12-5-2021

 Good Morning All!

Luke 19:39-40; “And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”  He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

    This is a short ending to the story of Jesus and his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. There were a few Pharisees there to observe Jesus. The people were praising God and calling Jesus the Messiah. The Pharisees told Jesus to tell them to be quiet. They may have been jealous of Jesus. They may have felt that what was going on was blasphemous. They may have feared that this kind of talk in the crowded city, full of religious Jews for the Passover, might spill into a riot and bring down the full fury of Rome. For whatever reason, the Pharisees did not want to see this parade go on.

    Here we see an interesting juncture in our story. We see one parade, but we see two reactions. Some of the people were praising God and calling Jesus the Messiah. On the other side of the street, we have the Pharisees trying to put an end to it. Isn’t that the way it always seems to occur? There is always someone opposing Jesus; there is always someone on the other side.

    Much of this relates back to when Jesus was in the wilderness and tempted by Satan. If you remember that incident, you may also remember the chilling end in Luke: “he (the devil) departed from him until an opportune time.”  This may have been one of those opportune times. Jesus’ entry to this celebration would have been a heady experience; ask anyone who has been cheered when their name is announced. Perhaps the devil wanted this parade to change routes or be a different parade.

    This is an experience which we, as followers of Christ, can experience as well. The devil will use someone to try and impact our parade, our journey following Christ. It might be someone in your church, who means well, but always seems to cause a ruckus about all sorts of stuff which really has no meaning. We started the morning singing God’s praises together in unity and now we are split and bickering over nothing; our parade is going the wrong route. Maybe it is that person who you work with who is kind to you and listens and agrees that “your spouse doesn’t understand anymore.”  Soon your vows of faithfulness begin to wane, and you are heading down the wrong parade route.

     Sometimes we see our life just spin out of control; health, wealth, friendships, family can disappear in a blink of an eye. Somewhere, in the back of our mind, the devil whispers,” it is all God’s fault” and we are heading down the wrong parade route. Maybe we just slid into a comfortable stage of “not needing church” and “all the religion stuff.”  Our attendance slides: our prayer life dries up and soon we are in the wrong parade.

     The parade that Jesus leads goes to heaven, and this is the only parade that does. All the other parades are the wrong one. Yet we take great comfort in the knowledge that Jesus died for us and gives to us the safety of following him on his parade. We need only follow him, trust him to guide us to our heavenly home. You are in a parade; be sure it is the right one.

Dearest Lord Jesus, you rode into Jerusalem to bring about the defeat of death and the devil. Then you gave that victory to us. We give you thanks and ask that you aid us as we travel in our parade to follow you as we go. In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret