring triumph out of our trials!
Blessings,
Pastor Steve