SOME WALKING TO DO

      I remember... walking behind the casket and standing around... as they laid my father to rest. I remember walking... to my brother Randy's grave... and then to my brother Larry's grave. I remember walking beside little waterfalls when Sherry and I were married, and walking to congratulate our daughters when they received their college degrees. There have been exhilarating walks and depressing walks, walks of laughter and walks of tears. Some have been mostly uphill, some thankfully downhill, You know all about it because you've done a lot of walking yourself...but Jesus did a lot of walking too. He walked up and down the breadth and length of Israel, from the Big Sea to the Golan Heights, from the Negev to Syria, and he encountered things ordinary, frightening, and wonderful as he walked. He was loved, exulted, used, challenged, demonized, condemned, and crucified ... but one suspects that he never regretted a single step that he took. He loved his work, his people, his Father, and He loved Jerusalem, which is understandable for those of us who have been there. I know that I don't love Jerusalem in the way that Jesus did (and never can)... but I did love it. Sherry and I both loved it and tears filled our eyes as we approached the city, with the song, "The Holy City," filling our bus. When I think of the effect that Jerusalem had on two Gentiles from Iowa,, I can scarcely imagine how Jesus' heart must have pounded as he entered the city.
      With the crowd is waiting for him. The kids with palms in their hands, waving them with a lot of joy... and not much rhythm. The adults were crying out, "Hosanna," which means something like "O save," and that alone made this parade different than the others.  We've all been to parades-some of us have walked in our own Memorial Day parade- but we weren't expecting to be saved. I know that the people in Wayne, NE. line up for "Chicken Days" each year, and that those who live in Fredericksburg, IA. do the same thing on "Dairy Days..." but the Palm Sunday parade was NOT about entertainment. It was about being saved. The people who lined the street, mostly common people, believed that Jesus of Nazareth would save them... from Roman occupation, from the onerous taxes that threatened their freedom, and from the guilt, fears, and resentments that filled their spirits. They gathered as a people who needed relief and they cried "Hosanna, hosanna, save, o save."
      Their need was deep, but their understanding was not. They sought salvation without sacrifice, freedom without struggle, transformation without repentance, Easter without Good Friday. They applauded his arrival, never meaning to applaud his crucifixion. They lifted their hands in praise, not knowing that he would ask them to carry a cross of their own, and they jumped and shuffled as spectators, unaware that he was inviting them... to spend their lives walking for him. Today is Palm/Passion Sunday, and although they're intertwined, the greater church opts for palms and children and shouts of "Here comes Jesus. Get your palms ready sweetie... because Jesus is almost here." Which is fine... as long as we remember that a ticker tape parade is not his legacy... and that his victory was marked with blood instead of palms. Jesus, of course, knew these things. He knew that he was entering the Holy City every bit a Savior. He knew that he would give his accusers his "back," (as Isaiah put it) and that he would give them his face as well. The Bible says that he set his face like flint toward Jerusalem and that he took their insults and their spitting... and everything else that they could dish out ... because that's what Savior's do. He walked a walk that only God would know and He walked it for us.
      He freed us. He redeemed us. He saved us to serve, and He walked for us... so that we might walk for him! So, how about it? Are we going to do a little walking for Him, or just stand around a wave our palms? Are we prepared to walk from here to Calvary, and then to the tomb, and then into the streets and valleys and darkened corners of our world? Are we prepared to walk a walk of love for Him, knowing that walking for him may hurt us, shock us, frighten us, and even take our lives?  Are we prepared to enter Jerusalem ourselves, knowing now that Pilate's soldiers are having a parade of their own? Are we prepared to follow him- to take a walk where we will see new, heart-rending and sometimes threatening things? A walk on which we will hear cheers and catcalls both? Is standing around and waving palms as good as it gets for us, or are we ready... to do a little walking for God?  Amen!