March 20th 2016 "Tied Up"

Mach 20, 2016 Palm Sunday Isaiah 50.4-9a, Luke 19.28-40 (Palm Sunday) “Tied Up” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

When many people come to Chester County, they say they are in the country. They see the farms, the horses, the fields behind the church that grow barley or corn, the open spaces. One of my friends from Baltimore said that the air smells so much fresher and cleaner than the city and the pine trees look healthier and more beautiful. [pine tree]

One year the youth group played a game of hide-and-seek. About 10 tweens wandered in the corn field that we rent to Farmer Dan. I took one step in, heard the crackle of dry grass under my feet and felt the itchy branches, dust and cobwebs on my face and decided I was best suited to wait outside until the kids came out. It was too much country for me.

Country is beautiful to see but country can be a bit rough at the touch. Jesus sent two of the disciples to untie somebody’s colt. [a colt]  These two, being familiar with animals day to day, were well able to untie a donkey. They were no stranger to the feel and the smell and the flickering ears that accompanied any donkey. They knew the ropes and how to untie lots of animals. This baby donkey would be no challenge at all.

Has the Lord ever sent you to untie a donkey? Have you ever approached an animal and attempted to take it somewhere? [Jesus sent two of the disciples, 30saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden.]   Jesus sent two of the disciples, 30saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden.

St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals in the Catholic Church. He had lots of affection for animals. Animals seemed to be unusually attracted to him. St. Francis was even know to preach to the animals and encourage them to praise God with their wings or their paws. He was in the mindset of Psalm 150 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. [Francis of Assisi]

Though he became great after his death at the age of 44 in the year 1204, St. Francis was an ordinary man, not known for his giftedness or attractiveness. Perhaps the most dramatic part of his life was his conversion to Christianity. He was spiritually on fire. Though his family was well off, he made a vow of poverty, humility and obedience at the age of 24. He was quickly made a saint because of the many miracles involving animals that surrounded his life. Millions of people pilgrimage to his tomb in Assisi, Italy in order to reflect on his unique relationship with God and his gentleness and respect for life.

Some of you love and appreciate animals more than others of us. You would have been the first in line to go get the donkey that Jesus sent the two disciples to untie.

Any of us could be called at any time to untie a donkey. For the world is full of folks that are tied up. We are tied up in knots, tied up in predicaments, tied up in dilemmas, tied up in doubts, tied up in danger. The world is full of folks that are tied up. That is why Jesus called the disciples to untie the donkey. At times we may be that donkey that needs to be loosed and set free to go with Jesus.

Could you be that disciple whom Jesus calls to untie our donkeys? Could you be the one to go respect all of God’s creatures, even the lowly ones, even the animals, even the beastly ones, even the ones that are tied up because if they were not they would wander, or if they were not tied up they would be unpredictable? Could you be that disciple whom Jesus calls to untie our donkeys?

Sure you could. If God calls you, God will equip you. If God calls you, God will empower you. You cannot go anywhere God sends you without the help of God. The two disciples that went to untie the donkey did not have an address. They just kept walking. They were told to go to the village. They did not know who owned the donkey. They were just told what to say when they started untying the donkey.

As a disciple, you already know that when God tells you to go somewhere, you do not always have an address, or you may be told what to say to a stranger before you meet them or you may not know if the life you are untying will be meek and mild or wild and wooly. You may not know how long the journey will be or when you will be able to get a break. As a disciple, you already know that God will be with you to the end.

As disciples, you know what to do with a donkey. You bring it to Jesus to drive it, to steer it, to feed it, refresh it to train and develop it until it is ready to be driven wherever the people are praising God.

37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,

37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,…

Every time we find ourselves tied up in knots, tied up in predicaments, tied up in dilemmas, tied up in doubts, tied up in danger, we can trust that Jesus has sent us disciples to untie us and set us free. And, when we are set free we will be driven to places where God is respected and honored and blessed and praised and treated gently. [donkey caravan]

Everywhere we go there will be people on a journey praising God and there will be people tied up. You may be the disciple that Jesus sends to untie a donkey that Jesus might drive them to a place of praise. Follow in faith, for you do not go alone. [footsteps] Amen.