UNEXPECTED

Philippians 2:5-11
Luke 19:28-49

This was not the dinner salad I expected!  At home, a dinner salad was pieces of lettuce with chopped green pepper and an occasional slice of tomato covered with french dressing.  What the waiter brought to me was a huge wedge of lettuce served on a plate.  Ugh!  I refused to eat it.

This story took place when I was about ten.  Today, I quite enjoy a wedge salad from time to time.

Sometimes, good things are missed because we can't surrender our expectations in the face of the unexpected.

In the movie, Radio Days, young Joe's favorite radio program was "The Masked Avenger."  In his mind's eye, the Masked Avenger looked like a cross between Super Man and Clark Gable.  The truth was that the actor who played the character was short and balding.  Had Joe met him on the street, Joe would have never guessed this was the voice of his hero.

Perhaps, that's why there were people in Israel at the time that didn't or wouldn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  He didn't fit their expectations.  Maybe they were looking for the Conqueror King described in the end-time prophesies of Daniel -- the mighty king riding into Jerusalem on a great, white horse, commander of the angel armies, ready to destroy the enemies of Israel and bring back the golden age of King David's rule.

Under the Romans and the invading empires before them, the people were oppressed and exploited.   The poor were ignored and excluded, living in hopelessness with hunger, sickness and fear.  Those who did better under Roman rule, the rich, the influential, the religious high hierarchy, wanted the Romans out so they could have complete power over the people.

What they didn't need wasn't really another conqueror who would only perpetuate conditions for the advantage of himself or his lackeys.  Israel, and all humanity for that fact, needed was a Messiah who would be willing to ride humbly into Jerusalem on a donkey, a servant obedient to God's will and ready to save the human race through His own death and resurrection.

Unlike those currently in power, Jesus said at the beginning of his ministry that he was the chosen Messiah sent by God:

"to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  (Luke 4:18-19)

The favor of the Lord:  God's unconditional, inclusive love which brings delivery from sin and death through the ministry, sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, the Servant King.

Perhaps those who gathered along the road into Jerusalem were those who had let go of their preconceptions of who the Messiah was suppose to be and recognized the Messiah God has sent them in their time of need.   For the Servant King on a donkey not a conquering hero on a horse, they waved victory palms and laid down one of their most important possessions, their coats, before him.

How many times have we tried to fit Christ into a little box formed by our wants and expectations and missed the blessings of our Servant King?  Instead of laying down our coats before Christ as the people did on that first Palm Sunday, what would happen if we laid down what was we hold so tightly to -- our desires, our plans and our preconceptions?

Sometimes the greatest blessings come to those who surrender themselves to the unexpected.

"Hosanna, God will save us! Blessed is the Servant King who comes in the name of the Lord!"