ROCK ON
A sermon preached by
Rev. Dr. Randle R. (Rick) Mixon
First Baptist Church, Palo Alto, CA
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Texts: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Luke 19:28-40
Who doesn’t love a parade? All the color and noise and excitement! Parades are fun. They’re a great way to share something special. Sometimes we have parades to protest something that is wrong and sometimes we parade to celebrate something that is good. We have parades on the 4th of July and St. Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, among others. I’ve marched in a lot of parades in my life. How many of you have been in a parade? I think it’s more fun to be in the parade than to watch from the sidelines. When you march in the parade, you get to watch the crowd. Often, the crowd is more fun to watch than the parade itself.
We had a kind of parade ourselves this morning when we marched around the sanctuary singing and waving our palms. We were remembering a very important parade that happened a long, long time ago. In that parade, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem while people celebrated him as a very special person. They said he was sent by God; that he was God’s own son. They hoped he had come to save God’s people. Many of those celebrating were treating him like he was a king. In fact, some were calling him king, even though he, like them, was poor. He was riding on a borrowed donkey, not on some magnificent war horse or in a golden carriage. There was not an army riding with him or lots of fancy lords and ladies. Oh there were plenty of people following along behind him, but they were just ordinary people like you and me. Still, there was a lot of noise and color and excitement when Jesus came parading into town. It was a great day.
When I was a senior in high school, I was selected to sing in the Idaho All-State Honor Choir. One of the songs we sang that year was a lively spiritual called, “Ain’t Got Time to Die.” I was one of three boys chosen to sing the solo on that number. The reason I thought of it for today is that some of the words go like this: “Lord, I keep so busy praisin’ my Jesus, ain’t got time to die.” That’s a lot of what we have been doing in today’s worship service – praising Jesus. We’ve said it and sung it, danced it and prayed it this morning. “Hosanna!” “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of God!” Other words in that spiritual say: “I keep so busy…healin’ the sick…feedin’ the poor…servin’ my master” and “workin’ for the Kingdom” that “I ain’t got time to die.” Then the chorus repeats over and over again “…it takes all of my time to praise my Jesus, all of my time to praise my Lord. If I don’t praise him, the rocks gonna’ cry out, ‘Glory and honor! Glory and honor!’ Ain’t got time to die” (Hall Johnson, Ain’t Got Time to Die)
It’s a funny thing Jesus says in the story when the Pharisees try to stop the parade. They ask Jesus to stop the parade and keep his followers quiet. Now some people think that the Pharisees were against everything that Jesus was trying to teach the people. Some people think that the Pharisees weren’t so much against Jesus, they just didn’t want him to rock the boat and make life uncomfortable for them. Some people think that the Pharisees were really worried that the Romans would be angry with Jesus and his followers and cause big trouble for him and everyone else. But Jesus says, “If the people were quiet, the stones on the road would jump up and shout for joy.” Imagine rocks shouting praises and stones jumping for joy!
It does seem like a funny thing, stones jumping and rocks talking. I remember a long time ago there was a very popular item known as a pet rock. Some of us older folk remember pet rocks I’m sure. They were pretty plain stones with painted faces that people collected and kept as “pets.” They were very quiet pets though. They had painted mouths but I don’t remember any of them ever speaking. Do you?
Well, OK, but if the rocks were to speak, what might they say. I’ve invited a few rocks I found lying around my office to join us this morning to see if they might have anything to say about Jesus. Here’s an ordinary stone. I wonder what it might say if we did not praise Jesus. Hmm. It seems to be saying, “O give thanks to God, for God is good; God’s steadfast love endures forever!” Let’s ask another one. This one is very tiny. Wow! It has a big voice though. It’s saying, “I love you, God— you make me strong.” This one looks like sandstone, maybe the kind of rock you would find on a road near Jerusalem. I think it is saying, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.” Here’s an ordinary one of a different color. Its message is, “Jesus shows us the way to God! Praise God for Jesus!” Here are some special rocks. They’re very plain on the outside but very fancy on the inside. This one is saying “Love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul and with all your strength.” And this one says, “Love your neighbor the same way you love yourself.” And this one, the most beautiful one of all, what does it say? “Love your enemies.” Hmmm. It sounds like love is very important when we think about Jesus, when we follow Jesus, when we want to join the Jesus’ parade and rock on. Love and praise, sounds like a good combination, doesn’t it?
So why are we praising Jesus today? Because Jesus loves us, every one of us – old and young, large and small, ordinary and even fancy ones. Don’t you think, if Jesus loves us so much, we should share that love? We need to love Jesus, to love God, to love one another, to love our family, friends and neighbors, to love those in need, yes, even to love our enemies. Maybe that’s what the spiritual means when it sings out, “I keep so busy…healin’ the sick…feedin’ the poor…servin’ my master…workin’ for the Kingdom, I ain’t got time to die.” Love is a full-time job. If you and you and you and I don’t do it – praise and serve and love – then the “rocks are gonna’ cry out ‘Glory and honor! Glory and honor!’”
Every one of us is invited to join Jesus’ parade. Every one of us is wanted to share the love of Jesus. Every one of us is needed to help with the sick and the poor and those who are afraid. Every one is selected to sing: “Hosanna – save us, O God!” “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of God!” Ride on King Jesus, ride on! Rock on, King Jesus, rock on! We want to follow you and sing your praises. Amen.
1O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!
2Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
19Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
20This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
21I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
22The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
23This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
26Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
28You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.
29O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
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28After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” 39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
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