There’s never a year that goes by when I fail to be jarred by the contrasts in our Palm Sunday
Gospel readings. In the space of one week, which is captured in the readings of one morning, we
go from one extreme to another.
If you were here last week you’ll recall that Jesus had just accomplished the crown of all his pre-
Crucifixion miracles. He had raised a man from the dead. We heard that the already large crowds
following Jesus were now engorged with many more people who’d heard of what Jesus had done for
Lazarus. There was electricity in the air. The excitement was palpable, and the people were
delirious with joy in their expectation of a deliverer. It seems that when the Lord’s love and
miraculous grace become known, there’s no stopping the news from spreading.
So people line the streets as Jesus rides into Jerusalem. They’re shouting out God’s glory for the
miracles they’d seen with their own eyes, and heard about from eyewitnesses. Some of the
Pharisees are saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, tell them to stop all of this!” But Jesus answers, “I’m telling
you, if these people were silent, the very stones would cry out!” There’s no stopping the good news
of God’s love in Jesus.
A couple months ago in Vietnam an unauthorized crucifix in a Christian cemetery was demolished by
the authorities. Since then hundreds of bamboo crosses have appeared in the cemetery. Despite
government beatings and arrests, they just keep appearing. In China arrests, kidnappings and
torture by authorities are greeted by an underground church that’s exploding in numbers, and even
beginning to send missionaries out. In the country in which Dictator Idi Amin once killed the Anglican
archbishop and had thousands of others put to death, candidates for baptism now routinely run in
the hundreds in parishes of all sizes. The good news has a life of its own.
Yet one of the painful lessons of today’s Gospel readings is that people, even people who are
caught up in the excitement of God’s amazing activities among us, can and do fall away. Not long
after St. Luke’s account of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, things come unraveled. After a
night of sleepless anguish in Gethsemane, Jesus is betrayed by Judas to the Roman authorities. He’
s arrested, and then all hell literally breaks loose. The juggernaut of injustice is activated, and he’s
publicly humiliated. Even his senior disciple, Peter, denies him three times. Jesus is brought to trial
before Pontius Pilate, and then brought before the people who instead of shouting “Hosanna!” are
now shouting “Crucify him!” And you just heard what follows.
Now, before I fully get into the difficult subject matter that I’d like to discuss with you this morning, it
must be said that there are no surprises to God. Jesus himself knew what was coming, and
submitted himself to it. Betrayal had to happen before redemption became possible. As we stay
with this story through Holy Week and into the great celebration of Easter beginning Saturday night,
it will become clear that all this was meant to be, and that, God’s light triumphs over darkness as
sure as the sun rises in the morning.
But implicit in the events of Holy Week is a solemn message to each of us. And this is what I’d like to
spend a few minutes focusing on with you this morning. The message has to do with the fickleness
of human nature. It’s clear from the Passion story that a great many people changed their minds
about Jesus based upon the information they now had in front of them. They went from celebrating
Jesus to despising and rejecting Him. They felt that he had disappointed them. I’m sorry to say that
the same is true for more than a few in our time. I personally know a number of people who’ve
turned away from a faith in Jesus. My hope this morning is in some small way to help inoculate us
against this spiritual sickness called loss of faith.
But in order to talk about prevention, I think it’s helpful to look at what kinds of things cause us, once
we’ve invested our faith in Jesus, to turn our back on him. From my own experience there are four
that readily come to mind. You may recognize some of these yourself. And as we’ll see, all of these
can have a predictable result.
First, and especially in our own day and age, many have become disillusioned with the institutional
church. And God knows there’ve been plenty of events that have catalyzed this. From widespread
child abuse in the Roman church to the abuse of power and a spirit of unforgiveness in our own
denomination, and many others. This past Monday I read an account of an extraordinary abuse of
power directed at a young, dissenting priest and his family back east. I don’t want to get into the
details here, but I came into this church and read Psalm 31, then wept. These are the kinds of
things that, if we’re not careful, can sabotage our faith, because we expect God’s people to act like
God’s people.
A second, related category of faith-busters has to do with the behavior of our fellow believers. The
fact of the matter is that the institutional church is made up of fallen people. News flash! Does
anybody here doubt that at this point? Most of us are no strangers to Sunday Christians who put on
one face on the Lord’s Day and then go out and put on another out there in the world. And there’s
the sometimes unholy marriage between faith and politics that can contaminate our witness. We
believers truly can be a motley bunch.
But I have to interject something here that I think is really worth repeating, and that’s that the church
was never intended to be a museum of saints, but instead a hospital for sinners. And reforming
sinners is what we’ll all be until we die. A priest friend of mine, when people sourly proclaim that they
don’t go to church because it’s full of hypocrites, replies, “That’s right! And there’s always room for
one more.”
As we’ve said before, if there isn’t some kind of transformation taking place in our lives as a result of
our faith, then something’s wrong. Yet, self-righteousness can be one of the biggest barriers to
transformation. It takes humility to change. Nevertheless, people often respond to each others’
imperfections by either trying to go it alone—do a kind of Lone Ranger Christianity that is ultimately
both unfulfilling and contradictory to the scriptures, or they lose their faith entirely.
Then there are those who are turned off by the outrageous claims of the gospel. Things like: There
actually is such a thing as sin, and God doesn’t necessarily agree with our own assessment of what
does and does not constitute sin. Or Jesus’ claim that he’s the one and only way to God the
Father. Now, these two items could be material for a whole sermon series in and of themselves, but
as we pointed out last week, the bottom line is that the gospel message itself can be polarizing. All
you need to do is look at the events prior to Christ’s Crucifixion to see this.
And the fourth, and perhaps most widespread motivation for loss of faith is incomprehensible
suffering. Suffering that just doesn’t make sense to us. I’d wager that most of us at one time or
another have suffered in a way that seems senseless, and that we’ve had periods in which we simply
haven’t felt God’s presence. Again, this is fodder for at least one sermon, and it has no easy or
obvious solution.
There was a country song eons ago that said, “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose
garden.” The same certainly is true about the Scriptures. I can find no place in the Bible where we’
re given a dimply-faced promise of a carefree existence following Jesus, and a lot of places in the
scriptures that deal head-on with personal sacrifice and human suffering. Yet this problem and the
other three I just outlined are very hard for us to accept. They’re very uncomfortable realities, and
people often lose their faith over them. Some turn their backs so bitterly that the cry of “Hosanna”
becomes the shout to “Crucify him.”
So how are we to keep from losing our faith? Well, again there are several steps we can take. The
very first is to recognize that our faith can’t be based solely upon our personal feelings. A purely
emotion-based faith is like being driven to and fro by the changing direction of the wind. I often
counsel pre-married people not to fall into the trap of thinking that, once they’ve fallen out of love,
the party’s over.
Rather, there’s a deeper kind of love called commitment. It’s a matter of staking out your faith claim,
standing your ground, and refusing to yield when fickle emotions assert themselves. The thing is, if
you give up, the feelings will be gone for good. But if you hang on when the feelings wane, the good
feelings will return delightfully to reassure us, at least from time to time. And the Lord is standing by
to answer our prayer of “I believe, help my unbelief.” So when things get tough, stand your ground
and pray. Persevere in prayer! God won’t leave you on hold.
Second, regardless of how others around you are acting, keep your eyes upon Jesus. Focus on him
and what he’s done for you, and what he’s doing for you, not on other people. The rest will take
care of itself. In 12-step addiction treatment programs there’s a step about taking a fearless moral
inventory of oneself, for the purpose of getting back on the right track. And there’s a healthy rule
against taking other people’s inventories.
We’re not in a position to judge the details and behaviors of others past a certain point. That’s God’
s job. Our job is to look at our own stuff and invite God to do his transforming work within us.
People will always disappoint us, but the Lord never fails us. So keep your eyes on Jesus, and not
on other people.
Third, when suffering happens, remember that ultimate victory belongs to God. Nothing can
separate us from his love. And the truth that trumps all other truths is that, in the end, the faithful
are promised a fountain springing upward to eternal life. The story’s not over, and it has a good
ending. As I mentioned, the scriptures never trivialize human suffering. But they do give us an
assurance that all suffering is given meaning in light of Christ’s ultimate victory over sin, evil and
death. In the end God wins, and we win with him.
Finally, we need to remind ourselves simply that God is good. We can trust his leadership over our
lives. When the boat is being tossed about and it feels like everything’s out of control, the Master
really is there with us, and will bring peace. And there are two good ways to remind ourselves of
this. The first is to read the Bible and the second is to pray daily. The scriptures give us a clearer
and clearer picture of the Lord’s love for us, and in regular prayer we begin to familiarize ourselves
with the way he communicates with us individually. These are very important things for us to do in
order to nurture our faith connection with the One who redeems us and gives us life.
And all of this wouldn’t be complete without pointing out a huge advantage we have over the people
who witnessed Christ’s passion. And that is that we, today, have the witness and evidence of Christ’s
resurrection. We know the end of the story. This historic event is the reassuring first fruits of eternal
life that we all will share. In fact, this is what makes it all too easy to get ahead of myself, which I’ve
just done.
This week we go through the betrayal to get to the redemption. As we walk the Via Dolorosa and
share Christ’s sufferings, may we learn the hard-earned lessons of faithfulness in the face of
adversity. And as we do, may we keep our eyes on the promise which is fulfilled in the event we will
joyfully celebrate right here in a little less than a week. Amen.
Gospel readings. In the space of one week, which is captured in the readings of one morning, we
go from one extreme to another.
If you were here last week you’ll recall that Jesus had just accomplished the crown of all his pre-
Crucifixion miracles. He had raised a man from the dead. We heard that the already large crowds
following Jesus were now engorged with many more people who’d heard of what Jesus had done for
Lazarus. There was electricity in the air. The excitement was palpable, and the people were
delirious with joy in their expectation of a deliverer. It seems that when the Lord’s love and
miraculous grace become known, there’s no stopping the news from spreading.
So people line the streets as Jesus rides into Jerusalem. They’re shouting out God’s glory for the
miracles they’d seen with their own eyes, and heard about from eyewitnesses. Some of the
Pharisees are saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, tell them to stop all of this!” But Jesus answers, “I’m telling
you, if these people were silent, the very stones would cry out!” There’s no stopping the good news
of God’s love in Jesus.
A couple months ago in Vietnam an unauthorized crucifix in a Christian cemetery was demolished by
the authorities. Since then hundreds of bamboo crosses have appeared in the cemetery. Despite
government beatings and arrests, they just keep appearing. In China arrests, kidnappings and
torture by authorities are greeted by an underground church that’s exploding in numbers, and even
beginning to send missionaries out. In the country in which Dictator Idi Amin once killed the Anglican
archbishop and had thousands of others put to death, candidates for baptism now routinely run in
the hundreds in parishes of all sizes. The good news has a life of its own.
Yet one of the painful lessons of today’s Gospel readings is that people, even people who are
caught up in the excitement of God’s amazing activities among us, can and do fall away. Not long
after St. Luke’s account of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, things come unraveled. After a
night of sleepless anguish in Gethsemane, Jesus is betrayed by Judas to the Roman authorities. He’
s arrested, and then all hell literally breaks loose. The juggernaut of injustice is activated, and he’s
publicly humiliated. Even his senior disciple, Peter, denies him three times. Jesus is brought to trial
before Pontius Pilate, and then brought before the people who instead of shouting “Hosanna!” are
now shouting “Crucify him!” And you just heard what follows.
Now, before I fully get into the difficult subject matter that I’d like to discuss with you this morning, it
must be said that there are no surprises to God. Jesus himself knew what was coming, and
submitted himself to it. Betrayal had to happen before redemption became possible. As we stay
with this story through Holy Week and into the great celebration of Easter beginning Saturday night,
it will become clear that all this was meant to be, and that, God’s light triumphs over darkness as
sure as the sun rises in the morning.
But implicit in the events of Holy Week is a solemn message to each of us. And this is what I’d like to
spend a few minutes focusing on with you this morning. The message has to do with the fickleness
of human nature. It’s clear from the Passion story that a great many people changed their minds
about Jesus based upon the information they now had in front of them. They went from celebrating
Jesus to despising and rejecting Him. They felt that he had disappointed them. I’m sorry to say that
the same is true for more than a few in our time. I personally know a number of people who’ve
turned away from a faith in Jesus. My hope this morning is in some small way to help inoculate us
against this spiritual sickness called loss of faith.
But in order to talk about prevention, I think it’s helpful to look at what kinds of things cause us, once
we’ve invested our faith in Jesus, to turn our back on him. From my own experience there are four
that readily come to mind. You may recognize some of these yourself. And as we’ll see, all of these
can have a predictable result.
First, and especially in our own day and age, many have become disillusioned with the institutional
church. And God knows there’ve been plenty of events that have catalyzed this. From widespread
child abuse in the Roman church to the abuse of power and a spirit of unforgiveness in our own
denomination, and many others. This past Monday I read an account of an extraordinary abuse of
power directed at a young, dissenting priest and his family back east. I don’t want to get into the
details here, but I came into this church and read Psalm 31, then wept. These are the kinds of
things that, if we’re not careful, can sabotage our faith, because we expect God’s people to act like
God’s people.
A second, related category of faith-busters has to do with the behavior of our fellow believers. The
fact of the matter is that the institutional church is made up of fallen people. News flash! Does
anybody here doubt that at this point? Most of us are no strangers to Sunday Christians who put on
one face on the Lord’s Day and then go out and put on another out there in the world. And there’s
the sometimes unholy marriage between faith and politics that can contaminate our witness. We
believers truly can be a motley bunch.
But I have to interject something here that I think is really worth repeating, and that’s that the church
was never intended to be a museum of saints, but instead a hospital for sinners. And reforming
sinners is what we’ll all be until we die. A priest friend of mine, when people sourly proclaim that they
don’t go to church because it’s full of hypocrites, replies, “That’s right! And there’s always room for
one more.”
As we’ve said before, if there isn’t some kind of transformation taking place in our lives as a result of
our faith, then something’s wrong. Yet, self-righteousness can be one of the biggest barriers to
transformation. It takes humility to change. Nevertheless, people often respond to each others’
imperfections by either trying to go it alone—do a kind of Lone Ranger Christianity that is ultimately
both unfulfilling and contradictory to the scriptures, or they lose their faith entirely.
Then there are those who are turned off by the outrageous claims of the gospel. Things like: There
actually is such a thing as sin, and God doesn’t necessarily agree with our own assessment of what
does and does not constitute sin. Or Jesus’ claim that he’s the one and only way to God the
Father. Now, these two items could be material for a whole sermon series in and of themselves, but
as we pointed out last week, the bottom line is that the gospel message itself can be polarizing. All
you need to do is look at the events prior to Christ’s Crucifixion to see this.
And the fourth, and perhaps most widespread motivation for loss of faith is incomprehensible
suffering. Suffering that just doesn’t make sense to us. I’d wager that most of us at one time or
another have suffered in a way that seems senseless, and that we’ve had periods in which we simply
haven’t felt God’s presence. Again, this is fodder for at least one sermon, and it has no easy or
obvious solution.
There was a country song eons ago that said, “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose
garden.” The same certainly is true about the Scriptures. I can find no place in the Bible where we’
re given a dimply-faced promise of a carefree existence following Jesus, and a lot of places in the
scriptures that deal head-on with personal sacrifice and human suffering. Yet this problem and the
other three I just outlined are very hard for us to accept. They’re very uncomfortable realities, and
people often lose their faith over them. Some turn their backs so bitterly that the cry of “Hosanna”
becomes the shout to “Crucify him.”
So how are we to keep from losing our faith? Well, again there are several steps we can take. The
very first is to recognize that our faith can’t be based solely upon our personal feelings. A purely
emotion-based faith is like being driven to and fro by the changing direction of the wind. I often
counsel pre-married people not to fall into the trap of thinking that, once they’ve fallen out of love,
the party’s over.
Rather, there’s a deeper kind of love called commitment. It’s a matter of staking out your faith claim,
standing your ground, and refusing to yield when fickle emotions assert themselves. The thing is, if
you give up, the feelings will be gone for good. But if you hang on when the feelings wane, the good
feelings will return delightfully to reassure us, at least from time to time. And the Lord is standing by
to answer our prayer of “I believe, help my unbelief.” So when things get tough, stand your ground
and pray. Persevere in prayer! God won’t leave you on hold.
Second, regardless of how others around you are acting, keep your eyes upon Jesus. Focus on him
and what he’s done for you, and what he’s doing for you, not on other people. The rest will take
care of itself. In 12-step addiction treatment programs there’s a step about taking a fearless moral
inventory of oneself, for the purpose of getting back on the right track. And there’s a healthy rule
against taking other people’s inventories.
We’re not in a position to judge the details and behaviors of others past a certain point. That’s God’
s job. Our job is to look at our own stuff and invite God to do his transforming work within us.
People will always disappoint us, but the Lord never fails us. So keep your eyes on Jesus, and not
on other people.
Third, when suffering happens, remember that ultimate victory belongs to God. Nothing can
separate us from his love. And the truth that trumps all other truths is that, in the end, the faithful
are promised a fountain springing upward to eternal life. The story’s not over, and it has a good
ending. As I mentioned, the scriptures never trivialize human suffering. But they do give us an
assurance that all suffering is given meaning in light of Christ’s ultimate victory over sin, evil and
death. In the end God wins, and we win with him.
Finally, we need to remind ourselves simply that God is good. We can trust his leadership over our
lives. When the boat is being tossed about and it feels like everything’s out of control, the Master
really is there with us, and will bring peace. And there are two good ways to remind ourselves of
this. The first is to read the Bible and the second is to pray daily. The scriptures give us a clearer
and clearer picture of the Lord’s love for us, and in regular prayer we begin to familiarize ourselves
with the way he communicates with us individually. These are very important things for us to do in
order to nurture our faith connection with the One who redeems us and gives us life.
And all of this wouldn’t be complete without pointing out a huge advantage we have over the people
who witnessed Christ’s passion. And that is that we, today, have the witness and evidence of Christ’s
resurrection. We know the end of the story. This historic event is the reassuring first fruits of eternal
life that we all will share. In fact, this is what makes it all too easy to get ahead of myself, which I’ve
just done.
This week we go through the betrayal to get to the redemption. As we walk the Via Dolorosa and
share Christ’s sufferings, may we learn the hard-earned lessons of faithfulness in the face of
adversity. And as we do, may we keep our eyes on the promise which is fulfilled in the event we will
joyfully celebrate right here in a little less than a week. Amen.
Loss of Faith
Palm Sunday, 2010
Palm Sunday, 2010
March 28, 2010
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton
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