Sacrificing Security

Palm Sunday is all about Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. We focus on the crowds who followed him so eagerly; but we usually don't focus on the risk that he was taking. This sermon explores those risks, and what they mean for us.

This is the month of madness – March Madness! For those of you who aren’t sports fans, March Madness is the NCAA tournament that decides the college basketball National Champion. March Madness is the holy grail for college basketball fans: 67 games played over three weeks’ time, involving the very best teams! Some years, the winners are exactly who the experts predicted. Other years, though, a Cinderella team comes along and upsets one of the big guys. That happened this year. A little team that nobody had ever heard of – the team from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a school that is known for their excellent chess team – defeated the top-ranked University of Virginia in the first round of the tournament. College basketball junkies were delighted, the team from UMBC was overjoyed, and the TV commentators had something to talk about for days! And Virginia, the team they beat – well, nobody much mentioned them, except to note that they will go down in history as the only top-ranked team that lost in the tournament’s first round, a mighty Goliath falling to UMBC’s David.

All this doesn’t have much to do with Palm Sunday, except for a very insightful comment that University of Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett made on the night that his team went down to defeat. As his team mourned their loss, Coach Bennett said something like this in an interview with the press (It’s not a direct quote, but it’s close): “Whenever you go out into the arena, there is a risk that you might lose. Nothing is guaranteed. If you’re not willing to assume that risk, then you don’t belong on the basketball court.” Indeed. There is no security to be found in sports, even if you're a top-ranked team playing a little team that no one has every heard of. As Coach Bennett reminded us, nothing is a sure thing.

That’s a very good thing to remember on this Palm Sunday. Nothing is risk-free, secure, or guaranteed. Jesus knew that very well when he set the events of Holy Week in motion. He knew that entering Jerusalem in the way that he did was guaranteed to get the attention of the Roman authorities; and they didn’t take kindly to anyone who challenged the power of Rome. Today, we don’t see anything threatening about a peasant prophet riding into town on a donkey; but every Jew in Jesus’ day knew that he was announcing himself as the Messiah. Because cheering crowds followed him, he offered a direct challenge to Rome’s authority. His little ride carried plenty of risk! And it didn’t end there. After Jesus had challenged Rome with his little parade, he infuriated the Jewish leaders by disrupting sales in the Temple! Jesus threatened both the political and the religious leaders in the places that hurt the most: their power and their wallet. Those leaders reacted the way that today’s leaders would if someone were to gather a group of followers, declare political independence, and blow up the Vatican! They decided that Jesus must be stopped at all costs. Jesus courageously sacrificed any security that he may have had when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and attacked the Temple on that first Palm Sunday.

But most of us aren’t as brave as Jesus was. We don’t like taking risks. We hang on like Super Glue to anything that makes us feel secure! Our security may be the money that we have in the bank, a comfortable place to live, or a cherished tradition. The reality is, though, that we don’t really have any security except in God. Banks can go broke, a home can be a victim of fire, flood or tornado, and traditions can become confining instead of life-giving. The only thing that we can absolutely count on is God! If that makes you a little nervous, it shouldn’t. It should, instead, give us the freedom to take all kinds of risks for the kingdom of God! Now, I’m not advising you to behave foolishly. The Bible warns us again and again to live with wisdom! But that wisdom sometimes advises us to move out of our comfort zone and sacrifice some of our security for a much greater gain.

Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. Back in January, as Fred and I were traveling back to Ohio from our yearly Florida vacation, I stumbled across an article in the Chattanooga, Tennessee Times Free Press (January 20, 2018) about the historically black Lookout Mountain First Baptist Church. The congregation has existed for over 100 years at its original location on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga. It has worshipped in a beautiful, historic building that was located in an area where the median household income is nearly $120,000. But over the years, its Sunday attendance has dropped from over 100 to only about two dozen. So last year, the congregation decided to move to the inner city. They are now located in an area where the median income is less than $50,000. We would call it “the bad part of town.” But the congregation is growing. Five new families have joined the church since it moved last July, and the congregation is anticipating adding many more. In fact, they are so optimistic that they plan to renovate the building in their new location right away and install a full kitchen, something that the facility now lacks.

This congregation is taking all kinds of risks. They took a risk in moving away from their historic location into a place where there are few resources and much need. They are taking a risk in renovating an old building without guaranteed funds. They are planning to take even more risks as they begin new ministries in their new location. Now, we could focus on all those risks, and judge that this congregation is foolish to sacrifice all their security in this move. But if you ask one of them, you would find that they don’t see it that way at all! They see taking all these risks as just a part of their Christian witness; and they are glad to be able to do it.

Every now and then, we need to be reminded that Jesus never said, “Make sure that your life is safe and secure.” What he said was, “Follow me.” When a would-be disciple once offered to follow Jesus, he replied bluntly, “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) That’s what we’re getting into when we decide to call Jesus our King! Following Jesus means giving up all the security that we think we have, and accepting the risk of giving our lives to a Messiah who rejects political influence and doesn’t hesitate to get in the faces of holier-than-thou religious phonies. Following Jesus means risking everything by confronting the power of politics and commerce with the power of God’s love. So, on this Palm Sunday morning, we witness the crowds acclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, we see Rome scowling, we watch the Jewish leaders fuming, and we know what Jesus is risking. In the end, he will risk everything on our behalf. The question that is before all of us right now is, “What will we risk for him?”