Making an Entrance

Mark 11:1-11

      We are familiar with big entrances, the Hollywood stars arriving in their limos to flashes and name calling. They arrive in their ridiculous dresses, often covering much less than is decent, with a suited man in tow. They walk up the carpet with plastic smiles and obligatory poses for the photographers. In a business driven by looks, looks are what get covered, both by the media and by makeup.

      The church is not exempt from grand entrances. Most often it is with big name ministries. Cameras flash, autographs given, TV footage captured, the focus shifted to the personality and not to Christ. But even normal people like us can make an entrance. We time our arrival to the event so that others are there first, that way when we arrive, the focus shifts to us. We are consistently late, signaling we think we are better than others, that our time is more important, that we are busier.

      Jesus’ arrival in Judaism’s capital city, Jerusalem, for the central religious ceremony of the year doesn’t come with much fanfare, at least not the normal kind. You would expect someone who was supposed to be setting up an alternative kingdom with political and territorial authority to arrive with an army to back up the claims. If Jesus is going to do that He needs more than a few crude weapons and twelve ill-trained followers.

      Jesus doesn’t arrive riding a military horse with army in tow. He doesn’t send His emissary to the ruler with conditions of surrender. He doesn’t gather His leading military men and disseminate the battle plan.

      Instead, we find Him walking in a crowd of common people, arriving a little late in the day, and riding a lowly donkey. Not exactly the picture of military might. No army is in tow. They aren’t even waiting outside the city for an ambush if surrender doesn’t happen. There is no Army, for the battle Jesus is going to fight and win is the battle against sin, the battle never before successfully won.

      The common people do their best to make it a grand entrance. They make a carpet of coats and branches for the donkey to walk on. They express their own hopes and dreams about Jesus’ mission in calls of celebration. They expect salvation to come as Jesus comes. It does, but not in the way they expected.

      Sometimes things don’t go as we expect. Often our hopes are not fulfilled. Disappointment is part of life. But perhaps we need a shift in perspective in those moments. If the people of Jesus’ day had known that He was going to solve the sin problem, I can bet there would have been a much larger crowd welcoming Him that day. I can bet all those who had been touched would have shown up to throw their weight behind His ultimate sacrifice. Their cries of rejoicing would have been much louder, probably filled with tears of gratitude.

Campfire

http://www.campfirestoriestv.com/blog/memories-made/

Proverbs 10:26

Growing up around camp fires, I learned to always try to sit upwind rather than downwind. On nights when the wind was gentle, the smoke would often shift without much notice catching us and stinging our eyes. Squinting helped, but nothing really took away the sting. But event the sting didn’t stop us from sitting around and poking, cooking marsh mellows and listening to the crackle.

We all have someone in our lives who gets lots of eye-rolls when they let us down again. They just can’t seem to rise to any challenge, even when given many chances to do so. They consistently fail to carry out even the most fundamental tasks. Their word is worthless. They promise, but never come through on their word.

We notice this most when we have “given them one more chance” one more time. We trusted them again in hopes that “this time will be different,” but it wasn’t. And they don’t really get how much it hurts us when they let us down. We really want them to succeed. In fact, we probably want it more than they do! Maybe that is part of the problem. We want their success more than they want it. We have more invested in them than they have invested in themselves. We care more than they care.

Our text tells us it is like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes. Neither of these experiences is pleasant. Each has its own pain. Once we have been hit by either feeling, we try to avoid it in the future. The burning is something you want to avoid.

So what is our text trying to tell us? Is it saying that we should not extend grace to those who let us down, the sluggards in our lives? I think it is telling us two things.

First, expect the disappointment if you extend grace. Don’t let it take you by surprise. One way of doing this is to not expect anything in return. Instead of lending money, give it freely without any obligation. If it is given this way, when it isn’t returned, you had no expectation of the return so you are not disappointed.

Second, and perhaps a more painful lesson is that you might have to let them fall. Rescuing them has not worked. If you don’t want the pain if disappointment, don’t extend the help. Give the grace of natural consequences. Let them experience the pain of their laziness. Don’t listen to their guilt-trips and emotional manipulation.