Homily Outline: “The Lord Needs It”

Text: Luke 19:28-40

Palm Sunday (C)

March 28, 2010

• When my son Lee was a toddler, he often played with his friend Jamie.
• Sometimes when they wanted the same toy,
• Lee would say, “I want that” or “That’s mine,” but
• Jamie would say, “I need that!”
• Jamie had learned that need is more urgent than want.
• But sometimes, even “I need that” doesn’t get the job done.
• Sometimes we don’t satisfy our children’s self-described needs because we know that what they “need” is really a “want” and that it isn’t necessarily good for them to have it.
• Sometimes we decline to satisfy the needs of someone who clearly is in need.
• We may decide that although they are in need, we already have helped them enough and to do more would destroy their own initiative.
• Or we may satisfy the need.
• Every week we have people coming by the church office asking for some need to be satisfied; we have to make a quick decision on whether we can help them and, if so, whether we will.  Sometimes we make the right decision, but I’m sure we sometimes get it wrong.
• These, however, are not examples of persons who have authority.  What would we do if someone in authority made the request, “I need that”?
• E.g.,  Assume you are having your morning coffee when the doorbell rings.  It’s a nicely dressed young man who says, “Good morning!  I’m sorry to interrupt your breakfast; but Senator Lugar is on his way to a meeting here in Terre Haute and his limousine broke down just in front of your house.  Might we borrow your car so that we can get him to the meeting on time?”
• Probably we would grant the request.
• The difference is, the request is from someone in authority.
• When Jesus was on the outskirts of Jerusalem he sent his disciples to ask for a donkey.  Their justification for the request was simple—“The Lord has need of it.”  And the permission was given. 
• Luke is showing us that Jesus was a person in authority.  This is one of the purposes of this passage from Luke’s Gospel—to show that Jesus was, in his own way, kingly with much authority.
• Chapter 1 of Luke:  Luke’s main purpose in writing the Gospel was to teach “the truth [about who Jesus was].”
• Chapter 2:  Angels to shepherds: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, the Messiah, the Lord.”  That is, kingly.
• Chapter 19:  As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the message is the same—Jesus is Lord.  Jesus is King.
• Every part of chapter 19 is based on some Old Testament prophecy or text.
• It would be a good Sunday afternoon project to get a good study Bible and to track down these OT references in chapter 19.
• One example: Psalm 118, which the crowds quote when Jesus rides toward the city
• “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”
• Note, however, that Luke changes it to “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.”
• If we take Luke’s point, if Jesus is a king, and we are his subjects, his disciples, then what should we do when Jesus says, “I need that”?
• Jesus: “I need your time, your love, your money, your courage, your sacrifice.  I need your joy, your creativity, your talents.”
• We should answer, “Yes, Jesus, whatever I have is yours.”  In the words of the old hymn, “I surrender all.”
• When Jesus asks us—
• It may be directly, as we sense his request.  But, as in our text today, Jesus may make his request through another of his disciples.  We should pay attention to what our fellow church members ask us to do.
• Everyone is included.  Jesus has a job for everyone.  There is no unemployment in the Kingdom—at least not for lack of jobs.
• When we give something to Jesus—our time, our substance, our dreams—Jesus blesses it and uses it more than we could imagine.  Jesus often does something unexpected when we answer his call.  In fact, we are sometimes transformed in the very act of responding.
• Finally, when we allow Jesus to use what we have and who we are, we are blessed.  It’s a rule of Christian living: we may think we are making a sacrifice, but we will discover that we receive more than we give.

The youth and children of our congregation will now present a program called “Transforming Love,” which is an adaptation of the folk-tale of “The Three Trees.”  As you see how Jesus used the gifts of the trees in unexpected and transforming ways, consider what Jesus may be asking from you.