I first read about it months ago. From the moment I did, I wanted to get it. It
didn’t cost much, only 99 cents. But beyond
that, I wondered how it might affect me, whether it would make a difference in
the way I lived my life. So, a few
weeks ago, I got it. I got the We Croak app
on my phone.
What does it do?
It does exactly what it says it does, it reminds you that we all croak,
that we all die. Each day at five
random moments, it sends an alert that simply says this. Don’t forget that you’re going to die. And then you check out a quote in some way
related to contemplating your mortality.
It’s based upon a saying from Bhutan that the key to happiness is to contemplate
your death five times a day.
Now, to be honest, I don’t know how well the app is
working. I don’t know because in the
last two weeks, life itself has sent me enough reminders of death that I hardly
need the app. Only a few weeks ago, I
learned that the composer of a beautiful piece that our church choir performed on Palm Sunday, Ken Benoit, a
man I count as a beloved friend, is dying. And this week I learned that my mother is entering hospice care, and I fly off this week to see her, maybe for the last time.
But as I contemplate death, including two deaths that
are coming far too close to home, I remember my last conversation with Ken
Benoit, earlier this week. I asked
him. “Ken, are you afraid?” He replied with a calm certainty. “No, I’m not.
I know I’m going to a good place.”
How could Ken be so at peace, even as he faces
a death that has come far too early? How
can you have that peace right now and whenever that time comes as it comes to
us all? In these words that mark the
beginning of Jesus’ last week, God shows you the way. Let’s hear what God has to say.
Someone once said to me that when it comes to life, everyone
lives on a limited lease, and we’re all subject to immediate eviction. Yet, as much as you know that, it doesn’t
mean that when death comes close that it won’t rattle you, even scare you,
whether it is your death or the loss of someone you love. So how do you find peace to face what comes
to us all? In this story from Jesus’
own last week of life, God tells you. That
peace comes when not only your life, but your death too, rests on what ultimately
matters. And in this story, Jesus shows
you what that is.
For years, I thought Jesus’ parade of palms just sort
of happened. But it didn’t. Jesus made it happen. First, he borrowed a donkey from a village
near Jerusalem where he was well-known.
And when folks saw his disciples grabbing these donkeys off the street,
and the disciples told them why, Jesus knew.
It would create a buzz. Jesus was
up to something.
But Jesus didn’t stop there, then he recruited his
followers from these villages around Jerusalem to go ahead and behind him as he
rode up to the city. He even let them say
the words that for years he had avoided. He let them call him, Son of David. Everyone, including the Roman authorities,
knew what that title meant. Jesus was
claiming to be the Messiah, the Anointed One who God sends to set the people
free. And it freaked Jerusalem
out.
Jesus knew it would.
Imagine if I pulled together a big motorcade, and drove into
Tallahassee, with loudspeakers proclaiming, “Behold, Kennedy McGowan, the
rightful Governor of Florida! Hail to the new Governor.” That
would freak Tallahassee out a little bit.
Governor Scott might even wonder who this other new bald Governor wannabe
was.
But what Jesus did, went far beyond a stunt like
that. With Jesus, lots of folks had already
been speculating. Is He the one, the
Messiah? But now, Jesus was removing all doubt. He was going public in a big way. But Jesus didn’t stop with a parade to offend
the political powers that be. No, he went
straight to the temple, and immediately offended the religious powers that be. And as he was kicking out their religious
vendors, he told them. “I’m kicking you
out of my house.” That’s a statement
that’s going to freak out a few people.
Then to put a cherry on top, he starts healing people right in the
temple.
Do you see what Jesus was doing? Jesus is forcing the hand of the very forces
that will kill him in just a few days Jesus
is engineering his own death. Why? He knows that’s what he ultimately has come
to do. It’s why he comes into town on a
donkey and not a warhorse. Jesus hasn’t
come to take lives. No. Jesus has come to give up his.
One of the quotes that popped up a few days ago on my
WeCroak app came from Dr. Martin Luther King.
King said. “If a man has not
found something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” But King said more than just that. He said, to quote him fully. “There are
some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true,
that they are worth dying for. And I submit to you that if a man has not
discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
King knew, you can die for things that ultimately don’t
matter, fame, money, success, popularity.
You can even die for things that make the world a worse place not a
better one. That sort of dying never
leads to peace. Fear and anxiety drive
that sort of dying. That sort of dying doesn’t
free you. It torments you.
But like Jesus, King knew, that if you have discovered
what is truly worth dying for, that frees you to live. And
what did Jesus find worth dying for? You. If you’ve ever doubted your worth, what
Jesus did this week should settle those doubts. In Jesus, God made it clear. You are so dear, so precious, so eternally
valuable that God though you were worth dying for. So worth it, that in Jesus, God did just that. And a God who loves you like that; that God
is worth dying for too. And when you
give your life over to this God, it doesn’t bind you to death. It frees you to live.
It freed Kenneth Benoit. It freed to use his talents to write music to
the glory of God, to sing it joyfully in this choir, to teach it with passion
to students at Broward College. It freed
him to love and to serve. And now it gives
him a peace that passes all understanding.
That’s what happens when you offer your life up to this God who in Jesus
gave up his life for you. As Jesus said.
For
whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake will find it. If you’ve been holding on to your life, make today
the day you let it go into his hands. For only when you place it there, will you discover
all that your life can be.
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