I've decided that since it was my birthday, I'll
just pick whichever illustration I like for this
morning. And today, what I had on my mind was
the book The Hobbit. Maybe you've heard of it.
Maybe a few of you have heard of it. And for
the rest of you, well, you're still stuck listening
to it. So there you go. But just to give you
a really brief short version, there's this small,
very comfortable guy named Bilbo Baggins who
gets pulled into an adventure with a group of
dwarves, as we all do, of course. and they're
trying to reclaim a mountain full of treasure
from a dragon. And along the way, they face all
kinds of dangers, but the real problem doesn't
really show up until the dragon has already been
defeated. Because once the treasure is finally
within reach, everybody starts to change. The
dwarf king who had gone after it starts hoarding
and starts gripping with all he has because the
dwarves want it. But the men in the nearby village
want it as well. And the elves from far away
want their share as well. You see, as much as
they spent so much of this time pursuing what
they thought would fix everything for them, almost
tore them apart. And even when Bilbo ends up
coming along and takes the most important treasure
of the story, the arkenstone, the one that's
supposed to belong to the dwarf king, he gives
it away because it's the only way to stop a war
from happening. And it raises this question,
what if the very things that we think will fix
everything are actually not... what we need the
most. What if the things that we cling to are
actually sometimes the things that will harm
us? Because when we come to Palm Sunday, that's
exactly what we end up seeing happening. The
people see Jesus coming into Jerusalem and they
think, this is it. This is the moment where everything
gets fixed. Our nation will finally be complete.
We will finally have the authority and the position
we were always meant to have. We will finally
get rid of all these people that are plaguing
us that we don't want them in our area. The people
see Jesus coming into Jerusalem and they think,
this is it. This is the moment. But what they're
expecting and what Jesus is actually bringing
are not the same thing. See, to understand that,
we need to step back. Because Palm Sunday, it's
not just this moment we need to understand. This
is the climax of things that have been happening
for centuries throughout scripture, over and
over, when we understand what's been going on.
It starts with Abraham 4 ,000 years ago. You
see, with Abraham, there was nothing built. that
would be seen as this kingdom of Israel. There
was no nation. There was no set of laws. There
was no temple. Just a promise made to one person
in a calling. Go to the land that I will show
you and I will make you a great nation. That's
it. Faith is simple. It's relational. It's portable.
A tense and a voice. And then five centuries
later, you see Moses come along. And with Moses
comes a structure, okay? Laws, tabernacle, priesthood.
You see now the faith in God himself, it has
bones to it. It has something that people are
holding onto. It can be taught. It can be organized.
It can be preserved. But it doesn't stop there.
There's still more to go. Because David, another
five centuries after that, comes with a kingdom
and kings. A capital up on a mountain. A sense
of permanence. This is the moment where finally
everybody feels like things are established,
even as his son Solomon builds the temple. And
here's the key to this. None of these things
are really bad. God has given them all these
things as a part of being his people, but over
time something happens. The people begin to lean
on the gifts instead of leaning on the God who
gave them. The temple, it became their sense
of security all by itself. Their identity, being
the people of God, became something that they
had pride in. The worship was not about what
was happening inside of them, but rather what
things looked like on the outside. And what was
meant to point people to God became something
that they started to depend on instead of Him.
And if we're being completely honest, We don't
just live in systems that do this. We do this
in our own hearts. How we miss what it is that
God is doing because we are so focused on the
place where He is doing it. We have missed that
God has been proclaiming His Word through this
place, through these people, and instead we focus
on making sure that everything is set up exactly
the way we want it to be. And this is where the
first part of the book of Isaiah speaks. When
we look at chapters one through 39, we've been
spending the last few months looking at Isaiah
in our Sunday school and seeing what it is that
God has been doing. Because on the surface of
this section, everything still looks like it's
intact. The temple is there. The kings are there.
The rituals are happening. But underneath it
all, there is injustice. idolatry, hollow worship,
like finding a mountain full of treasure with
the king in tow only to discover that the king
you were looking to help was actually just in
it for himself anyway. From the outside, it looks
glorious, but inside, something is already going
very wrong. And then five centuries after David,
everything collapses. The people are exiled.
They lose their land. They lose their power.
They lose their position. They lose everything.
The temple is destroyed. The king is gone. The
land is lost. Everything they trusted, it's gone.
And here's the hard truth from Scripture is that
sometimes, sometimes God allows the things that
we rely on to be shaken so badly, not because
He's trying to destroy us, but because He wants
us to let go and come back to Him. Because we
keep trusting things that cannot hold us while
God is bringing us back to Himself through the
servant who can. See, right there, in that moment
of collapse, there is a new voice there. saying
comfort, comfort my people. This is not the kind
of comfort that comes from getting the riches
of the treasure you thought you wanted that all
of a sudden when you have it and you pause and
you say, what was that for? What's next? This
is something deeper. This is God Himself saying
that this did not happen because I failed you.
This is not because I, the Lord your God, did
not somehow live up to my promise. This happened
because you trusted in the wrong things. And
then he reveals something new. Salvation will
not come through the kings or your systems or
your power. It will come through my servant.
Everything that you thought you knew is on its
head. It says, the Lord God has given me the
tongue of one who is taught. Morning by morning,
He awakens my ear to listen. This is not just
learning something out of a book. How many people
have ended up going through their confirmation
and their catechism, making sure that they memorized
every single fact without realizing it's not
about what's in here as much as what is changing
inside of here. Because this... is about a life
shaped by listening and learning. Morning by
morning, step by step, I did not turn back. I
gave my back to those who strike. Because this
is not the king acting triumphant because of
something to proclaim in some gaudy way upon
an overt throne. This is someone who stays faithful
when it costs everything. Because this servant
is doing what Israel was supposed to do, but
could not. Listening. Trusting. Obeying. Enduring.
Perfectly. And if we want to understand what's
happening inside of this servant, because we
clearly don't understand it from our own experience,
we get a window into it from Philippians 2. Have
this mind among yourselves, which is yours in
Christ Jesus. Who though he was in very nature
God did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped But empty himself Taking the form
of a servant becoming obedient to the point of
death even death on a cross Not the form of a
servant as if he's just acting like one the form
of a servant because he is one and He doesn't
grasp This is not a king trying to cling to a
stone that he thinks will give him authority.
Or an adventurer clinging to a ring that he thinks
will help him to hide. This isn't about seizing
what someone thinks will give them power. This
is about letting go. This is the exact opposite
though of what we do. We grasp for control of
things. We cling to what we think is going to
secure us and everything that we wanted We reach
for the treasures that are right in front of
us that glitter the things that either we can
touch and hold Maybe the ideas that we think
will somehow protect us Maybe the people that
we think will never fail us, but Jesus releases
everything He humbles Himself. He becomes a servant.
He walks the path of obedience all the way down.
Because it is only then that God lifts Him up.
This is the pattern of the Kingdom. Not grasping,
but surrender. Not climbing, but humbling. Not
seizing, but trusting. And that is the King who
rides into Jerusalem. because the crowd is shouting,
Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord, because they think that the system
is about to be restored. Their kingdom is coming
back. The power that they had is returning. Everything
that they thought that Judas Maccabeus had done
for them that he had failed to do, oh no, this
is finally going to fix everything. But Jesus
is not coming to restore what they expect. He
doesn't seize the power. He doesn't secure the
control and frankly. He doesn't even bother to
protect himself He rides in knowing exactly where
this is going to lead to suffering rejection
across And within days the same voices are shouting
hosanna Will then shout crucify him? Not just
completely different people Very difficult to
believe none of them are the same. But why? Because
He is not giving them the treasure that they
wanted. He's giving them something deeper. Because
that's what's striking is that Jesus does not
fix the systems that we cling to. He re -centers
everything around Himself. It's not come back
to the structure that you felt comfortable with.
It's follow me. Go. Trust. walk with me." The
temple? Fulfilled in Him. The law? Fulfilled
in Him. The identity of all God's people, including
ourselves, centered on Jesus. And after Him?
The early church was not rebuilding one central
system. It spread. It traveled throughout. Homes,
relationships, communities. Faith being relational,
spirit -led, portable. But this is where it also
comes close to home for us. Because let's be
honest about history ever since the early Church.
Because we start to see an old pattern happening
again. The Roman Empire fell even as the Church
took its position of power. The church strengthened
its authority as the main place of learning and
knowledge. The Reformation let us know that there
were flaws within the church as people began
to question its authority. And even now, postmodernism
shows that people are not willing to believe
any authority, only the things that they give
meaning to themselves. Things get built. People
trust them. They begin to replace God. and eventually
everything falls apart. And if we're honest,
it does feel like things are kind of shaking
all around us today. The institutions that we
have feel less stable. There are certainties
that feel a little less certain. Things that
people used to rely on, people that people used
to rely on, they don't feel quite so solid anymore.
And that can be unsettling as we keep looking
for more and more as the major shift is happening
in our world around us. But scripture gives us
a lens. Maybe all of these things that we're
dealing with, maybe they're not the end of faith.
Maybe this is actually meant to be a moment where
Christ is re -centering us back on himself. back
to the one who holds us. Because let's be honest,
everything that the servant does in Isaiah 50,
we have failed to do it. We're supposed to. We
don't. We don't always listen. We turn back when
it's hard. We try our best to avoid suffering.
We complain whenever we can't. And then we grasp
for what we can control. But Jesus didn't. He
listened perfectly. He obeyed completely. He
did not turn back. And he endured the suffering
that took him all the way to the cross, where
he carried everything that we could not. And
he became the servant that we were meant to be.
And he became it for us. This is not just to
be an example for us. This is the salvation we
need because you are not saved by how well you
are following. If you were, that would be the
end. You are saved because He followed perfectly.
And because of that, when all these other things
keep shaking all around us, He is not someone
who gets shaken. He is the only one who can hold
us. And now, Because of Him, we are invited back
into that life. Not perfectly, but truly. To
listen, to trust, to follow morning by morning.
Something that I wonder, are we willing to carry
that out this week? Are we willing, morning by
morning, this week and beyond, to start the day
saying, Where have I been leaning on something
that is not God? And what or whom have I been
holding onto that I keep thinking will fix everything
instead of turning to God? And maybe we could
take one step, just one, to listen, to trust,
to follow. Because even when our grip is weak,
His will never fail. Because here's the truth
is that we're not that different from those people
in Jerusalem Where one moment? We're crying hosanna
and the next Please get rid of him We still look
for things that we think will fix everything
We still reach for treasure that we think should
be ours and sometimes even when we think we've
won There's still something underneath that mountain
The thing we still keep clinging to is precious
something that could eventually undo us. But
Jesus, He's the one to lead us out. Not by giving
us what we expect, but by giving us what we truly
need, Himself. So this week, may we each be willing
to notice what we've been holding, to lay it
down, and to follow the servant, morning by morning,
because that, is where the real treasure is.
Thanks be to God.