April 2017

April 30 2017

“The Way to Life: Fasting” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – April 30, 2017

codysandahl Sermons sermon

Sermons

"The Way to Life: Fasting" by Rev. Cody Sandahl - April 30, 2017

00:00 /

Lay Reader = Daniel 10:2-11

²At that time I, Daniel, had been mourning for three weeks. ³I had eaten no rich food, no meat or wine had entered my mouth, and I had not anointed myself at all, for the full three weeks. ⁴On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris), ⁵I looked up and saw a man clothed in linen, with a belt of gold from Uphaz around his waist. ⁶His body was like beryl, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the roar of a multitude. ⁷I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; the people who were with me did not see the vision, though a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled and hid themselves. ⁸So I was left alone to see this great vision. My strength left me, and my complexion grew deathly pale, and I retained no strength. ⁹Then I heard the sound of his words; and when I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a trance, face to the ground.

¹⁰But then a hand touched me and roused me to my hands and knees.¹¹He said to me, “Daniel, greatly beloved, pay attention to the words that I am going to speak to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” So while he was speaking this word to me, I stood up trembling.

Introduction

We are still in our series looking at how our spirituality can become the way to real life. We’ve looked at life-giving worship and life-giving prayer, and this week we’re looking at life-giving fasting. Now fasting doesn’t mean you’re a better sprinter, it means giving up something for a period of time. In fact, the word “breakfast” is two words – “break” and “fast,” meaning it’s the time you break your overnight fast.

Most of us get our experience with fasting mainly through Lent – there’s a long history of people giving up something for Lent – that’s a form of fasting.

There are many different kinds of fasts. One guy I knew told me quite proudly that he was fasting from dark chocolate because it was a temptation in his life. That’s good – you can fast from one specific thing. But he said this, of course, while he was holding a bag of MILK chocolate. Totally different. It was a very specific fast apparently.

And I know quite a few people who became interested in fasting because their increasing age made it harder and harder to maintain their weight. You get to do something Biblical while also staying inside your jeans. Win-win, right?

And then there’s the person – and if you saw the sermon teaser video, you know who it was – who fasted for FOUR days to try to get God to help fix a troubled dating relationship in high school. Find someone who watched the video this week and they can tell you who that was – trust me, it’s someone you know.

But when we heard about how Daniel fasted in our first text, he wasn’t doing it to swap out one temptation for another, and he wasn’t doing it to maintain his svelte figure, and he certainly wasn’t trying to manipulate God. And in our next text, Jesus agrees with Daniel that fasting has a very specific purpose.

Matthew 6:16-18

¹⁶“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Private Conversation with God

Back when I was in seminary, one of my classmates and his wife were really into Facebook. And when you’re using Facebook, you can send private messages so only that person can see what you write. Or you can send a message where the person and all your friends can see it – like a happy birthday note. Or you can send a message where the entire world can see it.

And knowing that, I always found it interesting when she would post something like, “I’m going to the store, what should I pick up?” And then he would reply, “We’re out of ketchup.” And then she’d ask, “Do we need more hamburgers?” And he would say, “No, we have plenty.” And why do I know all of this? Because they posted it for the entire world to see! I was always tempted to reply to their conversation and say, “Hey, can you pick me up some chopsticks while you’re there? I’d really appreciate it!”

That conversation was meant to be private, but they let it all out there for the world to see. And in the same way, Jesus says fasting is a private conversation between you and God. If you walk around grimacing and holding your stomach and moaning about how hungry you are, Jesus says your “reward” is people’s recognition about how awesome you are. That’s all you’re going to get out of it.

But if you keep it private, that’s when you can have a deep, meaningful conversation with God. It reminds me of the joke, “An atheist, a vegan, and a CrossFitter walk into a bar. I only know because they told everyone within two minutes.”

Fasting is meant to initiate a PRIVATE conversation with God. That’s what happened in our text from Daniel. Daniel didn’t eat rich food, meat, or wine, and he didn’t anoint himself with oil (so he probably didn’t smell so great back then), and he did that for three weeks. Notice he qualified it with no “rich” food – he was still eating something. Fasting doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing deal. So he fasted for three weeks, and what happened? He was standing on the bank of the great river Tigris, and he saw a vision. And then the angel in the vision touched him, brought him to his feet, and said, “Daniel, greatly beloved, pay attention to the words that I am going to speak to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.”

Wow! Can you imagine getting that message from God? Let me help you to your feet. You are greatly beloved. I have a special, intimate message for you. How would that affect your life if you heard that from God?

Well you can. That’s what fasting does. It prepares you for a private, intimate conversation with God. Do you want that kind of conversation with God?

Remove and Replace

But how does that work?

Well let me illustrate. My mom’s side of the family are notorious worriers. And their most common worry is “what are we eating at the next meal?” A close second is strange weather patterns, but the #1 worry is definitely food. When you finish lunch, before everyone has left the table someone will ask, “what are we eating for dinner?” It’s not because they’re hungry – they’re just worrying about the basic necessity of food.

I know in my household, meals can occupy a good bit of our mental capacity. The kids get hungry at 5, which means they’re grumpy at 4:30. And it’s hard to prepare a meal with a toddler hanging on your leg, so you have to plan ahead. And then we have to eat, too. And is it going to be something that everyone will like, or will Becca and I eat something different? You get the point.

When you fast, you’re removing something from your diet or from your life for a time. But that’s not all. You’re supposed to take the time you spent on the object of your fast and replace it with time listening for God’s voice. If you’re fasting at lunch, can you be alone, asking for God to speak? If you’re fasting from dark chocolate, ask God to speak whenever you have a craving for that sweet, succulent, yet slightly bitter taste of heaven. Sorry for tempting you if you’re on a dark chocolate fast.

When you fast, when you’re preparing for a private, intimate conversation with God, you remove something (you fast) and you replace it (you pray). That’s how NOT eating something can actually be the most nourishing thing for your soul. When you remove (you fast) and you replace (you pray), you are preparing for God to feed your soul, just as he did with Daniel on the banks of the Tigris river.

Do you want to nourish your soul? Do you want to hear from God in general, or even for some very specific question? How can you remove and replace? Where can you fast, and prepare yourself for a private, intimate conversation with God?

Practice

If you pick up the devotional that goes along with this sermon series, I give a four-step plan for giving fasting a shot. Step 1 – choose a spiritual purpose. Whether it’s a specific question or just a desire to hear from God, write down a goal. Step 2 – choose your fast. Is it all food? Is it certain foods like Daniel? Is it something that isn’t food? Write down your fasting format. Step 3 – choose your prayer. What will you do to replace your fasting with an opportunity to hear from God? Is it a certain phrase you’ll pray? Is it a place you’ll pray? Write down your prayer. And finally, Step 4 – choose an end point. This is both a time and a check-in. You’ll know you’re done when you reach your end point, but how will you know if you heard from God? How will you know if your spiritual purpose from Step 1 was met? Write down your end point.

I’ve done this for every major decision about where to be a pastor. Now, so far I’ve had a really good idea about where to go and where to NOT go before fasting. So my Step 1, my spiritual purpose, wasn’t for God to tell me where to go. No, my purpose was for God to whack me in the head and set me straight if I had the wrong idea of where he wanted me to go. My spiritual purpose was to give God a chance to change my wool-headed mind.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, sometimes NOT eating something can be the most nourishing thing for our souls. Fasting is way to prepare for a private, intimate conversation with God. And you do that by removing something from your life – edible or otherwise – and replacing that time with intentional prayer – listening to what God has to say.

Fasting isn’t about replacing one temptation with another – sorry dark chocolate fans. And fasting isn’t about losing weight. And fasting certainly isn’t about manipulating or bribing God.

Fasting is about removing distractions, even removing comfort, to make sure nothing stands between you and what God wants to say to you.

If you want to hear from the Living God, give it a shot. Maybe you’ll hear what Daniel did on the banks of the Tigris River: “You are greatly beloved, pay attention to the words that I am going to speak to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.”

April 16 2017

“The Way to Life: Worship” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – April 16, 2017 (Easter)

codysandahl Sermons sermon

Sermons

"The Way to Life: Worship" by Rev. Cody Sandahl - April 16, 2017 (Easter)

00:00 /

Lay Reader = Luke 24:1-11

¹But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they went in, they did not find the body. ⁴While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. ⁵The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.⁶Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” ⁸Then they remembered his words, ⁹and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

Introduction

We are starting a new series of sermons looking at the Way to Life. Starting next week we’ll have some devotionals to go along with the sermon series – ways to put it into practice on Tuesday, not just Sunday. It’s also on the sermons page of our website if you want to download it.

This series reminds me of my faith journey in college. I was studying computer science, but I had already been programming computers for ten years at that point so it wasn’t a lot of new info. Studying wasn’t a big time-drain for me. I had all the time in the world. I did have a job as the head programmer of a mid-sized company, so I had plenty of money. And when I combined tons of free time with lots of expendable income I found…the most boring era of my life. When I just lived for myself, I wasn’t truly alive, I was a bland cardboard-cutout of my former self. It was only when I reconnected with my faith that I recovered the vitality, the purpose for my life.

So in this series we’re going to be looking at the various ways we can practice our faith, and how those practices lead us to new life.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

¹⁵See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Expectant

Well it was many years ago, it was Halloween, and one guy was ruining it for everyone. When you go to a haunted house, you’re generally expecting to be scared, right? Well this guy was the “I’m too tough to be scared” guy – probably trying to impress the girl attached to his arm. But if you’ve ever been through a haunted house with “that guy,” you know that it kinda ruins your good time, too. At this particular haunted house, my dad was supposed to scare people with his chainsaw – the teeth were removed, so really it was just a big noisemaker, but you can’t tell that when it’s revved up. My dad was one of the last scary points in the haunted house, and he heard this guy coming. So he waited for the whole group to pass, ran up behind him, put the chainsaw between his legs, and RRRR! The guy dance/sprinted his way out of there shrieking at the top of his lungs. Definitely impressed his girlfriend.

When you go to a haunted house, you expect to be scared. In the Easter text today, the women went to the tomb expecting to find Jesus dead in the tomb. Instead they found two men in dazzling clothes standing in the tomb. That was probably scarier than a chainsaw between your legs – the text says the women were terrified. They expected to find death, but these two men in dazzling clothes told them they should have expected to find life. That Jesus was raised from the dead just as he had foretold.

The other text I read today from the Old Testament is also an expectation-buster. I mean, I remember when I was in high school I was trying to take my faith seriously. And what’s the big summary of how we’re supposed to live? The Ten Commandments, right? And the Ten Commandments are a whole bunch of stuff we’re NOT supposed to do. So I thought Christianity was mainly about restraining my impulses, having a giant checklist of things to avoid. I needed to REMOVE things from my life. Those parts of my life needed to die. But in this text, God doesn’t say that. He says, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life.” Our faith isn’t about death…it’s about life.

When you came here this morning, what did you expect to find? Before you got here this morning, how did you think you would feel AFTER worship? (LONG PAUSE)

By way of contrast, have you ever been to concert? Rewind back to the point where the opening acts are done, and the band or singer you came to see walks onto the stage. Did the crowd cheer? What did you expect? Were you on the edge of your seat, ready for the experience?

That’s kind of like what the early church expected when they came to worship on Sunday. They expected to hear from God. They expected God to do something in their midst. They expected to have a purpose for the rest of the week. They expected God to show up and they expected to be somehow different as a result. They didn’t expect to be bored. They didn’t expect their Sunday morning time to be meaningless. No, they expected their Sunday worship to be the most meaningful part of their week. They expected life.

And if worship is the most meaningful part of the week, then Easter is the most meaningful day of the year. I’m a geek in general, but I’m a space geek especially. If scientists found evidence of life on Mars or Europa, it would be the biggest news of our lives. But the good news of Easter far surpasses that. I mean, if they discovered microscopic organisms in the depths of Mars would that affect your daily life? Not unless you’re an exobiologist.

But before Easter, some Jews had a theory that there was life after death. That death wasn’t the end of the line. But when Jesus rose again, their theory was confirmed. THAT good news affects every human on the planet – and since I’m a space geek, let’s be inclusive and say it affects those orbiting the planet, too. It affects us because everyone dies. But thanks to Easter we know that’s not the end of the story. That changes everything!

If you are guaranteed that your personal story doesn’t end in death, but in life, how does that change things? When you are suffering, does it give you hope to know that your suffering isn’t the last chapter? When you are feeling blessed, does it excite you to know that your blessings today won’t hold a candle to the blessings God has in store for you?

That certainly gives me hope, but I think we have an even better hope through Jesus. Because elsewhere Jesus said that he came that we might have life and have it to the fullest. We should expect life even after death. But we should also expect life NOW. WE should expect to hear from the Living God. We should expect to find purpose and passion in our faith. We should expect life!

What do you expect from your faith? What do you expect when you come to worship? Do you expect to hear from the Living God? Do you expect to be more alive? Do you expect to get a clearer glimpse of your purpose? Those are valid expectations.

Worship = True Life

I guess the real question is “how?” How is worshiping Jesus going to make you more alive? How are you going to get a clearer glimpse of your purpose? How are you going to hear from the Living God?

That’s where I find the various stories about Jesus after his resurrection to be very interesting. The women in our text today – they were on their way to serve. To properly anoint Jesus’ body after death. Serving was their thing. And through their act of service, they found life.

Right after this text in Luke, Jesus appears to two of the disciples who were doing their thing – walking and talking with a good friend. Through their relationships, they found life.

Another time Jesus appears after they went fishing. Through their fishing, they found life.

Still another time Jesus appears when they were studying Scripture. Through their study of the Bible, they found life.

What is life-giving for you? Is it hiking? Is it biking? Is it fishing? Is it building? Is it friendships? Is it study? Is it music?

God made you a particular way. He made you to resonate with some of those activities. And he made you that way so that he could talk to you through it. One of the best ways to hear from the Living God is by listening to him while you’re doing something life-giving, because he made you that way.

Brother Lawrence was a monk in France in the 1600’s. And he found that God spoke to him quite frequently when he was doing the dishes at the monastery. When he did this common business – nothing great, just a simple and common task – and when he did it intentionally with the love of God in mind, that’s when God spoke to him. Over the dirty dishes. That was life-giving. And because he heard God in the kitchen, he heard God even more in worship on Sunday. He expected life, and he found it.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, Easter is the most life-altering news ever. Because it means that death isn’t the end. That doesn’t just affect the exobiologists studying Mars, that affects us all. We should expect life.

But that expectation isn’t limited to life after death, it also applies to life today. Our faith isn’t meant to make us deader to the world, it’s meant to make us more alive. It’s meant to make turn us into the best version of ourselves. The version God created you to be. How he wired you. That’s life.

So how can you listen for the Living God in the midst of life-giving things? And how can you set aside whatever is actually making you deader? How can you expect life this week? Amen.

April 9 2017

“Landscapes of Lent: Palms” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – April 9, 2017

codysandahl Sermons sermon

Sermons

"Landscapes of Lent: Palms" by Rev. Cody Sandahl - April 9, 2017

00:00 /

Introduction

We are still looking at the different landscapes in Jesus’ journey toward the cross. We’ve looked at ashes, the wilderness, water, wind, mud. Now we see the final landscape – the palms waved by an energetic and expectant crowd. We already heard the story. We have our own palms. But as the crowd shouted to Jesus, they took their cues from our other text today, Psalm 118.

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

¹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! ²Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” ¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. ²⁰This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. ²¹I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. ²²The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. ²³This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. ²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. ²⁵Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! ²⁶Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. ²⁷The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar. ²⁸You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you. ²⁹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Can I Get a Helping Hand?

In my previous church we had a week-long family camp, and part of the festivities involved a shortened triathlon. Swimming, biking, and running. When the high schoolers heard I was going to do it this year, they were sure I was going to clean up – smoke everyone – win big. To which I replied, “I…wouldn’t hold your breath on that.”

If it had been running and basketball and computer programming, watch out. But the problem was the swimming and the biking. At this point I hadn’t swum any kind of distance since swim team in elementary school. And I hadn’t been on a bike since middle school. I just didn’t want to over-train, you know.

I also didn’t exactly come prepared – no goggles for the open water swim. No bike – had to borrow one from the camp. But I had running shoes, so there’s that.

We gathered at the start for the swim, I awaited my group’s start time, and then SPLASH! Into the water. I didn’t trust my goggle-less navigation skills so I went with the breast stroke for starters. But you know after a while that gets tiring. So I rolled over to do some back stroke. And then I decided to chance that freestyle after all. On and on and on I went. I had to keep switching strokes because my muscles hadn’t been swimming in…a couple of decades. And so at about the 3/4 mark I realized that I wasn’t as young as I used to be. I couldn’t just jump in and do well. I wished I had some goggles. Or some floaties. Or a boat.

It didn’t get any better after that, either, because on the opening leg of the bike I saw that either the land was getting taller or my bike seat was getting lower. I had to fix the borrowed bike in the middle of the race. At least that gave me an excuse for my bad overall time on the race.

Now contrast my experience with one of the high schoolers. Unlike me, he rode his bike a lot, so he was good there. But he hadn’t done anything like an open water swim. Whereas I decided to just jump in and hope for the best, he decided to endure the derision of his peers and wear a life jacket. In a real race you can’t do that, but at a family camp it’s all good. And you know what? He never got tired. Because the life jacket was carrying his weight – he just had to propel himself forward. While I was struggling, he was scooting along in the water.

He realized that he was going to need some help. He planned accordingly. And he did great. I tried to pretend that I was going to be able to handle it on my own, and I struggled mightily.

Hosanna

Our Psalm today says, “save us, we beseech you, O Lord!” The crowd as Jesus enters Jerusalem shouts, “Hosanna,” which means “Save us!” They were excited because they knew they were in trouble. They knew they needed saving. And here came the man they thought would save them!

So I wonder, do you need saving? Do you need help? Could you use a life vest on a long swim, but you’re pretending that you’ll make it on your own?

That’s not always an easy question to answer for us. I mean almost everyone – not 100% but almost everyone in this room has access to enough food and water and adequate shelter. You know we work with our partner churches in Zimbabwe, and they told us needed access to water. So we’re building wells. That’s pretty easy to understand. Or when there’s a snowstorm at night, it’s pretty obvious that shelter is an issue for the homeless persons who are in our area.

So for almost everyone in this room, the basic necessities to live are taken care of. You have to move further up the hierarchy of needs to find a problem area. What about safety? We found out at my previous church that one of our maintenance employees couldn’t afford to do maintenance on his own home because he was having to support three generations of his extended family. It was dangerous at his house. Sadly ironic. We had no clue. When we finally found out, we helped him fix up the place a little bit.

Or maybe it’s not a house thing, maybe it’s a dangerous, damaging, or abusive relationship. That’s a threat to your safety. Are you trying to swim alone with that? There are life vests available, but someone has to know.

Maybe instead of safety you are in need of love or belonging. Maybe you’re all alone. Or maybe you feel alone or forgotten or taken for granted in your marriage. I often tell couples that one of the biggest warning signs in a marriage is an internal feeling of bitterness. When you feel that creeping in, it’s a blinking neon sign like on the Las Vegas strip saying “Get help now!”

Maybe instead of love you are in need of feeling confidence, feeling that you matter, that you have worth. Are you wondering if anyone would really care if you’re gone? Do you feel that your employer sees you as a number or a cog in the machine? Do you feel that everyone is always looking for what you’re doing wrong?

Or maybe you have your physical needs met, your world is decently safe, you have a sense of belonging, you feel respected and valued. But you lack purpose. Or you think you could do better, or be better, but you’re not there. You have a sense of your potential, but you’re only firing on two cylinders right now.

Do you have any physical needs? Do you have any safety concerns? Do you feel a lack of love or belonging? Do you feel disrespected, devalued, taken for granted? Do you feel aimless or like you’re not using your potential? Where do you need saving? Where do you need to shout “Hosanna” to Jesus as he rides by on a donkey?

Getting Help

I like to ask people how I can pray for them specifically. I would much rather pray for their cousin Justin who is going through a rough time in his marriage than praying for God’s blessing generally. And I’m surprised how frequently people don’t have anything for me to pray. Everything’s fine right now. I think some of that is an unwillingness to share. And some of that is probably just thinking narrowly. Because I doubt that so many people have every physical need, they’re safe, feel a sense of belonging, feel respected and valued, and are maximizing their potential in life. And I REALLY doubt that applies to them and everyone they know. There are far more needs in our world for that many people to feel maximally blessed and on top of the world.

It reminds me of when I was a kid, and we were at my friend’s house one summer afternoon. And his house had a deck that stretched out over Lake Austin, so you could jump off his deck and land in the water maybe fifteen feet below. So we liked to play outside on the deck, watching for boats to pass by. And then we would run at top speed, leap onto the top of his deck railing, and fly into the air doing flips and twists and other tricks for the passing boats. Great way to pass a summer day. But one time I was swimming underneath his boat dock to get to the ladder so I could go back up for another jump, and the waves from the passing boat picked me up and bumped my head against the dock. It hurt a little bit, but I kept climbing the ladder and asked my friend if he was ready for another jump. He looked at me strangely, pointed to my head, and said, “Umm…you’re kinda bleeding…a lot.” That was my first clue that I needed help. When I touched my head and it came away crimson, that was my second clue. And when his mom came outside and started shrieking in fear, that pretty well solidified it.

Left to my own devices, I would have just jumped off the dock again, unaware that I was bleeding profusely. You can’t get help if you don’t know there’s a problem. You can’t get help if you won’t ADMIT there’s a need. If you aren’t willing to shout “Hosanna,” you’re going to be on your own.

My mom is a counselor, and she often has people come to her for help because they’re feeling like they can’t get everything done in a day. They have a purpose, a direction. They know what they’re supposed to do. They have lists upon lists. But they can’t get it all done. Do you know what her first question is? “How much sleep do you get each night?” And usually it’s 2, or 3, or maybe 4 hours on average. And her reply shocks them, “You can’t get everything done on that little sleep. You’ll be more productive if you’re rested.” It’s counter-intuitive, but it works every time. They never would have thought of that on their own.

If you aren’t willing to shout “Hosanna,” you’re stuck with your own solutions to your problems. You might miss out on the counter-intuitive solution someone else can provide.

Where do you need saving? Where do you need to shout “Hosanna” to Jesus as he rides by on a donkey?

Jesus is the Solution

Of course, we know the great irony of Palm Sunday. This crowd that knew they needed saving, this crowd that shouted “Hosanna” on Sunday was the same crowd shouting “crucify him” on Friday. This crowd thought Jesus was the solution on Sunday, but they thought he was the problem on Friday. What happened?

Well they knew they needed saving, but they didn’t know the true problem. They thought they needed saving from Roman oppression, but they didn’t realize they needed saving from their own hearts. They thought they needed a revolutionary, but they didn’t realize they needed forgiveness from God. When Jesus’ solution didn’t match their expectations, they were done with him. It would be as if someone heard they needed more sleep from my mom, and they decided, “Well I’m not going to do that! I’m just going to keep working harder and staying up later!” The crowd didn’t trust Jesus’ solution.

Once we have admitted our need, once we have shouted “Hosanna,” we then have to trust that Jesus is the solution. And his solutions are rarely what we expect. His solutions are rarely WHEN we want. So the question is, will you continue to trust that Jesus is the solution when it’s taking a long time, or when it’s going off in a different direction than you wanted? Or will you take things into your own hands like the Jerusalem crowd? I’ve done it plenty of times, trust me.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, almost all of us have our basic necessities taken care of. But we all have reasons to shout “Hosanna” to Jesus as he rides by on a donkey. It might be safety. It might be feeling loved or a sense of belonging. It might be respect or value. It might be purpose or fulfillment. We all have reasons to shout “Hosanna.” But we have to be willing to admit it.

And once we admit it, do we have the faith to trust that Jesus is the solution even when his way is so different than ours? When his timing is so different than ours?

Shout “Hosanna.” Don’t just whisper it. Shout “Hosanna.” Amen.