11 Apr “We Can’t Handle the Truth!” March 25, 2018
3/25/18 Luke 19:28-40 “We Can’t Handle the Truth!”
Here it is-almost Easter. This is Palm Sunday and we are upon the saddest week of the entire year for the whole human race. First there was great joy in Jerusalem. It starts out with a parade today to honor Jesus. But the joy of Jesus in a parade didn’t last long as this week progressed. He clears the Temple of money changers and the leaders plot to kill Him. Finally, Jesus is tried, beaten and then hung on a cross to die. On Friday He willingly gave up His life for us, for our sins. Little did we know that by Sunday morning Jesus would be back better than ever! So we start with a joyous celebration on this Sunday. Then we have a joyous celebration next Sunday as we see the promise of eternal life. It’s just the part between Sundays where we have some trouble. This is where you and I are today. We are in the midst of life and there is trouble all around us. The news media might say that it can’t get any worse but according to the Bible it’s going to get much, much worse. Therefore we have to learn to hang onto Jesus as tight as we can. Let’s see how we can survive and even thrive even though we know there is trouble ahead.
This morning I would like to start with a little story from Wayne Rice called ‘Only a Donkey.’ The donkey awakened, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he known such pleasure and pride. Then he proceeded to walk into town and found people by the well. “I’ll show myself to them,” he thought. But they didn’t notice him and kept on drawing water.
“Throw your garments down,” he said crossly. “Don’t you know who I am?” They just looked at him in amazement. Then someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move. “Miserable heathens!” the donkey muttered. “I’ll go to the market place where the good people are. They will remember me.”
But the same thing happened there. No one paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted up and down the street in front of the market place. “The palm branches! Where are the palm branches?” He shouted. “Yesterday, you threw palm branches!”
Hurt and confused, the donkey returned home to his mother. “Foolish child,” she said gently. “Don’t you realize that without Him, you are just an ordinary donkey?” And we are the same way. Just like the donkey that carried Jesus to Jerusalem, we are most fulfilled when we are in the service of Jesus Christ. Without Him we are nothing. According to Isaiah 64:6, without Him, all our best efforts are like “filthy rags” and amount to nothing. When we lift up Christ, however, we are no longer ordinary people but key players in God’s plan to redeem the world.
As we read this morning’s Scripture, the overall picture is that of a parade. It’s a festive celebration. I think that we have all seen parades. We can look on TV and see Presidential parades, Christmas parades, Thanksgiving parades and many more. Last weekend we had St. Patrick’s Day parades. People get together to watch something special pass. Sometimes they throw candy and things to the onlookers. We gather today just like they did in Jerusalem as they waited for the Messiah.
In a more symbolic sense, we Christians today like to line up for all the wrong reasons just like they did 2000 years ago. We have Pentecostals waiting so intently for the gifts of God and that they ignore the giver. We have evangelicals who tell us that if we say the right things we will get the blessings. We have so-called churches that don’t even believe in the Bible. We have those who tell us that no matter what we do, we can never lose our salvation after we have gained it. Others will tell us just the opposite. We seek holiness and expect the lost to just walk into our church. There are very few movements of Christianity that take into account the whole picture. We seem to get stuck on one little segment. Just think of the churches we would have if we could agree on things.
The Israelites were looking for a political ruler. They were so severely oppressed under Roman rule that they were looking for a political leader to lead them out of their misery. They already had a high priest so there was no need for another. The sad fact of the matter was that they were just as lost as we are today. Immediately after this morning’s reading we find that Jesus wept again. Good grief! These people, us, made the maker of the universe weep. This should tell us a lot about what was happening and is happening.
And what was happening was that Jesus was doing more miracles. He tells two of his disciples that they were to go to the village and get a colt or a donkey depending on the translation. And everything happened just like Jesus said. How did He know? And another miracle that He performs is that He rides this donkey that has never been ridden before. I would almost guess that we might have some riders listening today. And even if you are not a rider, you probably know how hard it is to ride an unbroken animal of any kind. But here is Jesus riding an unbroken donkey in a parade just like this animal had been ridden forever. I’ve got a feeling here that this donkey knows exactly who Jesus was. The donkey was way ahead of the people that were lining the streets and of many people we know today.
And this is not the first time God has used a donkey to get our attention. Do you remember the story of Balaam’s donkey? The donkey saw the angel three times and Balaam saw nothing. Finally the donkey talks to Balaam. Donkeys are not at all what we would call pretty like a great, sleek stallion. We might even say that they are ugly. These animals have the bad rap of being a little awkward and obstinate. But aren’t we the same way. We too are ugly, awkward and obstinate plus we don’t see very well. There is a true story of a school bombing in Central America several years ago. The children saw angels right before the blast and the angels told them to lie on the floor. They did as they were told and not one of the children was hurt. However, the adults couldn’t see the angels. We have too much garbage in our minds.
There is also a good side to a donkey. This donkey was available to be used. He was submissive as the owner had him tied up, the disciples led him and Jesus rode him. And donkeys are generally faithful to their master. As a matter of fact, it almost sounds like we could be talking about a lamb. It is amazing how God knows how to make and use His creatures whether they look pretty to us or not. And also the Scripture is being fulfilled here as told in Zechariah 9:9 where it’s foretold this riding of the donkey hundreds of years before it happened.
It’s interesting in that Jesus rides the lowly donkey. But what is even more amazing is that all the people still cheer and throw down palm branches even though He is on a donkey. Normally kings came on great horses. The people know what He has done and they love Him. He has been there for 3 years healing and helping others. They want Him to be their King. Otherwise, there would be no parade. Unfortunately, they do not get the whole picture. And as I mentioned earlier, we are the same way.
But it is not because Jesus had not prepared his audience for this. As I said, He had done all that He could do to show these people that He was the Messiah. And we are the same way. You have this book called the Bible. You read, maybe, and somewhat know it. You have pastors that help you with it. But you still get stuck and don’t see the big picture. And if you do not believe me, then listen to this. Here are some of the miracles that Jesus performed to prepare us and I will miss a few of them but many of the big ones are here.
In Luke 4:33 Jesus casts out an unclean devil. In Luke 5:2 He helped Simon Peter to catch so many fish that his net broke. In Luke 18:43 He made a blind man see. He also cleansed a leper, healed a Centurion’s servant, healed Peter’s mother-in-law, healed the sick in the evening, stilled the storm, sent the devil into the herd of swine, healed a paralytic, raised the ruler’s dead daughter, healed the hemorrhaging woman, healed two blind men, cured a devil-possessed dumb man, healed a man’s withered hand, cured a devil-possessed blind and dumb man, and fed the 5000 people. And I’m just getting warmed up.
Jesus walked on water, healed the Gentile woman’s daughter, fed the 4000 people, healed the epileptic boy, got the temple tax from the fish’s mouth, healed two blind men, made the fig tree wither, cast out an unclean spirit, healed a blind paralytic at Bethsaida, escaped from the hostile multitude, raised the widow’s son at Nain, healed the infirm bowed woman, healed the man of dropsy, cleansed the ten lepers, restored a servant’s ear, turned water to wine, healed the nobleman’s son of fever, healed an infirm man at Bethesda, healed the man born blind and raised Lazarus from the dead. And there are more. John tells us at the end of his gospel that Jesus did so many more miracles that could not be written down even if we used all the books in the world.
And this is just the beginning because He is still doing this today. We come from a society where we need proof of everything. Well, brothers and sisters in Christ, here it is. Jesus had well prepared these people and us as to who He is. For three years He had worked and worked for the people. It is no wonder that He wept. They didn’t get it.
And the world today must make him weep also. We have false religions all over the world. Everywhere we look we are to bow down to this statue or that. Women have to be covered up or persecuted. We are to pay homage to some man who lived in a cave and wrote a book of sayings or we will be killed. In this country we have people all over the place searching for the truth. But it has to be in line with the individuals perception of the truth or else. The truth my friends and neighbors in Christ is right in front of you. It has been here all the time. It has not changed. It will not change. The sad part of all this is that the people looking for the truth are blinded by the truth. It is just too good to be true. If we quote Jack Nicholson in the movie ‘A Few Good Men’, “You can’t handle the truth.”
Not too long ago I was at a church talking with one of people attending. This person said that we had to change what we are teaching. We have to change things so that it reflects what society tells us. If we don’t, our churches will die. I told him absolutely not. We need to start or keep preaching from the Bible. We have to allow God to shape the world to His ways and not the other way around. If we don’t do this, then we will lose our society.
If indeed this is where it ended, then we would all be in big trouble. But our God does not operate by our logic. Praise the Lord for that. As a matter of fact we should jump for joy about this. God has a plan and it includes us. If we look at Adam and Eve, we see that God loved them so much that He sacrificed his beloved animals so that they would have clothing. And this was right after they had sinned. God loved Sampson so much that He kept giving him second chances. Does anyone listening need a second, third or fourth chance? He loved David so much that He forgave his adultery. He loved Peter so much even though Peter didn’t really understand Jesus, still Jesus made him the head of His church. I could make an even longer list here than I had for the miracles of Jesus. The point is that it doesn’t end just because we don’t get it. It is not about us. It never has been and it never will be.
God will keep on trying and trying because He loves you that much. Even though it seems that our churches are becoming broken, He does not give up. Our country seems to be controlled by Satan and his demons. God will remain here working through His faithful. He gets tossed out of our schools but He still finds ways to win the children. He has also been working, building tremendous Christians in countries like Mexico, China and India to mention a few. Do not despair just because the newspapers want you to despair. God will win this war and you can count on that. As a matter of fact and I say fact, He has already won this war.
When Jesus wept, He wept for all of us. This is Palm Sunday. This was a day of great celebration. This was a day when everyone cheered. And I think that you can stop and cheer also. It is good to celebrate once in a while. And I can think of no better way to celebrate than to ask you this question. Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? If not then confess and ask Him to live in your heart. This morning He has shown you His truth. He has shown you your brokenness as if you needed to be shown just how broken you really are. And in spite of all of this He still loves you. And He promises to be with you through eternity. Jesus has another week ahead of Him on his way to the cross. It was a hard week for Him. We have a lifetime ahead of us. It will be a hard lifetime. But you can make it a lot easier on yourself, your family and loved ones if you ask Jesus into your life. He will lift your burdens no matter what they are, no matter who you are and that is a fact. Thank you Jesus for first loving us. Let’s pray.
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