Givers and Takers| Mark 11:1-11
Mark 11:1-11
Givers and Takers
Palm Sunday, March 24, 2024
It’s springtime. It is getting to be, and for some people, already has been, vacation time. In my newsletter article this week, I talked about a book that I have been reading that suggests ways we can take mini-vacations every day. Sounds pretty awesome, right?
One way we can have a mini-vacation every day, before we even get out of bed, is to think of one thing we are thankful for and then recite a verse from a psalm or a prayer and start our day with a vacation from negativity.
So often, when we wake up our first thought is “I didn’t get enough sleep.” We almost never wake up and think, “I got the perfect amount of rest last night.”
If we begin our day on a thankful note, it can set the tone for our whole day.
One thing I have been thankful for this week – super massively thankful for – is You! I could never thank you enough, or be thankful enough, for the privilege I have of being your pastor, and a part of the Bethlehem family.
Being in a church family is like being in any other family. It is awesome, but there are going to be some challenges. It involves having some hard conversations from time to time. We might need to hear some things that aren’t always easy to hear.
Dr. Lynn Hill, who was my district superintendent once, would tell his congregations, love me enough to tell me what’s good and love me enough to tell me what’s not so good. All of us can get better at what we do. All of us can become better people.
I once had a conversation with my senior pastor when I was serving as an associate pastor that wasn’t an easy conversation, but it turned out to be a blessing, because I heard something that day that was helpful for me to hear.
In that conversation Dr. Jim Clardy, who I have always admired and worked with in various capacities, said to me, “Craig, there are two kinds of people in this world. There are givers and there are takers.”
As you can probably guess, there is a reason he told me that. I was whining about wanting something or other. I can’t remember what it was, more mileage allotment or something. And being a good leader, Jim was willing to enter into a tough conversation with me and have me reflect on whether I was being more of a giver or a taker. I’m glad he did. It caused me to be very intentional about wanting to be more of a giver than a taker.
Of course, we all do both, we all give and we all receive. There are things we need that we get from others and there are things other people need we provide for them. All of us.
Did you notice in our text today Jesus asks for something? That is incredible. Jesus is asking for something. You don’t see Jesus asking for a lot in the New Testament. He asks the woman at the well in Samaria for a drink of a water, which it doesn’t even look like he gets, because after their very extended conversation, she runs into town and you never hear about her giving him anything. Then on the cross in John’s Gospel, he says, “I thirst,” he needed something to drink again.
In our text today, he asks for something very specific. Let’s look at verses 1-3 again.
Who could imagine that the One who created everything that it is, the earth, the moon, the sun, the stars and beyond, would need a donkey, would need something we wouldn’t consider to be of much value at all either in our day and time or in ancient times.
It reminds me of a great poem by G.K. Chesterton I would like to read called The Donkey:
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody,
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet;
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
Jesus could have chosen to ride a horse for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an Appaloosa or Arabian Charger. No, he chose to ride a donkey. I guess he could have chosen mighty generals and governors to be his disciples to launch the Christian faith, but he chose fishermen and tax-collectors. Incredible.
I have mentioned before there were times during the days of my seminary training to be a pastor, when I felt a little intimidated. I was studying to be a pastor with people who already knew what it meant to be a pastor. They had seen it their whole lives. They were the sons and daughters of pastors. I wasn’t.
They grew up attending V.B.S. and Sunday School, and church camp. I didn’t. The first time I ever went on a church retreat or camp was as a counselor.
I went to school with some students who were natural, super eloquent speakers and just all around sophisticated and I felt less than articulate and sophisticated.
But God doesn’t call the qualified, but God qualifies the called. God needs us all to do God’s work, even those of us who might feel more like a donkey than an Arabian Charger.
Jonathan Edwards was and is one of the most well-known preachers in all the world. He drew multitudes of people to hear him speak, even though he preached by manuscript and read every word of his sermons, he was so near sighted, he had to hold his notes six inches from his face. Yet, he is one of the most famous preachers who have ever lived.
George Whitefield is widely held to be by far, hands down, the best preacher among the early Methodists. He had some stiff competition, including John and Charles Wesley. Even Ben Franklin, who didn’t offer a lot of compliments about preachers, had this to say about Whitefield:
“Whitefield’s sermons were so well-practiced and modulated that they resembled an excellent Piece of Music.” Whitefield was a superstar, both in Great Britain and America. And yet, Whitefield was so severely cross-eyed, it would have been hard to follow his gaze during his sermons.
There is a woman pastor in our conference who is a recovering addict; and yet, last year, her church baptized more people than all the other churches in our Conference combined. She has provided housing for those recovering from addiction, even though she is recovering from addiction.
None of us are perfect, but the Lord needs us all to do what we can do to allow God to work through us, just like the Lord needed the burro he rode into Jerusalem on.
As we used to say, “You are the only Bible some people will ever read.”
As we all know, this is an exceptionally important season for the church. Easter Sunday is next week. This is Holy Week. We have a great opportunity to invite people to join us for worship and it is normally one of the most well attended services of the year. However, there are some people who just aren’t ready to attend on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday or Easter Sunday, and that is why another one of our most important services of the year is scheduled for the week after Easter Sunday: Church Has Left The Building Sunday (CHLB).
There will be people who will come and help out on CHLB day who rarely if ever darken the doorway of the church any other time. We could get all bent out of shape about that, which won’t do anybody any good, but we can also be grateful they will be here to sort rice and beans for Feed America First, that they will pick up trash on Hillsboro Road, that they will be visiting the Room in the Inn campus or that they will be bringing cookies for the teachers in our community. We can be grateful that they are here, and we can say to them, “It is good to see you here.” We don’t even have to add, “The Lord needs you,” because deep in their heart I think they already know that is why they will be here.
The Lord needs you. The Lord needs you, and it’s nice to be needed. It is nice to be a giver and not just a taker. ews.