Introduction
Palm Sunday fell on the first day of spring this year. I love springtime. The short days and cold, gloomy days of winter are just depressing to me. Then, spring comes and it revives my soul. New life begins to bud and it has a wondrous effect on me. Yet there are still disappointments in life regardless of the season.
I suppose it was springtime when Jesus faced his most disappointing week. The week from Palm Sunday to Easter
was a very difficult one for Jesus—full of tremendous highs and awful
lows. The week began with a Palm Sunday parade
filled with great expectations; but what followed was disappointment after disappointment. Of course, we know how the story ends—with
the ultimate triumph of Easter morning, with Christ rising from the tomb. But it took a week of disappointments before
the glory of Easter was realized.
Meditating on Christ's final week on earth made me think a lot about disappointments and how Jesus coped with them and how
we might cope with them better too. Philippians 2:5 says, “You must have the same attitude Christ Jesus
had.” Jesus dealt with his disappointing
week in a few key ways. Perhaps these can
help us through dark times as well.
Faith
John 13:3 – “3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him
authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to
God.
The first factor that strengthens
us when we face disappointments is faith
in God. Think about what Jesus did
during his last week on earth. In the
midst of disappointments, Jesus had an unwavering faith in God’s ultimate will. Jesus was not fooled by the exulting crowd
waving palm branches. He knew that the
people of Jerusalem would reject him in just a few days. However, he was able to see beyond that
disappointment to the ultimate victory of God.
For though God’s kingdom would not be realized in Jerusalem that week,
ultimately—because of Jesus’ sacrifice—God’s plan of salvation was accomplished. Jesus had faith in God’s
ultimate will and that steeled him when disappointments came. Perhaps that is how he was able to keep
preaching and teaching and speaking the truth about God’s coming Kingdom, even
though he knew people would reject his message and hang him on a cross. Perhaps that is how Jesus was able to wash
his disciples’ feet even though he knew one would betray him and they all would
desert him.
Our
disappointments are tempered when our faith in God puts them in
perspective. God can use our
disappointments to make us stronger; and He can and does turn our
disappointments into victories. We can
endure disappointments and continue on the road God has set before us because
we know that ultimately, if we have faith in God, we will have “Victory in
Jesus”. And on that Day, the glory we
find will overshadow any disappointment we face in this lifetime.
But faith
only soothes our disappointments; it does not usually cancel them. We still feel the sting when friends betray
us. We still feel sorrow when someone we
love dies.
Many years
ago, Kelly’s brother, Wesley, went down to Florida for Spring Break with a bunch
of his friends. Well, they had been drinking
one night and then went out into the surf to swim. And when they all came back in, there was on
missing. They searched frantically for their
friend until they found the guy’s body floating in the waves. They dragged him up on to the shore and tried
to revive him, but nothing worked. Their
friend was gone. Their Spring Break
turned into a terrible disappointment.
Now you
take a Spring Break tragedy like that and you put yourself into the shoes of
those friends. What are we to do
in the mean time? What comfort can we
find now—right now while we are
hurting so bad? So there are other
things—when accompanied by faith in God—that can help us cope with
disappointment.
Friends
Luke 22:14-15 – 14 When the time came, Jesus and the apostles
sat down together at the table. 15 Jesus said, “I have been very eager to
eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins.
Jesus coped with his disappointing
week by spending time with his closest friends.
Each day, he would teach in the city and then at night he would retreat
to the quiet Mount of Olives with his disciples—his twelve closest
friends. And of course, on the very
last night—when his anxiety was heaviest—Jesus shared one last meal with his
friends (that meal which we have come to call the Lord’s Supper or Holy
Communion). When we are overtaken by
deep disappointment, it can be very helpful to withdraw a little from all your
casual acquaintances and surround yourself with your closest friends.
One of the biggest disappointments
Kelly and I faced together was a miscarriage in December of 2005. (This was before Abigail was born.) We were both looking forward to having our
third child. We were already picking out
names and had become attached to the tiny new life forming inside Kelly’s womb. And then, as we went together to the doctor’s
office expecting to see a sonogram our tiny little baby’s heart beating—we
instead got the disappointing news that the heart had stopped and the child was
dead.
One of the best things we did to
cope with our disappointment was to get away for a few days. A friend loaned us a cabin in Dahlonega. We left Gavin and Grace with our parents and
we just took some time to get away—just the two of us. Kelly is my closest friend. To be away from everyone else and just be
with her was very therapeutic. And I
think the same was true for her.
So when we have disappointments, it
helps to have an unwavering faith in God’s ultimate victory and to surround
ourselves with our closest and dearest friends.
Can we learn anything else from Jesus’ disappointing week? Well, Jesus also sought strength and support
from God through prayer. And I think we
should do the same.
Fervent Prayer
Matthew 26:36 – 36 Then Jesus went with them to the olive
grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over
there to pray.”
After sharing his final meal with
his disciples, Jesus went into the garden to pray. And I want you to note the tone of his
prayer. It was a very honest, heartfelt
prayer. Jesus didn’t use flowery
language. He wasn’t trying to impress
God or anybody else. He just poured out
his heart. “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be
taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”[i] And he prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot
be taken away until I drink it, your will be done.”[ii] Jesus did not seek to change God’s will, but
sincerely contemplated whether there was any other way to fulfill God’s
plan. And when, through prayer, Jesus
determined there was no other way, he sought and found strength and
determination from God.
Prayer is indispensable
for us too when we face disappointment.
It’s not just a way for us to ask God to change our situation—though God
does sometimes change the situation. More
importantly, prayer is a time for us to honestly express our disappointment—even
if our disappointment is with God. God
can handle our disappointment and through prayer He can help us let them
go. God can give us strength and
determination to pass through our disappointments. So telling God our disappointments is very
important.
Faith,
family, and fervent prayer helped Jesus during his most disappointing week.
Conclusion
The final
days of Jesus’ life teach Christians we must pass through the disappointment of
the cross before we reach the victory of Easter. We want to skip the difficulties. We like to dwell on happy days and victory
songs. But let us never forget Jesus’
words when he said in Mark 8:34, “If any
of you wants to be my follower… …you must put aside your selfish ambition,
shoulder your cross, and follow me.”
Sometimes the victory is not just what happens when we rise again on the
other side of disappointment. Sometimes
the true victory is the way we live while we are in the midst of terrible
trials. For then God’s power is truly
revealed in us as it was in Jesus on the long road to Calvary.
Christians are not immune to trials
and disappointments in this life. Yet we
have something others don’t have. Jesus
walks with us through our trials. And we
have an assurance that something far better awaits us on the other side. Don’t you want to take hold of the hope Jesus
offers today? Don’t you want Jesus to be
the Lord and Savior of your life? Then
why not ask Jesus into your heart today?
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