Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

Romans 7:14-25

“Deal, or No Deal?”

Palm Sunday

Rev. Meagan M. Boozer

Have you seen the new game show? It’s one of the hottest new shows on TV: “Deal, or no Deal?” The object of the game is to win as much money for yourself as you possibly can.

The game begins with a person being called from the audience to choose 1 of 25 suitcases- hoping that the one you picked is the one that promises you $1,000,000.00 to take home. Now, the show would be over if all they did then was to open the case chosen and give away the amount listed inside. But, they have a whole hour to fill, so they have the person open the other suitcases, one by one, either increasing or decreasing their chances of winning a very large sum of money. After each sequence of opening the cases, the “banker” from the sound proof room calls on the phone and offers the person a payoff “deal.” Then comes the big moment when Howie Mandell asks the question, “Deal or no deal?”

I’ve been home in need of absolutely mindless entertainment twice when this show was on. I ‘ve watched it- the whole thing- and I’ve been beyond frustration with the greed of the contestants. Geez, they walk into the show with no money, and are offered huge sums of money as a payoff deal- and instead of being glad and taking the money that would probably pay off their mortgage and their momma’s mortgage, and pay for the kid’s college tuitions- they say something stupid (all hyped up in the thrill of the moment). They say, “No deal.”

Why? They want more. They want more easy money. They want as much as they can get-and their friends and family members are cheering them on every sordid step along the way. I hate this show! I hate that it is glorifying Greed.

Little children are standing on the stage saying, “No mommy. Don’t take the money, mommy. No deal.”

Parents are telling their in debt grown children, “No deal.”

Spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, are saying, “No honey, don’t take the money. No deal.” (Even though we know that if they lose big-time, these couples will probably fight about it for the rest of their married lives together.)

Friends are telling friends, “No deal. No deal. No deal. HOLD OUT for an even bigger jackpot!” I hate this show! I hate that it is so popular! I hate this show that celebrates the addictive sin of greed.

The people who stood along the road going down into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday were down to two suitcases. But the question being asked as Jesus passed by was this one: “King, or no King?” And they decided, “King!” They decided, based on all the miracles Jesus had been doing among them, that Jesus was the real deal. The problem was that the deal they thought was the big jackpot, was not what, or rather, who was passing by them on the back of a donkey.

The people in the crowds that day thought Jesus was going to be like a SHOCK and AWE campaign. They thought as the promised Messiah, he was going to come down the hill and up into Jerusalem and take OUT the Romans so that the Jews could once again be top dogs. They were sick of having the Romans tell them what to do. They were, after all, God’s chosen people.

And so they shouted, “Hosanna! Deal! We’re with you, King Jesus!” “Go, get’em Jesus.” But they had their eyes so fully fixed on what they wanted, that they failed to see the tears streaming down his cheeks as he passed through the crowd. (Luke 19:41 & 42, “As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!”) They failed to notice that he wasn’t riding some perfect thoroughbred horse as a political king would ride. They failed to notice he was sitting on a donkey, with no weapons, and no golden crown.

The apostle Paul, one of the foremost leaders in the days of the early church, and the most prolific writer of our New Testament books, wrote the following in our reading for today:

For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

The apostle Paul is revealing to us that he is helpless to want what God wants and actually carry it out. He, one of the most important spiritual leaders in the Bible says, “I just can’t seem to get it right.” “I blow it every single day.” What a contrast between Paul and the people on the street that Palm Sunday who were so full of themselves and what they wanted that they missed their salvation walking right by them. And if it had been laid out clearly and logically as a presentation before them, “Okay. Jesus is a King, but he’s going to overthrow the devil and the sin of all people instead by submitting to God’s will and letting himself be crucified this coming Friday.” If the presenter would ask the question, “So, King or no king? Deal or no deal?” There is no doubt the answer would be: No King. No deal. This is NOT what we had in mind.

Over the last six weeks, the session and the trustees have had several special meetings in addition to our regular meetings. We have had an opportunity come knocking on our door that has caused us to think and talk and pray about our future together in new ways. We have been presented with the opportunity to rent space to Franklin County Head Start for a classroom of 12-15 children for the 2006-07 school year. Using our building more full has been something that we’ve all been pretty pleased about in the last number of years. I’ve heard many of you say how glad you are to see lights in the building in the evenings, and cars in the parking lot during the day.

For the last 2 ½ years we’ve been talking and praying about the possibility of starting a Christian daycare or nursery school here at the church as a mission for our local community. It’s a well-known fact that such a ministry is desperately needed in the valley. But for reasons only God knows, we just haven’t been able to make headway on such an undertaking. We have continued to pray. This item has been on our Mission & Outreach committee agenda every month for over two years. “Lord, if you want us to do something like a daycare or nursery school for the children in the valley, please show us what to do.” Knock, knock, knock. “Who’s there?” “Fannett-Metal School District and Franklin County Head Start. We’d like to partner with you to help the poorest of the poor children in this community.”

We’ve had some long and trying discussions about this. Head Start, as an organization, doesn’t have the best reputation here in the valley in terms of its administrative care and professional behavior. However, it does have a new Executive Director who came with 20 years of experience with Head Start. Locally, Head Start does have a good reputation for helping to provide educational and social stimulation for the poorest of the children in our community- preparing them more adequately for kindergarten experience for all enrolled children.

And so we are asked, “Deal, or no deal?”

At the same time we are honestly and openly saying things like:

- But we just got that nursery all fixed up. Now, we’re going to let it get all torn up so it won’t be so nice for “our kids” on Sundays?

- Think of the germs all those little kids are going to bring into the building. Our “own” young parents probably aren’t going to want to let their children in that room with all those extra germs in there. They might even stop coming, and then we might lose them altogether.

- You mean we’re going to have to rearrange furniture after we just got it all situated? You mean we’re going to have to take our big cribs out of there and only use portable ones for our babies? You mean we’re going to have to move those wonderful rockers every single Sunday afternoon to another secure room, then move them back before the next Sunday morning?

- Who’s going to make sure they’re doing what we told them they could do? Who’s going to make sure they close the windows turn off the lights, turn back the thermostat, etc., etc., etc.?

We’ve said all this and more; and we’ve thought a whole lot more things we haven’t said out loud. The 18 people (that’s about 20% of worship attendees) you have elected to serve and represent you on the session & trustees have struggled over all of this.

And Jesus is passing by, and I think he might be weeping.

Folks, as your pastor, I just knew the Lord had something coming for us that was going to challenge us beyond our pocketbooks. I just knew the Lord was going to pick something to get to the battle that rages within every single one of us to make us ask the question of ourselves, and of our congregation, “King, or no king?”

As Jesus rides on towards the suffering of the cross, suffering beyond anything any of us have or ever will suffer, he asks us, “Do you see me?” “Do you really see what kind of King I am?” “Do you see that life around me is not comfortable? I’m on a donkey, for crying out loud. I don’t have a saddle. All I have is this cloak I’m sitting on. A lot of the time, life with me is not pretty. Life with me, is not without risk.” “Look at me,” he says. “Do you see that life with me doesn’t look like much of a deal?”

The apostle Paul says, “Even what I see, I can’t hardly trust. The stuff I say, the stuff I do is full of sin. I want to do better, but I can’t seem to make much headway- at least not on my own strength. I’m trying to see you, Jesus. I’m trying to do it your way.” And in his honest view of himself, the Spirit pours into him divine strength and truth: Look how he finishes v 20 & 21. “Who will rescue me? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ the Lord!”

On our own we cannot, we are not qualified to make the right decision about Head Start. We are too filled with sin. We are too filled with looking at what went wrong in the past, thinking about what might go wrong in the future, and making mountains out of all the things that we want out of this. As sinners, we are too filled with needing to “get what’s ours.” We are too filled with our own sense of importance. “There is none who is righteous,” Paul says. Not one of us is qualified to make this decision on our own. But if we get our eyes on the humble servant passing by, if we will allow ourselves to hear his words, “Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them,” if we will return to the convicting teachings of Moses in Deuteronomy, “Take care that you do not forget the LORD your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statues, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your God,” if we will do these things together, then it will not be as hard to do what is right, even though in our sin, at the same time we do not want to do it.

Jesus the Christ is passing by. He is the King. We mustn’t hesitate to follow him, for we, unlike the crowds that first Palm Sunday, we know how it all turns out. We don’t need Howie Mandell. We don’t need any suitcases. We don’t need any of this (the building, the stuff inside). All we need is Jesus. No other deal will do.

Let Me Be (words and music by Aaron Senseman)

Lord, You are the maker of my heart-

Framer and reshaper of my soul-

Master and Creator-

I will put my trust in You alone.

Teach me to be faithful to confess-

In this way, my spirit will be blessed-

Though my sins are daily-

You have loved me greatly-

Removing them as far as east from west.

Let me be open, let me be humble,

Let me find the joy of my salvation in Your cross.

Let me be broken, whenever I stumble,

Let me remember the great mercy of my God.

Give me the full measure of Your Grace-

As it is reflected in the Word-

Faith and reassurance-

Mercy and endurance-

I’ll carry these to those who haven’t heard.

All I have needed is laid at Your table,

All my achievements, I lay at Your feet.

Alive in Your spirit, I’m willing and able-

You make my joy complete.

Amen.

April 9, 2006

Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

04-09-2006