“Jesus, Rule over Me” (2)
Mathew 21:1-11
In the Armenian sermon, we
looked at two groups, the crowd and the religious people. I wonder
if they understood who Jesus was.
-How about the disciples? Can we learn anything
from their conduct?
They were very happy. They had been looking forward
to this moment. They knew that the Messiah
was here. They were shouting “Hosanna,
save us.” They obeyed Jesus by going
and finding the donkey. Not only that, they put their garments on
the donkey. I think they were also part of that crowd who said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from
They were full of enthusiasm.
They were excited. Yet, their
excitement vanished in the next days. Unfortunately, many come to Jesus
only by excitement. “I feel good and I come to see Jesus.” We can not worship
God only by emotions and feelings. Although emotions and feelings are also
God’s creation, yet we worship God with
commitment. Disciples were confused when they found that the Son of
David they were anticipating was completely different.
Do you remember Aren Balabanian’s sermon "Not
Whom I Thought He Was". Aren stressed one
point. We picture Jesus in our head, and we have certain expectations from him.
He was giving the example of John the Baptist. His expectations were even
biblical. But the timing was not right. We need to be careful. God acts in His
time with His methods. He does not ask for our permission. “ ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.”
(Isaiah 55:8).
When our expectations are not fulfilled, we give up. This is exactly what happened with the disciples. They
had envisioned Jesus as the Messiah- the knight with a horse. He can not be crucified;
he can not wash their feet; he can not say "Father, forgive
these people, because they don't know what they are doing" (Luke
23:34). Their excitement were finished and on Thursday
night after Jesus’ arrest, they scattered disappointed and confused.
How are you feeling this morning? Are you disappointed
from God?
I want to learn about Jesus.
I want to celebrate the Palm Sunday parade.
Let us go back to the donkey. Perhaps we can learn
something from this animal.
-The best thing that happened
to this animal was that it allowed Jesus to ride. Here is my message to you. Do you allow to Jesus to “ride” on you?
In other words, do you allow
Jesus to rule over you? Who is in
control of your life? Who is your King?
What do I mean by riding?
A- To be a servant
of the Lord, you need to be meek and
humble.
B- To be a servant
of the Lord, you don’t have to worry who
gets the credit.
C- To be a servant
of the Lord, you put the bridle in His hand.
He leads and you listen and obey.
Once I heard from Pastor Paul
Sheppard say, “If you see a bumper sticker saying, ‘God is my co-pilot’
you need to erase the co prefix.”
God is either your pilot or not at all. God can not be CO-PILOT. You
have to give the steering wheel to God’s hand which means you need to be led by Him.
D- To be a servant
of the Lord, you cannot be distracted by
the voices of the crowd. This
crowd can praise you one day and crucify you next day. The majority is not
always right.
E- To be a
servant of the Lord, means that you take the Good News of the gospel to people that you don’t like.
F- To be a servant
of the Lord means that you will never
say to Jesus “Get off my back. You are too heavy.”
Remember Jesus asked us to
take the yoke. This is not any kind of yoke. This is HIS YOKE. We read in
Matthew 11:30 “For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light.” His yoke is “sweet” in
the Armenian translation. Why? Because he takes our burdens on
his shoulders. He carries the yoke with us. If you think carefully, you
will ask “Who is carrying who?”
If we say Jesus is too heavy,
his yoke is too heavy, I think we are wrong. Because in reality Jesus is the one
who is carrying us. If you feel HE
is heavy, Jesus is not the one who is heavy; it is our burden,
and your sins that are heavy. The Good News is that Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
One night I dreamed I
was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed
across the sky.
In each scene I noticed
footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times
there was one only.
This bothered me because
I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to
the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that
during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of
footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have
you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The
years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I
carried you.”1
Can we learn from the
donkey? Maybe you are insulted this
morning. I am sorry. But donkeys are wonderful animals and I don’t know why we
make fun of them always. (As big as a donkey, eshou chap, donkey’s head eshou keloukh?). Maybe donkeys are stubborn, and when someone
is stubborn, we use these words.
Let us summarize:
The crowd cheered, but it did
not last.
The religious leaders tried
to stop him and silence him. They failed.
The disciples were excited
but that did not last long.
Even the donkey was
disappointed when he thought he was the center of attention!
What can we learn?
Jesus is entering to the
Ask yourself, “Where am I? Do
I listen and obey my Lord Jesus and his teachings. Does my faith have any
substance? Am I just emotional?”
Well, it is time to take
action. Join me by saying, “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord!”
“Jesus, rule over me.”
Amen.
1 “Footprints in the Sand” by Mary Stevenson, 1936