Where Do You Think You’re Going?

Sermon preached by the Reverend Patricia Farris

April 4, 2004

Scripture:  Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 and Luke19:28-40

“Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness.  Make thy way plain before my face.” 

Throughout our Lenten Journey Inward + Journey Outward, we have sung these words as a response to hearing God’s word.  “Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness.  Make thy way plain before my face.” Charles Wesley’s grandson, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, wrote the music.  The text comes from Psalms 4 and 5.  It is thought that these Psalms were recited annually in worship in the Temple, the assembled congregation asking God each year for some clear direction for the future.  “Lead me, Lord.  Make thy way plain before my face.”

Is this not still the longing of our hearts?  Is this not an expression of the restlessness we feel, the yearning to know, the desire to sense God’s leading in our lives?  Lead ME, Lord.  Make thy way plain before MY face. 

We yearn for God’s leading in all the questions and decisions we all face:  New school?  Which college?  Marriage?  Change jobs?  Relocate?  New car?  Medical treatment?  Stay in my home?  Care facility?  How to prioritize my time?  What do to with my money?  How to make a difference in this world?  How to deal with my kids?  How to deal with my parents?  Lead me, Lord.  Make thy way plain before my face.

On this Palm Sunday, as always, we come to worship with some sort of question on our hearts.  How would you direct my life, O God?  What would you have me do for you?  How would you have me to live?  In this time of worship, we get clues.  We receive an invitation.  We are welcomed into the journey of a God-filled life in the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  In music, prayer, word and sacrament, we may be graced to sense the presence of the ever-living Lord, calling, beckoning, and leading.

For in Jesus we have the ultimate role model for this life of faithfulness.  This one “born a child, and yet a king.”  This one anointed by the Holy Spirit to preach good news and to inaugurate the kingdom of God. 

Today he seems so certain, on this Palm Sunday.  He seems to know the way quite clearly.  He has had his eyes set on Jerusalem for quite some time now and the hour is almost at hand.  From the field near Bethphage and Bethany, about two miles east of Jerusalem, at the Mount of Olives, they head into Jerusalem.  He is so direct, calling out orders.  Go into the village.  Untie the colt and bring it here.  Telling the disciples what to say should anyone object.  So the last journey begins, the Triumphal Entry, the church calls it, approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives into the great city where he would face and conquer death.

They spread their cloaks on the ground to show homage to their king.  They shout the greeting of Passover pilgrims, words from another Psalm:  “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven.”

From there, he will journey on, as we know.  To Golgotha, to Calvary, to the tomb, and then, farther on, to life fulfilled beyond our imagining.

But first there will be that special time with his disciples, their Last Supper.  That night on which he will first wash their feet, the leader who is their servant, and will command them to love one another.  He will give them the holy meal we call “The Lord’s Supper” as the way they are to remember him and to remember the purpose of his life and to remember what he showed them about how to live. 

How fortunate we are that this year, Palm Sunday falls on the first Sunday of the month.  How privileged we are to share in this holy meal on this very day, just as we will again on Maundy Thursday.  For in so doing, we might be graced to understand deeply just how it is that our King, our Savior, the one who comes in the name of the Lord, is the one whose reign is love and whose way is justice. 

Palm branch and bread of life.  Hosanna and cup of salvation.  On this day, God makes the way plain for us.  Shows us the road to life.  Opens to us the promise inaugurated way back on the first day of his ministry, when he read to them from the prophet:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”

This one, seemingly so resolute, so clear, yet who, as we know from the Scripture witness, frequently turned to God in prayer.  Pray with me, he kept saying to his closest disciples.  Pray with me.  Stay with me.  Wait with me.  Even this one, so precious, so holy, still needed time in the presence of God, to pray the Psalm:  make thy way plain before my face.

Through his ministry, through his prayer, through his utter devotion to God, Jesus has found the way.  He enters the city not to conquer Jerusalem, or Rome, but to conquer sin and death and to heal all brokenness and despair.   He rides down that path to bring the fulfillment of hope and make real the promise of life made ever new.  Jesus IS the Way, the Truth and the Life, and in him is the reign of God begun.  Blessed is He who comes in the names of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.     

Does any of this provide easy answers to our questions?  No.  Does it cause all the pieces of our life to fall into place?  Not necessarily.  But it does show us the path on which we, like Jesus, can be confident of finding direction and strength for the journey.  It sorts out our priorities and keeps God front and center.  It calls us into a life of prayer like his, a life loving service and willing sacrifice for others.  It leads us into the way of the Lord, the way of prayer and praise, of worship and fellowship. 

Today we join the crowds waving our palm branches to greet the new King.  Today we gather at his table, to remember our crucified and risen Lord.  Today we remember his example of washing his disciples’ feet and his new commandment to love one another.  Today we remember that in order to find our way, we must first walk with the Lord and go to him often in worship and in prayer, intentionally cultivating those old-fashioned habits that draw us into relationship with him—Scripture, worship, sacrament and prayer.

What a Savior he is:  determined and prayerful, powerful and humble, resolute and grace-filled.  May he model for us the way of faithful living, that our lives may ever show forth his praise.

 “Lead me, Lord.  Lead me in thy righteousness.  Make thy way plain before my face.  For it is Thou, Lord, Thou Lord, only, that makest me dwell in safety.”