From Crying Stones to Sleeping Disciples

Preached by Michael Cheuk, April 1, 2007
Sixth Sunday in Lent, Palm/Passion Sunday, Year C

Luke 19:28-40 ²⁸ After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰ “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’” ³² Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.” ³⁵ They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. ³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” ³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” ⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

It must have been quite a sight, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem that Sunday. From the images that have been burned into most of our memories from movies and Easter pageants, we envision Jesus coming in as a conquering hero, with crowds lining the road into Jerusalem waving palm branches, laying down coats along the path, singing, chanting, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Can we imagine the excitement? For some of us, it conjures up memories of our troops coming home victorious after World War II, showered with ticker tape and the shouts of street-lined crowds. It was somewhat like that at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. And as he entered the gates and made his way deeper into the city, more and more people jumped on the bandwagon to cheer him on, to follow Jesus, to be a part of history in the making. It must have been quite a sight.

But not everyone was excited. The Pharisees and the powerful leaders of the Jews were less than thrilled. “Stupid crowds,” they thought, “don’t they know that Roman officials and soldiers are all over the city this week?” Each year when the crowds thronged to Jerusalem for the Passover, inevitably there were insurrection attempts. It was almost as if remembering the liberation from Egypt made some people hunger for liberation from the Romans. So every year around Passover, Rome would send extra troops into Jerusalem, and they would parade into the city with their stallions and chariots, followed by legions of heavily armored soldiers–waves and waves of them, with their spears and swords. It was a not-so-subtle reminder by the occupying force to show who was really in charge.

But could the folks in the crowd take the hint? No! Here they were shouting: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” They all knew that there was only one king, one Caesar. But they didn’t care, and that made Rome very nervous. Like “Bloody Sunday,” when 600 civil rights workers marched out of Selma, AL on March 7, 1965, this was a powder keg waiting to explode.

No Public Display of Affection Allowed!

Preached by Michael Cheuk, March 25, 2007
Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year C

John 12:1-8 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” ⁶ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. ⁷ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

When I was a kid, whenever I saw a boy and a girl being lovey dovey with each other, I would always think, “Eww . . . gross!” When I was in high school, I knew of dating couples in my youth group who were almost fused together . . . and my youth group leader would shout, “Hey, No PDA! No public display of affection allowed!” Now with the coming of spring, along with the blooming of flowers, we witness the blooming of love. We see couples walking around campus, around town–some innocently holding hands, arms around each other, perhaps stealing a kiss, while others you would do better just turning your head the other way and not see what’s going on. My childhood aversion to PDA has been passed down to my kids. So now when Thea and Wesley see Beth and me kiss or hug, they would scream out, “No kissy, no kissy!” as they try to break us apart. Wesley goes so far as to issue this threat: “If you kiss, I’m going to call the cops!” You’d think from Wesley’s rantings that there’s something illegal about showing affection for your spouse. Although, I have to agree, there is something unseemly about extreme public displays of affection, something uncomfortable about wearing your heart too much on your sleeve, something nauseating about Tom Cruise jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch declaring his love for Katie Holmes.

Thirst is Everything

Preached by Michael Cheuk, March 11, 2007
Third Sunday in Lent, Year C

Isaiah 55:1-9 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. ² Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. ³ Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. ⁴ See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. ⁵ Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.” ⁶ Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. ⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

In the late 90’s a struggling soft drink brand decided to change its image. This soft drink, once touted itself as a sparkling combination of Lime and Lemon soda with “the refreshing taste of lymon,” now came out with an ad campaign that said: “Image is nothing. Thirst is everything. Obey your thirst.” Do you know what that soft drink is? (Yep. Sprite.) I remember one of those Sprite ads where a young kid drank Sprite to the background of some upbeat music. And then after taking a drink from the can and feeling energized, he tried to dunk a basketball only to be rejected by the basketball rim. The background music immediately grinded to a halt. And we get message: “Image is nothing. Thirst is everything. Obey your thirst.” Those Sprite ads seem to expose the false notion that certain soft drinks can make you better looking, more attractive to the opposite sex, more athletic and more prosperous. In a “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” way, those Sprite ads told us not to fall for the manipulative marketing ploys of Madison Ave. No drink is going to help you dunk the basketball like Grant Hill. In the end, when it comes to soft drinks, the only thing that matters is that your thirst is satisfied. So, don’t be shallow and fall for image, drink Sprite to quench your thirst.

Hen in the Fox Lair

Preached by Michael Cheuk, March 4, 2007
Second Sunday in Lent, Year C

^NIV Luke 13:31-35 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” ³² He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ ³³ In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day– for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! ³⁴ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁵ Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

I’ve got a question for you this morning. Suppose someone were to tell you, “Hey, you’d better get out of town. So-and-so is trying to kill you.” What would you do?

OK, I know this is far-fetched. We’re not living in the Wild, Wild West. But just suppose it were to happen? What would you do? I would imagine that most of you would check out the validity of that threat, and if you were to find that it was true, most of you would contact the authorities. Some of you might actually pack up your things and get out town for a while. But some of you just might load up that 12-gauge shotgun, and say, “I’m ready for the sucker!”

This is what some scientists call the “fight-or-flight” response, also known as the acute stress response, first theorized by Walter Cannon in 1927 to describe how some animals react to high stress with changes in their bodies that prime them to either fight or flee. Those bodily changes include: secretion of adrenaline, acceleration of heart and lung action, inhibition of stomach and intestinal action, inhibition of tear and saliva glands, the opening up of blood vessels to the muscles, and the dilation of pupils. Have you ever felt your heart almost beating out of your chest, your stomach tied in knots, and your mouth dry when someone unfairly criticized you in public, physically bullied or threatened you or your children, or emotionally manipulated or attacked you? And you either just want to run away as fast as you can or you want to wring somebody’s neck? If so, you’ve experienced the “fight-or-flight” reaction.

Temptation

We are now into the season of Lent. As it has often been said, the forty days of Lent parallel the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness before launching his earthly ministry. As the synoptic Gospels show, Jesus spent forty days fasting, and during that time, he was tempted by Satan.

What does it mean to be tempted? We often have this image of temptation as something bad that seduces and captures us in its power. And there’s truth to that. But perhaps more profoundly, temptation is the seduction of something good that prevents us from attaining the best.

Think about the temptations that Jesus faced. He was asked to turn stones into bread. Providing basic food for himself, but more importantly, for all the hungry people in Judea is a good thing. And what a ministry impact he could have had among the oppressed masses! Next, Jesus was given the opportunity to gain power and authority over all the nations. Think of all the good that Jesus could have done if he had made all the kingdoms of the world into Christian nations! Finally, Jesus was asked to make a spectacle of himself by jumping off of the highest point of the temple and allowing angels to land him safely on the ground. Think of the good publicity that Jesus could have gotten! Through this one act, Jesus could have recruited thousands of disciples and given his ministry a good jump start.

But Jesus did not succumb to those temptations, as good as they may be. For what was at stake during Jesus’ time in the wilderness was the determination of the kind of Messiah he was going to be. During Lent, I’m asking myself: what kind of a person, a parent, a spouse, a student, a minister I’m going to be? Those are hard questions, but they must be addressed if I’m to be faithful to God’s call and mission. For in our individual lives and as a church, we know all too well the temptations to be relevant (turning stones into bread), to be powerful, and to be spectacular. They are good, but they may divert us from the best: worshipping God and serving God only (Matt. 4:10; Luke 4:8). May God give us the vision and courage to seek first God’s Kingdom and righteousness during this season of Lent.