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Printer Friendly VersionIt was a near perfect spring day in 2006: A bit windy but clear
and sunny skies. Sunny enough to burn skin that was seeing these kind of UV
rays for the first time in months. A sense of expectancy filled the air as
the faithful fans filed into Kauffman Stadium for the annual ritual of Opening
Day, thrilled to be there for the start of another season and the unofficial
beginning of summer. Hopes were high for a different kind of season—a
winning one. Well, hopes were moderate for a different kind of season. OK,
I’m sure some people had hope. At least until the Detroit Tigers won
3-1.
Joshua had been to every Opening Day since April 10, 1973, when
the Royals opened the season with a 12-1 win over the Texas Rangers a little
over a month before the California Angel’s pitcher Nolan Ryan would
have the first no-hitter ever at what was then called Royals Stadium. Every
Opening Day since 1973. It was a family tradition. Joshua wouldn’t remember
his first Opening Day game from 1973 because he wasn’t yet a year old.
His parents carried him to the same section in the upper deck where he would
find himself every Opening Day from that time until now.
There is nothing like the sights, sounds, and smells of the
park on Opening Day. There were the vendors calling out, “Peanuts, get
your peanuts,” or cotton candy, or Pepsi. Joshua always kind of felt
sorry for the snow cone guy when Opening Day was overcast with temps in the
40s. When he was really young he was always impatient when they’d stop
at the display case of the Royals Hall of Fame near Section 112 on the main
level concourse, because back then he was more interested in cotton candy
than baseball.
On April 8,1985 when the Royals opened their season at home
with a 2-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, this boy, who had been to every
home opener since 1973, was 12 years old. Most people remember 1985 because
it’s the year the Royals won the World Series. Not Joshua’s parents.
They remembered it as the year their kid scared them half to death. After
that home opener Josh’s parents ran into some friends and they walked
out of the stadium together. They were engaged in conversation until being
sent into a panic when they looked back and Joshua wasn’t there. They
were almost to their car when they realized he was gone. Frantic, they ran
back into the stadium and looked everywhere. Finally, they found him in a
surprising place. He was standing at the display near Section 112 on the main
concourse. He was reading about great Royals players from years past, oblivious
to their anxious searching for him. It was then that his parents knew. He
got it. It wasn’t just a great excuse to get out of school. He wasn’t
there for the cotton candy. Their love for the game had become his own.
Twenty years later, April 3, 2006, he was there on Opening Day.
Only now he wasn’t being carried or led by his parents. Now he was leading
his own kids, and stopping by the display of former Royals greats near Section
112 on the main concourse before finding their seats.
In our Palm Sunday scripture for today, I picture a nearly perfect
spring day. Sun shining, and the air full of expectancy as the faithful made
their annual pilgrimage to the city. It was Passover time and families were
filing into Jerusalem. Among them was a man in His early 30s with a band of
followers behind Him. His name was Jesus. It wasn’t the first trip He’d
made for the Passover. He’d been coming every year for the last 33 years.
It was a family tradition.
He wouldn’t remember the first time He went to Jerusalem,
because He wasn’t yet a year old. His parents carried Him. Parents who
were interested in instilling something in their son that was far more significant
than a love for baseball. They wanted to instill in Him a sense of identity.
An awareness of the heritage of His people. The story of the Passover is found
in Exodus 12. God had been using Moses to get Pharaoh’s attention but
Moses wouldn’t release the Israelites from bondage. God sent nine plagues
and none of them were effective enough to change Pharaoh’s hardened
heart. Finally God sent the 10th plague—death to all the firstborn.
God instructed Moses to have all of the Israelites slaughter a one-year-old
lamb without any defects, and then mark the doors of their houses with the
blood from the sacrificial lamb. When the death angel passed through Egypt,
he would see the blood of the lamb marking the homes of the Israelites and
not bring death to their homes. He would pass over them. Every year the Israelites
commemorated this day. It was called the Feast of the Passover and every year
Mary and Joseph took Jesus from Nazareth to Jerusalem to celebrate the story
of God’s salvation. Every year. It was a family tradition.
There is something powerful about traditions that put our kids
in an atmosphere where something spiritual can happen. Something tells me
Mary and Joseph never said to Jesus, “If you want to stay home this
year go ahead. We don’t want to force anything on you.” I really
can’t hear them saying, “It’s not our place to instruct
him in spiritual things. He needs to make his own decisions about it.”
Every year Jesus’ parents took Him to Jerusalem for the Passover. They
put Him in a position, in an atmosphere where something spiritually significant
could happen. That was important to them. You know, whether it’s baseball,
car racing, boating, fishing, camping, or whatever, what’s important
to the parents has a way of becoming important to the kids. Whether good or
bad, the things that are important to the parents are caught by the kids.
We talk about doing things on purpose as parents, teachers, as a congregation
so the faith we have is something our kids are exposed to over and over again.
Every year. Every month. Every Sunday. Every day, in the hopes that one day
they will get it, accept it, make it their own. This doesn’t “just”
happen. We have to be as intentional about putting our kids in an atmosphere
where something spiritual can happen, as Mary and Joseph were in taking Jesus
to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover every year.
When Jesus was 12, the parents who had earlier carried Him now
led Him. At 12 He wasn’t left alone to figure it out on His own. At
12 He was still right there with His parents. When the feast was over, Mary
and Joseph were on their way out of the city when they ran into some friends
from Nazareth and started visiting as they walked. They got a whole lot further
than the distance from the stadium to the car—they were nearly a day’s
journey away when they realized Jesus wasn’t with them. Frantically
they made their way back to the city where they searched for Him and worried
about Him. Finally, they found Him at the temple, and when they did, they
knew. He got it. Jesus wasn’t there because His parents made Him. He
was there because He wanted to be. That’s what I pray all the time for
my kids, and for yours. I pray they’ll get it, that they come to faith
in Christ while they are still young and be spared from all the heartache
that comes with living apart from God.
Sooner or later the faith of Mom and Dad isn’t enough.
It’s got to become their own. So we bring them to sacred spaces where
they can be in an atmosphere where something of spiritual significance can
happen, until they want to be here on their own. Maybe there are some kids,
or teens here today with whom God has been dealing. He’s been saying,
“It’s time for your relationship with Me to get real. It’s
time for it to go beyond what’s happening with your parents and start
being about what’s happening with you.”
It’s kind of interesting, I think, the progression Luke
gives us. The first times Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover, He was
so young He had to be carried. Then as an early adolescent He was led. The
last time Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover, He wasn’t carried
or led. He was leading others. Little did those others know that before the
week was over, life would be radically altered forever. Jesus himself would
become the Passover Lamb, delivering people with His blood, not put on the
doorframes of their homes, but on the doorway of their hearts.
But before going to the Cross, Jesus would give us another glimpse
of the heart of God. [Read 19:37-44.] He wept over the city. Jesus wasn’t
content to have a small band of followers while the city was still in bondage
and didn’t even know it. When He saw the city, He knew how lost they
were, and He wept. In His weeping, He showed us another glimpse of God’s
heart. A God who wasn’t bitter about their bondage, but who was broken
by it. A God who wasn’t ready to destroy those who were evil, but was
ready to die for them. His concern went beyond His own family to those He
wanted to be part of His family, which tells me that if we’re going
to be like Christ, our concern has to go beyond the salvation of our own families,
to the salvation of our city.
If the Palm Sunday story of Jesus going to Jerusalem to celebrate
the Passover tells us anything, it tells us there’s something significant
about Mom and Dad making the spiritual formation of their family a priority,
because whatever is important to Mom and Dad tends to become important for
their kids. It makes me wonder if there are any parents here today who are
breaking the heart of God by neglecting to make the spiritual formation of
their family a priority.
If the Palm Sunday story of Jesus going to Jerusalem to celebrate
the Passover tells us anything, it tells us there’s something about
going from being carried by our parent’s faith to having a faith of
our own. It makes me wonder if there are any people here today who need to
move beyond Mom and Dad’s faith to accept a relationship with Jesus
Christ for their own.
If the Palm Sunday story of Jesus going to Jerusalem to celebrate
the Passover tells us anything, it tells us there’s something about
the heart of God that can never be totally satisfied as long as there are
people in the city who haven’t yet started to follow Him. It makes me
wonder if we need to be reminded that while things may be going great with
our own family, there are lots of other people out there who haven’t
gotten it together yet.
Invitation: To parents who want to be spiritual leaders; kids/adults
who want to embrace the faith for themselves; church to remember our city
needs Jesus.
Benediction: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”