This is hilarious!

This morning during my church’s Bible class hour, we had an interesting discussion. The class opened with the talk about “How many of you found that your life became more difficult after you became a Christian?” That was followed by the question of how many of us were told that “coming to Christ” would make our lives easier? I was able to answer the first question in the affirmative, but I’m not so sure about the second. I’d heard many “pitches” for the Gospel over the years. I guess it was at the right time that some friends came into our lives that I was receptive.

The question got me thinking though, and I put up my hand to talk about how sometimes, evangelism sounds like a bait and switch scam. “Oh, if you come to Jesus, everything will be easier. You won’t be sick anymore, you’ll have lots of money and friends.”

“OK, I came to Jesus, and my life is falling apart. You told me everything would get better!”

“Oh, did I say that? Well, I meant everything would get better in the next life.”

To be honest, I hate when Biblical discussions degenerate into that “well, those promises are for after this life.” I realize where people are going with that, but the entire Bible takes place over 2000 and several nations so there are some promises that are specific for Israel at specific times, others for Israel in the future, others for the church now, others for the church in the future, and yet there are others for God’s people throughout time. It is very sloppy to just slap a spiritualized interpretation on everything. There is some allegory in the Bible, but it always seemed to me that the Bible will tell you what those are during careful study.

I guess I have little room to talk though. Whether I present the Gospel like I’m on commission or not, it’s been years since I’ve tried to talk to anybody outside of the church about Jesus. My non-Christian readers should have no fear about me showing up preaching on street corners anytime soon.

I do enjoy writing about Bible topics, although I often don’t on my blog. Sometimes I feel the urge to, but I tend to stay away from them. Part of it has to do with my behavior, part of it has to do with I’m not sure who the audience for my blog is. People stumble across through all kinds of search terms. Recently I came across a comment about God speaking through Balaam’s ass (donkey in the King’s English) and I realized that perhaps I am qualified to occasionally speak on such topics on my blog.

When I first started studying the Bible, I had all kinds of questions and a huge Internet. I spend a lot of time on sites that today I frankly would avoid. Sometimes the site is just not well made, other times the site uses poor logic and writing or takes a strange doctrinal stance. I’ve never really enjoyed searching for a certain topic, finding a site in Google that seems to have the answer, and landing on a page promising if I spend $150 for a DVD series, I’ll get my answer. I’m not disparaging anybody’s attempts to make money from research, work, and production, but that did me little good when I didn’t have the money.

There are lots of good, free resources for studying that Bible online, but finding them is not always easy. I’ll start you with a good one. Calvary Chapel of Hope on Long Island offers several of Chuck Smith’s books for free in online format. I’ll post some of my other resources later.

Almost as if on cue after my blog post earlier about my church’s event yesterday, when I got home and we sat down for dinner, Joshua asked “Why do we sing in church?” Fully remembering my attitude yesterday morning, my wife told him “ask your daddy.”

Now I really felt on the spot. I immediately thought of something Chuck Missler said, about “The LORD inhabits the praises of His people.” I went looking through my Bible programs, and found that verse in the King James in Psalm 22:3. I also told Joshua, and I probably lost him by this point, that any glimpse the Bible gives us into Heaven shows people singing and praising God. This includes angels. Joshua asked me why, and I replied “Because God is so great.” At this point we degenerated into a “why?” train the likes of which would cause the most trained and educated apologist would to lose his sanity.

Other bloggers would leave a long chain of Bible references. I’m just summarizing, and relaying an apparent slap in the face concerning my attitude of late toward singing in church, or at least the apparent repertoire of hymns my church seems to limit itself to. I don’t see any account in Revelation or Isaiah of people singing “Jesus is my Flashlight”, but they’re still singing away.

I guess because I’m such a geek, when I don’t like something, for whatever reason, I just really don’t like it. I often can’t fake that I like something to be polite. I guess we can all be joyful that I didn’t go into professional ministry. I wanted to at one point, but I think the world will be a much happier place with me working as an engineer. Maybe I’ll tell the story of how I dropped out of Bible college later.

I’m starting to hope I get a chance to apologize for yesterday. Have you ever had one of those days when you were just in a bad mood, and then thrust into a situation which you would have been neutral toward on a normal day, but because of the mood, it was amplified? That was me yesterday.

My church had a “halftime” celebration for our expansion project. Our 1950’s building is bursting at the seams and is several hundred amps short on electricity needed for our modern requirements, so we launched upon a journey “of faith” to expand. We found a 7 acre plot of orchard property and bought it. Then we paid it off in a year. Once that was completed, we set upon the harder road: building on it. The church hired a consultant to help along this road. We had a three month ramp up to the time when the actual campaign would begin. That three months were full of meetings. I remember my wife and I being on the communications committee. We held meetings with the four generations that make up our membership. It’s interesting how each generation sees things. My generation is more interested in how our children will be raised in the church. The teens and young adults, obviously, don’t care about children's programs. The baby boomers and seasoned generations all have a unique perspective, so the meetings were tailored to them. We had prayer meetings and celebrations. This all culminated in a church service at the golf course across the street from our new property.

Yesterday was the halftime celebration. My teeth had been hurting on Saturday, and that made it hard to sleep. I didn’t want to tell my wife because I didn’t want to have the conversation about calling the dentist. Turns out, I should have. In order to save us money and prevent possible harm from processed products, she makes a lot of her own household items, including toothpaste. It turns out that the clove oil in her current recipe is a natural antiseptic, and if I’d only brought up the issue on Saturday, I would have known about the toothpaste and I could have slept Saturday night rather than laying awake in pain. Talk about a “Doh!” moment.

Anyway, when we arrived at the golf course on Sunday morning, I wasn’t in the best of moods, and my teeth were still hurting. The golf course has a tent set up which we use for the celebrations. It was already a hot day. I don’t like heat. I want February back. There was a bar set up with cups of ice but no water in them, and my wife wanted water. Another guy from our church was behind the bar getting water, so I followed suit, only to have some kind of manager show up and start yelling at me for being behind the bar, then claiming that some non-existent employee behind the bar could help me. My friend who was still getting water seemed to have gone unnoticed. I held my tongue, especially considering this was a church event, but that didn’t help and only served to destabilize my mood further.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about songs in my church. We opened with a song I’m not entirely fond of, but it seems we sing it far too often. I was already cranky. We did sing a couple of songs during the service that I liked, but many others that I think we sing too much and I don’t like enough. The service was divided into four quarters. Both of our ministers, several of our elders, and a few other people spoke on various sports metaphored themes related to our expansion. Readers of my blog know that I’m not a sports fan, and being in a bad mood only made the sports metaphors that much more painful for me to bear. One deacon led people in cheerleader styled chants. Ugh. On top of this, both of my kids suddenly needed bathroom runs at least once every ten minutes for the duration of the event, which required a long walk down a tent hallway into the golf course building. I felt like I lost 10 pounds in walks to the bathroom alone.

Anyway, for the duration of the event, I alternated between having a pained look on my face, posting to Twitter, and reading a John MacArthur book on my Windows Mobile phone. It was hardly the best example I could have set for my children and for others in the church. I’m not sure what was exactly wrong with me. Were I in a good mood, I still would have struggled with some of the songs, and a sermon that listed baseball achievements, but I should have been better behaved. I’d hate to think I was part of some kind of spiritual attack. We’ve already been through plenty the last couple of years as a church. I want to apologize to anyone from church who may read my blog. I did accept that if the church were to gear a service or celebration to my tastes, they would probably lose everybody else, especially my wife.

I do wish, especially when it came to church, I could live an “everything is wonderful and blessed” kind of life, or at least show that kind of demeanor. I can’t. Life is messy whether in church or not in church.

I came across this a long time ago, but I just now got a chance to watch it. As a 21st Century American, I really have no concept of what animal sacrifice is like. I see this as somewhat of a weak point when I study the Bible, as I don’t even have a basis to imagine the animal sacrifices. When meat gets to me, it no longer bears any resemblance to the animal it once was part of, and to be honest, I’m perfectly happy that way. However, I did enjoy the chance to see this brief video, which gave me at least an inkling of what the sacrificial worship system of ancient Judaism was like. Warning, this video could be considered graphic, as a lamb is sacrificed. The language spoken is probably Hebrew. I could make out when prayers or blessings were offered, but I obviously don’t understand what’s being said. Anyway, you can watch the video, if your stomach is willing, here.

In regards to my post about church last week, I just want to say that this blog is about me. I am not a professional writer, pastor, theologian, or any such thing. I consider myself somewhat of an amateur Bible scholar, emphasis on the word "amateur." As I said, this blog is about me. I'm 34, and though I've picked up a few things along the way, I still (hopefully) have a long way to go and a lot more to learn. I don't believe I would be ashamed if anybody from my church did read that entry last week, but I want to clarify that I'm not attempting to use this blog to put a sugar coat on anything. The book of Proverbs discusses wisdom. The Hebrew word for wisdom is kohkmah (unsure of exact spelling), which means among other things "skill." Wisdom is about learning and acquiring the skill of living well; of living a dynamic life. I am along on that journey myself. As I learn these skills, I'm sure my blogs will all tell some form of story. I go through the entire gamut here: I get confused, frustrated, exuberant, joyful, and just plain ticked off. One thing I will promise to do as a blogger is to not break any bounds of ethics or confidentiality. I will not mention anything that could be confidential to my employer, family, church, friends, contacts, etc. I will also do my best to avoid gossip and hearsay. I will attempt to verify my facts or state that I haven't.

In any case, I said that last week's sermon (and song selection) didn't do very much for me, but this week is another story, at least in regards to the sermon. Our other pastor, Steve, preached this week. Dan has been with the church for about 30 years. Steve just joined the church last year. We used to have a youth minister, so at the time I would refer to Dan as the "senior pastor," but Dan and Steve are very well matched in experience and maturity, and they don't seem to be differentiating whether one is senior or not, so I'll try not to.

Today's sermon was about the Mind of Christ. I forget the exact title, but it was centered around I Cor 2:

[16]  For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” * But we have the mind of Christ.

There was also a healthy dose of Philipians thrown in for good measure. Steve discussed as one of his points Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy. Cognitive Therapy, as we may know, goes like this:

Thoughts->Feelings->Actions (or Behaviors)

Behavioral Therapy goes like this:

Behavior (actions)->Feelings->Thoughts

The point was that feelings are in the middle. Our thoughts and actions do not change by changing our feelings. This would be a good post for some kind of self-help topic, but this isn't about self-help; it's about obeying Scripture. I'm sure if Steve came across this post, he'd think I'm ruining the entire point, but that's not my intent. I'm just discussing one aspect of it. I'm also not saying that I learned anything "new" today, but this was a great summary and refresher on things I'd heard before.

I can't speak for everybody else, but far too many details in my life have gotten lost because I didn't "feel" like it. That is entirely the wrong way to go about life. Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a man I really love to listen to, covered this point in one of his many materials that have crossed my monitor or iPod lately. He said something to the effect of "if you don't feel like doing something, just get up and start doing it. Your feelings will come inline with your actions later." Since hearing that, I have tried to take it to heart. In both of the models listed about, feelings are in the middle. You can change your thoughts, and you can change your actions, but it's apparently hard to change your feelings. When my wife asks me to go grocery shopping with her (which means taking both kids to a crowded Acme), I NEVER, EVER, under ANY circumstances, FEEL like doing it, but occasionally I will load the kids in the car and do it for her.

Steve also pointed out that nowhere in the Bible are we commanded (or even suggested) to feel anything. We are told to think on some things, and do other things. Some people come back with "Well, we're told to love" but the Greek agape implies a choice more than a feeling. True love is a choice. I was once infatuated with my wife, when my hormones and other assorted body chemicals gave me great feelings around her trying to trick me into getting married, but several years and two kids later, love is not a feeling, it is a choice.

This was a great sermon that engaged my mind and gave me something to think about, and write about, later on.

http://fromthestudy.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/how-to-waste-your-theological-education/

I came across that link yesterday in my Google Reader feeds.

I co-lead a small group on Sunday nights for my church. Our church has bought into the small group "craze", and heartily endorses small groups. Every year, Dan, one of our ministers, likes to have a small group leader training class. It's usually on Wednesday nights in the summer quarter but this year to try something different it was moved to Sunday morning in the Spring quarter. It worked out better, I think. A lot of people aren't around on Wednesdays in the summer because of vacations and travel. Sunday morning also presents a longer time period for classes.

As I go to a church of Christ, we call our small groups "LIFE Groups", which stands for Love, Involvement, Friendship, and Evangelism. Some churches call them "cell groups." I wouldn't want to explain that to a cop if I got pulled over on the way during a heightened state of Homeland Security. The last two years, Dan has used a video series put together by a pastor named Buddy Bell at the Landmark Church of Christ. The video series is good, but I thought Dan did a decent job when he put together his own class. One comment that really cracked us all up has to do with what happens when a group gets large. Buddy said "we multiply, not divide at this church." That small comment is funny, but at the same time is sobering coming from a pastor at a church that came out of the so called "unity" movement in the 19th century. I've heard of some churches splitting for some really silly reasons, like whether the table used for the Lord's supper should have a table cloth or not. Seriously, Dan mentioned in a sermon that a church of Christ split over that issue. I've read the entire Bible four or five times, and I really can't see a case for one side or the other.

That's the case I'm laying out, if for nothing else than to put the rest of this post into perspective. Yesterday's service was one that really didn't appeal to me. I can't say much of it did any good for me at all, but I also have to be very, very careful not to project my preferences onto whether something is right or not. I obviously do not mean that in a postmodern, or relative sense. The first song we sang was a very basic song, probably one fit for a young Sunday school class. I was raised in a Christian Science church, and so I'm not familiar with some of the songs that children sing in Evangelical churches. My wife is, but I'm not. This one goes, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the morning, Jesus at the noon time..." I don't see anything wrong with the song, I just don't like it. The next song was "Holy, Holy, Holy." Now that, I can get into. I like that song.

We changed up the order of service a bit. We sang three songs, then took up the collection. I had been asked to help with the table, so I was one passing the collection baskets. Then we dismissed the children to Children's Church. Then we had the sermon, and followed up at the end with communion. The sermon was like a really, really basic one. Being the day before Memorial Day, Dan did a sermon on remembering Jesus. The problem I tend to have is that I do like to study, so when we get to a basic sermon like that, I tend to think "Yeah, yeah, I know. Jesus died on a cross for our sins. I get it. I confessed it six years ago when you baptized me in my pool, Dan. I get it. I know it. This is like making me take a computer class and explaining a floppy drive to me, a person with an IT degree. I know. It's so basic. With all the areas of theology, Christ centered philosophy, epistemology, history, etc, why can't we just leave the milk alone and get to the meat? I've seen The Passion, I've seen some of the other movies played at Easter, I know all this."

I suddenly don't know that I have a point to this post. Just like my Mother's Day post, putting my thoughts here is helping me to understand them. I'm not saying that I am in any way thinking anything against my own church or it's leadership, men I deeply love and respect. Dan came to my house after 11 PM on a Friday night to baptize me in my pool in the middle of a thunderstorm. How can you NOT love and respect that kind of minister?

As we pulled away from church yesterday, I told my wife what I believe should be the point to this post: I should be very careful not to subject my own preferences onto the rest of the church. I am, well, me. I often say that I'm not representative of any other demographic but me. I, get this, like Windows Vista. I really like it. I think I'm the only one. I've taught Bible classes from a Pocket PC. The last time I taught a Bible class, I just started taking my laptop to church to teach from my E-sword notes. That's me; it's who I am. There are some people who prefer a style of worship with lots of singing and prayer. I'd be happy if we sang two songs, had a quick prayer, then communion (though that's optional), and a 40 minute sermon that ran so deep I had to take notes. That's the service I'd like, but I can't subject that onto the rest of the congregation.

I've long since come to the conclusion that if I ever found the perfect church, I'd also find that I don't belong there. We've been going to Pitman since 2002. It's the church I came to believe in, and was baptized in (well, in my pool, as the baptistery was broken that summer.) This church is a wonderful supportive and loving family. We've been helped by others, and have done what we can in return. People pray for us, and we pray for them. I've taught some classes, and led a small group, and been taught by other men at the church.

As I've pondered all of this, I thought back to Hebrews 10, which reads in part:

[23]  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. [24]  And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, [25]  not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (NKJV)

I find that to be very helpful in remembering why I get out of bed on Sunday mornings. I've had some Sunday morning worship services that really did a lot for me, and I've had others, like yesterday, that didn't. I think that's the point; it's not about me. Sure, I'm there, which is part of the point. I'm capable of studying for myself, often on a deeper level that our sermons and classes will go. But Sunday is where I can connect with other members of the congregation. I can share need with them. I can share joys and tribulations with them. We can serve according to our unique gifts (I Cor 12-14.) We can, as Paul (or whoever wrote Hebrews but I think it was Paul) says, we should provoke each other to love and good works. I've found over the years that forsaking the assembling of "ourselves together" causes me much more harm that sitting through a few songs I don't like or a sermon that doesn't challenge me. If I miss church for a week or two, I can really see a difference in my life and outlook. Going to church is not about having my needs met, it's about serving.

Since I'm an IT geek, I tend to keep my blogs secular, but since I don't have the readership I've been hoping for, I decided I'll just write about whatever I want. One of my interests is the Bible. I decided a while ago, thanks to Dr. Chuck Missler, not to claim to take the Bible literally. Instead, I claim to take the Bible seriously. I've probably read through the whole thing a good five times, and other sections even more. I have no idea how much study it will take to actually learn the Bible. It seems that the more I study, the more I come to realize how little I know. At one point, I felt ready to teach the Bible. At another, I was ready to tell my church I can't teach; I don't feel like I know anything.

As I was doing my "daily" reading the other day (daily as in I attempt to read a certain amount of the Bible each day, but I don't always succeed), I came across the passage in Luke 8 where Jesus healed Jairus' daughter as well as the woman with the issue of blood. Jairus' daughter was 12, and the woman with the issue of blood had suffered that issue for 12 years. Interesting, ain't it? Apparently, the woman could not have been Jewish (like Jairus' daughter) as a Jewish woman with a bleeding problem would have to stay outside the camp.

I've read this passage many, many times. I've heard plenty of sermons and Bible podcasts on it, I've read books and blog entries on this passage, and the other day when I read it, something just jumped out at me in such as way that I don't feel like I can sleep until I settle it (yes, I have slept.) Watch this:

[55] Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat.

For whatever reason, I can't stop wondering why Luke felt it was important to record this information. I honestly can't. I'm a firm believer in inspiration and infallibility, but of course that is within the bonds of the individual writers. These people put words on scrolls, possibly with full knowledge that God was working through them and possibly without. Luke was an accomplice of Paul's, and it's possible that Luke and Acts were trial documents sent ahead of Paul's plea to Ceaser (Nero, of all people). Scrolls were not cheap, which is why the codices (early books) became popular with the early church. Why did Luke feel compelled to include the statement that Jesus commanded the girl be given something to eat?

I started to wonder if her death had something to do with not eating. I admit; I need to spend a lot more time in study of the culture at the time, but I have a hard time imagining that a ruler of a synagogue, even in a poor, crappy town (and there's no real indication that this fits) would have trouble feeding his family. I still wonder, why? Was the girl anorexic, or have I spent more time in 21st century America than I've spent studying the Bible and ancient Jewish culture? Did this guy have problems ruling his home? Or was there no point? I don't exactly buy the possibility that there there is no point. I've found that the most obscure comments in the Bible have the most reward or scholarly yield when chased down.

If you have any ideas, please feel free to post in the comments. If I come across anything, I'll let you know. I did think to check Matthew Henry, who often does yield amazing insights. In this case, he was no help.

I have the head table in church today, and this is what I plan to say. I need to prepare my remarks somewhere. By "head table", I am officiating the Lord's Supper. In my church, we take the Lord's Supper every Sunday. One layperson takes the podium (pulpit) and shares some thoughts to prepare the congregation's hearts and minds for the Lord's Supper. Four men take the bread (Matzo crackers) then fruit of the vine (Welch's Grape Juice) and serve them to the congregation. Then out of convenience the collection is taken up. Then the ministers get up to do the sermon. It's simply the way the church I attend handles things. I believe most Churches of Christ do it the same way. Though many churches have traditions and other ways of taking the Lord's Supper, I can't find any specific chapter on how often or or exactly how to go about it. We simply try to "this do in remembrance of me" as best we can. A thought did occur to me as I was processing my thoughts for my remarks that Jesus possibly meant this to be done as part of the Passover celebration, which the church normally doesn't observe. I was thinking of the anti-Semitism that developed in the early church and how the church parted ways with the Judaism it was born of. There is a lot of interesting reading on that subject; more than I have time to go into here.

As a side note, although many Christians believe that the wine is to be non-alcoholic and as such serve grape juice instead, I do personally believe that it was alcoholic wine served at the Last Supper based on a simple fact of agriculture. The grape harvest was in October in ancient Israel. Until I see a special on the History Channel showing some ancient refrigeration system used to keep grape juice fresh all year, I'll have to assume that the only way to keep grapes until March or April is to ferment them. It would have to have been wine that was used in the cup at the Last Supper based on that. However, I am aware that many Christians prefer the non-alcoholic grape juice. I have better things to do than fight about it. I'm also sure that Jesus passed more than a little plastic thimble-cup around, but again, we do the best we can with what we have on a Sunday morning in between the opening songs and the sermon.

Remarks:

Good morning. Many of you know that I love history, and so I love to get up here and officiate the Lord's Supper on a day that has some historical or prophetic significance. It's much easier for me to come up with something to say on days like this. I was talking with my wife yesterday asking for her input on what I'm going to say today, and I brought up that we're approaching the holiest day of the year for Christians. She said "No, it's the holiest week." I honestly never thought of it that way. We all know that next Sunday is Easter, the day that we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. The Jews were given a set of days to observe in the Torah, the Law of Moses, the first five books of the Bible. They had seventy days in all, counting the Sabbaths and all of the holy days such as Passover, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Under ancient Judaism, only on Yom Kippur could the High Priest enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and later the temple after an extensive ritual of cleansing, sacrifice, and preparation. The High Priest entered with a rope tied to him in case he did something wrong and God struck him dead. With the rope, the other priests could drag him out. I have no idea what was done for the rest of Yom Kippur in those cases, which I'm sure were rare.

Our faith was born out of Judaism. Our Lord is a Jew. The first Christians were Jews. Somewhere along the early path, however, the two split. We can see from the Acts of the Apostles and Paul's early writings that many Jews were hostile to the early Christians. The first persecutions came from Jews, including the very writer of some of our favorite books in the Bible, Saul of Tarsus. The church, for a variety of reasons, parted ways with Judaism. For Jews, the holiest day of the year is still Yom Kippur, for us, it's Easter, which I call Resurrection Day at times.

I've heard somewhere that you can tell what is most important to someone by how much time, money, or energy he or she devotes to it. How much of the Bible is devoted to the Creation? A couple of chapters in Genesis, some spattering of verses in the Psalms, a little bit in Isaiah... How much of the Bible is devoted to the redemption? Pretty much the rest of it. What did the creation cost God? Seven days. How much did the redemption cost Him? His son.

Before I continue, I thought it would be interesting to see how much each of the Gospel writers devoted just to this week.

Out of 28 Chapters, 8 of Matthew's are about this very week we're celebrating. That is 28%. Mark spent 6 of 16 chapters, or 38%. Luke wrote about this week for 5 1/2 out of 24 chapters, or 23%. John must have really wanted to make a point because 8 1/2 of his 21 chapters or roughly 40% were devoted just to this week. I don't even count Chapter 21 as it talks about events that happened AFTER the resurrection. Perhaps whoever is up here next week, if you haven't thought of anything else yet, could figure out the percentage of text devoted just to the resurrection.

Now for the point. Many of you know that I like rabbit trails and it can take me a while to make a point.  Today is the day on our Christian calendar known as Palm Sunday. This is the day we celebrate Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as He came knowing that He would be put to death and raised three days later. Jesus did not enter Jerusalem in a vacuum. Though we know and believe that He will return, we know not the day nor the hour. Many waste a lot of time and credibility speculating when Jesus will come back. Many have done foolish things expecting the return of Jesus. In about 1847 or 1848, one movement believed that Jesus would return that year. I am probably oversimplifying when I say that most of them sold their houses and sat on a hill waiting for Jesus' return. I'm not sure what part of "occupy till I return" that they missed. His return may be a mystery for very good reasons, but his entry into Jerusalem on a donkey on a specific day was not, and He held them accountable to know that. Many of the people seemed to know, and the religious leaders seemed to understand but rather than joy they acted angrily. Let's read this account:

Please turn to Luke 19. You can also find accounts of the triumphal entry in Matt 21, Mark 11, and John 12, but I think Luke captures the Pharisees' reaction the best. Dan and Steve, I know you're both working very hard on a sermon series from Luke about the road to Jerusalem, and I pray that I don't take anything you had planned to say this morning.

[28] When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.[29] And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage* and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples,[30] saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here.[31] “And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’”[32] So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them.[33] But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”[34] And they said, “The Lord has need of him.”[35] Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.[36] And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.[37] Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,[38] saying:

“‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’*

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

[39] And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”[40] But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

I think the other Gospel writers capture the quote from Psalm 118 better, but Luke's account is worth the read for verses 39 and 40. We sing Psalm 118 verse 24 often enough. "This is the day that the Lord has made." The people were singing from verse 26. I think the triumphal entry was the day that the Lord has made, which is the point Jesus is making in verse 40. This day has been so appointed on God's calendar that the stones would have sung Jesus in if the people didn't. The Pharisees understood this, but rather than welcome Jesus as Messiah, they saw Him as a blasphemer.

This is what we're observing today as we prepare to follow Jesus' instruction to "this do in remembrance of me." As Matthew quotes the people in Matt 21:9 "

[9] Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’*

Hosanna in the highest!”

Hosanna to the Son of David. Let us pray.