"Yes, but..." Ever said or heard words like that?
        Deciding on a vacation destination - "Would you like to go to Algonquin Park?" "Yes, it's nice there..... but...."
        What college programme shall I take - "I'd like nursing.... but...." and the objections come.
        "your mother survived the cancer surgery.... but....." and the dreaded words are loaded on.
Yes, but -- tension between opposites. Life is full of such experiences.
Jesus lived through many of them, like the event we will witness today.
A "yes, but" kind of story.
 
 

"Yes, but."
You can see the "Yes" part in the faces of the crowd as they throw down their coats, wave the branches, and sing at the top of their lungs, welcoming this man of God. And as they do, perhaps some realize they are fulfilling the words of the prophet, uttered some 500 years earlier:

"Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having     salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zech 9.9)

        It was a prophecy which everyone knew spoke of the Messiah, the great One who would set his people free, who would usher in God's glorious kingdom on earth. Now here was the fulfillment of that prophecy - God's annointed One, His representative.
        A new era is dawning.
        Freedom is coming.
        Hope for an oppressed people.
                "Yes!"

And their minds whirl with recollections of stories they'd heard and events they'd eye-witnessed over the last few years; amazing things Jesus had done:
        - turning a rich, cheating tax collector into a love-filled philanthropist
        - restoring sight to a blind beggar
        - giving new life to someone suffering congestive heart failure
        - releasing a woman who had been terrorized by a demon 18 yrs
        - raising a widow's son from the dead
        - giving a paralytic the gift of healthy legs
Oh, it didn't all fit in a clear way. They didn’t comprehend all the precise theological implications and intricacies. There were lots of misconceptions floating around in their minds. They had gaps in their understanding.
        Still – this beboppin', hootin 'n hollerin peasant crowd understood that in some great way God was with them through Jesus.
        This was the beginning of something profoundly new, deeply life-restoring, and peace-giving.
So they celebrate for all they're worth.

They celebrate, and - hey - it could not be otherwise!
I mean - think of a little kid on the morning of her birthday party. Wiggling, giggling, excited to the point of bursting, and scarcely able to contain herself. You don't even try to make her sit still.

And that's just a birthday. Think of the excitement here:
        Messiah is coming. New hope for tired people.
                Excitement to the point of bursting.
                You shouldn't even try to make the people be quiet.

The Saviour is here. Peace is come to a world gasping, groaning, aching.
        Peace. Shalom. New wholeness.
        A return to the way things should be; to the way God created them to be.
To a world that has been banished, cursed, a humanity separated from their God, unable since Eden to walk and talk with Him,
        now all that was happening again!
The flaming sword and the angel, the heavenly guard keeping humanity from paradise, steps aside.
                The road is open once more.
                        God, His Son, is walking and talking with humanity.

"Teacher, rebuke your disciples."
"If they are quiet the very stones will cry out!"
        Creation itself is bursting at the seams, like an excited child. Praise must happen. It will happen.
        Nobody can, nobody will stop it!

Holy excitement. This is not the first time that we read about excitement like this in Israel. Two other occasions come to mind.
        The first is from the Old Testament - 2 Samuel 6. A special box known as "The Ark", symbolizing the presence of God, was being carried to Jerusalem. The people saw it approach, and in it saw a symbolizing of the approaching presence of God -- GOD was coming to live among them.
        And their King gets to hopping up and down like a little kid, throws off his royal robes, calls the band to strike up a loud and merry tune, calls the choir out, and dances with holy passion before the Lord.
        Holy unrestrained excitement.

        I think of Luke 2 where angels observe the birth of Jesus -- God has become man, to dwell with them. And they sing - at the top of their heavenly lungs, a huge choir filling the night sky just outside Jerusalem.
        Below them a motley crew of shepherds. They meet Jesus, and according to the Bible "returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen...."

YES!!.......

       BUT --

Ah...... how come there always has to be a "but"?
        How come, whenever holy joy begins to bubble towards the surface, it seems that there is always someone or something at work trying to put the lid on things, to squash hope, to tie lead weights to souls that are celebrating freedom in the Lord.
                How come?

When the Lord is at work bringing release and joy, it seems that Satan is prowling around the doorstep, waiting to dart in and maim the party.

        The Evil One works through Michal, the king’s wife, in the Old Testament story of 2 Samuel 6. The King comes home from celebrating the return of the ark. Michal meets him at the door with a huge frown, hands on hips – "And just what do you think you were trying to prove behaving like a total idiot?"
        Sucks the air right out of the celebration.

        When the angels and the shepherds celebrate the birth of Christ, the Evil One turns his twisted attention to King Herod and uses this tyrant to murder all male babies in Bethlehem.
 
 

And now here -
        Jewish religious leaders try to toss a wet blanket on the party. They just don't get it. In part they're afraid the occupying Roman army will get wind of this parade and show up with swords drawn. A bigger element is that they're simply jealous. Can't stomach all this attention being focussed on Jesus.
                He's not worth it, as far as they're concerned.
It's tragic. Horribly tragic -- they're blind, totally blind to the presence and the working of God in their midst.

        Another "but" -- one only Jesus could see, one he saw with His prophetic ability. Had to do with this singing mob. Jesus knew that one week from now they'd all be back for round two. Only this time they'd be whipped up in a frenzied desire to kill him.
                Fickle, these people.

See - these people expected Jesus to come as a political rebel leader, like the rebels presently at work in Albania. A mighty warrior - that's what they wanted and expected. What they failed to understand was that one coming on a donkey's colt was a man of peace.
        He was not a king interested in war, fighting and killing. He was a king of peace who wants to see lives restored and healed. He desires wholeness for people, and comes to bring that on God's behalf.
        But the people don't see that, and when he doesn't pan out according to their ideas in a few days, they're quite ready to drop him in the gutter.

All of which brings Messiah to tears.
        Frustrated by the stubborn, unyielding hearts of the Jewish authorities. Saddened at the horrible spiritual blindness in which they stumble.
        Pained by these people who so quickly would switch their allegiance.

Jesus weeps. He sees horror on the horizon; horror that became a historical reality when the Roman army leveled Jerusalem some years later; attacking in 70 A.D., flattening every single building and killing all occupants - men, women and children.

"The days will come upon you..... because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."

Horrible but very real judgement judgement.
When people don't recognize the coming, the presence of the Lord among them, there comes a time when the Lord stops waiting. He removes His presence.

When instead of "Yes"
        you choose ".... but."

The heart of Jesus is that the people would choose "Yes."
His deep desire is that the political and religious leaders would give up their fascination with power and self interest...... and choose "Yes."
His longing is that you and I would choose "Yes."

        "Yes" to Jesus.
        "Yes" to loving Him.
        "Yes" to celebrating His coming.
        "Yes" to living life on His terms.

.........."but"
        There will be those who choose "but."

And they bring tears to Messiah’s eyes.
The fate of those who stubbornly resist Him brings tears to His eyes.
For they remain, even though stubborn and rebellious,
        they remain precious human beings.
        Lost..... but precious.
                And Messiah weeps.

His heart is heavy as He considers their fate in a setting of tension.
        Yes-but tension.
And other, secondary tensions.
        There is this wonderful day in tension with what Jesus knows will occur next Friday.
        - the beauty of a bright sunny day on a Palestinian hillside, colourful coats strewn on the dusty road; branches, waving, filling the air--
        - but looming on the horizon is another hillside and an unnaturally dark afternoon; sprawled on the road a condemned man, beaten to the point of death; three crosses filling the air.

        There is the tension that Jesus sees of the pain and sin that has so badly scarred the world in which He has walked these past 33 years, compared to the glory of His heavenly home;
        the horror of sin compared to the glory of salvation he had come to bring.

So Jesus rides on, into the city. Past row after row of people – some waving and celebrating. Others frowning and turning their back. But all of them beings slated for eternal glory and splendour, or eternal horror.
                .....Just like us.

The judgement pronounced this day on the city of Jerusalem stands as a symbol of the eternally final, and ever more horrible judgement that will be pronounced on every soul that stands as the Pharisees did that day -
arms crossed, hearts hard, faces creased in frowns,
        unresponsive.
                every soul that is fickle and ready to dump belief in Jesus into a dumpster somewhere the moment it doesn't quite compute, the moment it starts to pinch or meet their consumeristic expectations.

And it is there, at the edge of the parade -
        - between YES and BUT -
                that we stand today as we enter this most holy week before Good Friday and Easter.

As you leave here in a few moments, with the image of these Jews bowing their knee before Jesus, consider your response.
        Is it a full "Yes" to Jesus?
        Or is there, somewhere inside, a "But"?

See - one day every knee will bow before Him. He will return to earth and everyone who has ever lived will be raised for final judgement.
        And every knee will bow.
        Willingly or not.
        In glorious exuberance & joy -- or in horror.
        But they will bow!
 
 
 

So - what will it be?
On the one hand we have the choice of unreservedly welcoming the Son of God, the Anointed Prince of Peace into our lives as Lord and King
giving unrestrained praise and honour, never minding what others might think,
                serving him with all we've got!

On the other hand we have the choice of holding back, hesitating, doing a double take and saying, "No, I don't think so." Maybe even sneering or speaking condemningly of those who seem almost fanatical in their faith.
        Just be real careful with this second choice.
        For if we begin to walk that road, and if we insist on holding out, holding out, and holding out,
                one day we will discover that we have held out too long.
                Salvation, and the unrestricted joy and peace it brings,
                        will have passed us by.
It will be, as for the Pharisees, hidden from our eyes.
        Our souls will become calloused, insensitive to the things of God.
        And nothing can be more horrible, or deadly, than that!
 
 

Yes.... but.....
The tension is unshakable.
The tears of Jesus an indicator of His passion and desire for us.
As you focus on that,
        May you come away freed from tension, smiling,
                with your heart, soul and mind filled with the response -
                        "YES!!"