What are we shouting about?

"And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
“ Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’" Matt.21:8-9

"Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” Matt.27:22-23

As we approach the final week of Easter, I would like us to think about two seemingly contrasting scenes here. I say, seemingly, because they really are showing us the same thing.

For those of us who have contemplated these verses, the absolute irony is stunning. It appears from the story that the very same people who were praising Jesus, laying down their clothes and spreading palm branches before Him, were the same who later shouted to Pilate that He should be crucified. And the question that keeps coming up in my mind when I read this is...what does that tell us about ourselves?

In other words...what am I shouting about?

Do I shout for the Son of God because I've seen Him do great miracles, who healed my body, who answered my prayer, who blesses me in every way...who gives me stuff? Or do I shout for the One who is the source of my constant joy, in spite of what lies before me? Yes, what am I shouting about?

Our expectations are very dangerous things; that is, if you can call them things. For they can blind our view of reality and often lead us to stumble on our journey of faith rather than clear the path set before us. For if our expectations of what we think should happen are not met, it can often lead to disappointment, despair, even anger and revenge. And what should be instructive about this is that our expectations of what God should do, or what He shouldn't do...for us or anyone else...in no way, effects reality.

Think about this...no one...not even Jesus' followers...understood what God's plan really was. Even though Jesus repeatedly told them that He would suffer and die and rise again, in their mind, they were expecting their "King" to enter Jerusalem and conquer all evil...which to them, meant the Roman Empire. Even when Jesus came back to them after His resurrection, we see them asking, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)

We also see Judas, who, after realizing Jesus was not going to fulfill his expectations, arrange to have Him turned over the chief priests (Read Matt.26:1-16). I mean...his Messiah talking about His burial and all, how could He! He was supposed to rescue Israel...not this talk about defeat. But are we really any different than Judas? That is, in our own human understanding of things? And do we see how our expectations cloud our vision of what God really wants to do in our lives?

Back to our two texts. First, we see crowds of people, worshiping, honoring Jesus as He is riding into the holy city, Jerusalem, on a lowly donkey. Their King has come, just as the prophets predicted! Finally, God was going to get those Romans! It's pay-back time! Finally...the pagan world would bow to their Jewish Messiah! And likewise, how often we come to Jesus because of a promise to make our lives better now, to solve an overwhelming problem, even make our problems go away. But then, when the circumstances don't change, maybe even worsen, we turn away from Him...He must not be the savior I was looking for...Get rid of Him!

I love the part in verse two of Hebrews 12, where it says, "Because of the joy awaiting him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame." This joy that He looked to...in spite of the suffering He would have to temporarily endure to realize it...in spite of the chastisement for our peace upon Him (Isa.53:5). Why would He do this? So that He could finish the race His Father set before Him. To proclaim the love of God to the world who rejected Him. For His joy was for our joy...so that we could have the full measure of His joy living in us! (John 17:13).

You may have noticed that I mentioned before that both of these scenes speak about the same thing. Well...they do. They tell us the same story. For in order for us to have joy, peace, and fulfillment, One must die in our stead. Someone must shout, "crucify Him!" for us to shout our praises to Him. And having died for us, in spite of us, we now have life...that is, His life in exchange for ours.

It's true, God's ways are not our ways...they are better ways. And His ways can be trusted, even when we don't understand them at the time. And our hope is not found in our circumstances, but in Him. And as He told His disciples that it was "to your advantage that I go away" (John 16:7)...it indeed was good. And it was good that He would be rejected in shame by the same people who praised Him in triumph...that is...by people just like us...for to us, because He did disregard the shame for joy, we can shout, Hallelujah! And now, because of the joy set before Him, we have this hope living in us that overcomes the world around us..."Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Rom.5:5) Amen.

God says, "Why not 'waste' a whole day on Me"

"And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28

We just hosted a leadership training last weekend at our church (via Satellite simulcast) and one of the speakers was Pete Scazzero, author of "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality" (Integrity, 2006) and "The Emotionally Healthy Church." (for more information about his ministry, go to his web site is http://www.center4ehs.org.)

One of the statements that he made that was so striking, because it is so true, is that we live in a culture that cannot sit still for any length of time, let alone a whole day! After all, we are busy, we've got important things to do! This is the "dance" of the North American culture; the flute is playing and we are called to join in the dance...and we do. We sing our favorite song, just do it! And I submit, this is especially true for Evangelical Christians. I ask you...have we not fallen into the trap of busy self-effort, (idle hands are the devil's workshop, you know!), and have we not equated our "drivenness" and the multitude of our busyness as a prized value of productivity and spirituality? Even our prayers are hurried monologues with God, full of our words (see Eccl.5:2-3). We prefer to create formulas and programs for success so we can do more. But, as Scazzaro points out, there is something we don't seem to know or value at all...and that is, "It is impossible to grow spiritually without silence and solitude."

This was a well known secret to spirituality in earlier times that's apparently lost on the Reformed, pragmatic thinking of the West. And even though Jesus said that Mary had chosen the "good part" (see Luke 10:38-42) by stopping and sitting at His feet, by our actions, we very much prefer the multi-tasking, distracted "Martha" world over this seeming "waste of time."

So what has this "Martha mindset" actually produced? I submit that it has not produced deeply spiritual Christians, but exhausted, burnt out, and stressed out ones...too often hanging onto their faith by a thread, having their spiritual vitality drained, living on fumes...and even for some, living off of the spirituality of others rather than their own. Bernard of Clairvaux considered this problem long ago and called it "The sin of sloth and laziness" because we "do not have the interior life to sustain our outer life." Considering this, no wonder there is so much moral failure in the church today!

Now, getting back to the text. Why did God give His people the Sabbath? Why was keeping the sabbath the fourth commandment and how does it apply to us today? Well, first of all, we need to understand the why. The word "sabbath" literally means "complete rest." In other words, sabbath means to deliberately do nothing. In the case of a keeping a Sabbath day, to do nothing for a 24-hour period.

Keeping our text from the Gospel of Mark in mind, that the Sabbath was made for man, I ask you, is this a bad thing? Is this some oppressive requirement to put us back into bondage of the Law? I like how Scazarro said it, "It's like having a 'snow day'" (in the Northern part of America, we well know what this means!)..."and God gave Israel 52 snow days right off the top!" You see, God knows our nature...that we will run ourselves right into the ground unless He makes a provision to force us to rest. But, again, let's not get legalistic and lose sight of the purpose here...It's for us! It's for our good!

So is Peter Scazzaro, and now I, suggesting that we do nothing for a 24-hour period of time each week? Yes, I am suggesting that. But I am only suggesting what God provided for us in the first place, long before the Law, that we "waste" a whole day of our busy week on God (which really means, for us). And because I know we will spend our time on what we value; I am really suggesting we look at our current values and make some adjustments...again...for our own good.

What Scazzaro suggests is that we take a whole day (24-hour period) to devote to four things: stopping, resting, delighting, and contemplating. I will very briefly explain here.

First we stop all our normal work activity; we turn off the cell phone, don't check our emails, put all our regular work away...we stop! We don't think about work, call work, or work on work! Got it? Next, we rest...turn off the alarm clock and wake up when we wake up! Take a nap...lay on the couch...go ahead! Third, we delight...now, remember, our first delight should be in the Lord, and we are to make the day holy, so our primary delight should be in the Lord. But also remember, this "sabbath" was made for you. So, do the things you love to do...read books, take a walk...do your favorite hobby. Remember, this is for your enjoyment! But also remember, it's not a work day or even really a family day where you busy yourself with domestic things. It's a "nothing" day! Then finally, contemplate...it's a time to be refreshed in the presence of the Lord...spent time in silence...not time with music or any other background noise, but in silence. If you can't do this at home, go to some remote place where you can.

One more thing that struck me about what Pete Scazzaro said. He lives in New York City and has learned some things from the Hasitic Jewish Rabbis there. He learned that they see their weekdays as leading up to the sabbath, which is the crescendo of their week! It's what they look foward to, long for, cherish, and protect (You know, kind of a like the 80's song, "Everybody's working for the Weekend!") And think about it...they give up, probably the most profitable retail day of the week...Saturday...just to waste on God. Nothing shows their values more than this. And I ask...what do our values show us about ourselves?

Okay, you may say..."But I don't have a day to waste." Oh really? And why is that so? And what will you really miss by "losing" that day? I say, let God show you this...test it out. I think you'll be surprised by how much more you will actually be productive, refreshed, and full of joy if you do this!

As far as which day, it's really up to you. For many people, it could be Sunday...they go to church (keeping the day holy) and do nothing the rest of the day. For me, that's a work day! So I am taking off Mondays (today). My wife is taking off Tuesdays (her day off). We do family and our "busy stuff" on Saturdays. So, having stopped, rested, contemplated, I am now "delighting" by writing this blog! And when I am done here, I will probably read a book...or maybe take a nap. Later, my wife and I may go out for walk. But whatever I do...be sure it will be restful.

You know what? I think God was pretty smart when He gave us these "snow days." After years of doing things my own way, I believe I will take Him up on His generous offer!