I.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is one of the biggest sporting events of the year. Millions of people tune into watch; tens of thousands fill out a bracket. But it is fascinating that the interest in the tournament goes down every weekend. Why? Because when you watch those first couple rounds, there are all kinds of uncertainty. You have no idea what might happen next. Every year, there are “Cinderella stories” of underdog teams that pull the upset and beat the favorite. This year was no exception.
These are the moments that all sports fans long for, found in the closing seconds of the game when a shot lifts towards the goal or when a pass sails through the air towards the end zone and what happens with that ball determines the outcome of the game. The moment before the moment we know how it all works out is the one that people wait for and watch for.
I’ll never forget Doug Flutie’s “Hail Mary” pass with seconds left on the clock against the University of Miami. Flutie dropped back to pass, evaded a defensive player by scrambling to his right, eyed his target, planted his feet and let it fly. It’s in that moment, as the ball flies through the air it seems as if time stands still for those few seconds. We hold our breath and wait. We wait for resolution.
I attended my first World Series game back in 1999, Game 4 at the old Yankee Stadium, Yankees vs. the Atlanta Braves. Yankees are up 3 games to none. With each passing inning, you could feel the anticipation building. By the 5th inning, almost everybody was standing. By the 7th inning, everybody was standing and cheering. The energy was electric and contagious. With each out made, the tension and anticipation kept growing and growing. We were all waiting for resolution, for that final out that would seal the deal for the Yankees to become World Series champions.
The uncertainty and excitement of moments like these, the moments before the moment, are what we live for. Much of our life, much of our story is found in the moments leading up to when the ball goes in the air and the final out is made.
Some of you will remember from middle school the simple graph that shows the structure of a story. After the story reaches its climax, it begins moving towards Resolution. Resolution is where everything is wrapped up and tied up neatly. Much of our life is found waiting for Resolution.
II.
Much of the God Story finds its characters waiting for Resolution as well. Abraham waits for the son that is promised to him by God. At the age of seventy-five he receives that promise, and then he waits decades to see it resolved. The Israelites wait to enter the Promised Land; they are released from slavery and wait for decades to make it to their future home. The Hebrew people call out for a king, and then it turns out the kings they get are not the kings they wanted, and so they wait for the King, the Messiah, the anointed future king. They wait for centuries. They cry, “When is he going to come? When are we going to be set free? When do we get our real King, the one who can save us?”
By the time Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem, the people are ready and waiting and chomping at the bit. This isn’t one of those moments when the people are all mixed up; this is one of those moments when they get it, and they get it right. There were enough people who recognized that Jesus was the one, unlikely though he may be. After all, they had been disappointed before with other false Messiahs and unfulfilled apocalyptic promises that the end of the world was near. But they created enough excitement that by the time Jesus came into Jerusalem on the first day of the most important week in their culture—the week of Passover, when they would retell the story of what God had done and hold out the hope of what God would do—they were ready. By the time Jesus got there the whole city had gathered on the streets to welcome him with great fanfare.
And here is what they said: “Hosanna,” which has become a word of praise, but is, at its root, an imperative statement of salvation, a word calling out to be saved. The word actually means “save now.” In other words, we can’t wait any longer; this is it; wrap this up. Hosanna. Save us now.
There comes that point in any good story, where you are longing for Resolution, when you can’t take it anymore. The story is everything at this point; you are begging the author, the director, whoever is in charge, “Will you give me some Resolution? I can’t do this anymore.”
Throughout the season of Lent, we have talked about the numerous threads in the Bible. Beginning in Genesis we saw Thread #1: God speaks because God desires relationship. The laughable dream of Abraham showed us Thread #2: If God makes a promise, God keeps it. As we watched the wandering people of God get frustrated in the wilderness, we found Thread #3: God will provide all you need for the journey. Then with David, we saw an unlikely little shepherd boy become king—Thread #4: God calls the unlikely and gives them a better story. Then last week we talked about the prophetic voice singing over us the beautiful message of Thread #5: God’s love is recurring and relentless.
Jesus’ coming and his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday appear at first glance to be the Resolution of all these threads. This is not to say it is the end of the story; it’s not. There will be even more important events that happen afterwards, but it seems at the time to be the culmination of this waiting for Resolution.
Some of us find ourselves there today. We are waiting for God. We need God.
III.
Don’t miss that it was a broken community of broken people like us who cried out to God that day. They waved palm branches and cried Hosanna. Jesus comes to these people in his normal clothes, looking like them, riding on the colt of a donkey. He connects Genesis to Abraham, to the wandering Israelites, to David, to the exiled Judahites, and to them. A broken community is crying out to their God, and finally God comes.
I have seen communities cry out to God and say “We need you now.” Communities ravaged by poverty, economic recessions, and “white flight” to new suburban communities. The north side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is one of those communities. The neighborhood was littered with abandoned homes and storefronts that once thrived with life and activity. There were no jobs and no jobs meant no hope for a brighter future. And the people cried out to God, broken, in turmoil, lacking hope in a brighter future for themselves and their friends and families. Until one day God placed a call and a vision on one man’s heart. Saleem Ghubril, a Presbyterian pastor, started what is known as The Pittsburgh Project back in 1985. It was a way to engage North Side youth with faith, hope and love with afterschool tutoring, job training and more. And at the same time serve the needs of vulnerable homeowners: those who are elderly, poor, home bound, widowed, disabled, or immobile. Today, almost thirty years later, volunteer crews – mainly comprised of teenagers and college students – repair more than 150 homes each year in neighborhoods throughout the city and neighboring boroughs. Volunteers come from throughout Pittsburgh, out-of-town, and even out-of-state to participate in day-long or week-long service camps. For the North Side youth who take part in the Pittsburgh Project discovered what it means to be part of the community. For the young people and adults who came to serve and give life away to another in need, they were called by God to come and serve with faith, imagination and love. Through the Pittsburgh Project, God comes to the youth and vulnerable homeowners across Pittsburgh with his power, grace and love.[1]
The story of our God, the story written into the fabric of time, and the fabric of our souls, is that God comes—not how you expected God, to be sure. But God comes in power and in love.
In power and love God comes to all broken communities of people. To broken marriages, God comes. To broken finances, God comes. To broken churches, God comes. To broken nations, God comes. To the luckless, the abandoned and the forsaken, God comes. To the confused, the accused, and the misused, God comes. To the single mom working hard trying to make ends meet for her family, God comes. For the one who has secrets that they just can’t face, God comes. God comes and by the end of the week we will have forgotten all the excitement of this beautiful and glorious day, all the anticipation of this moment, waiting for resolution and we will cry out, Crucify him! Crucify him!
And do you know what? God comes again.
It’s pretty likely that you are at a place in your story where you are waiting for Resolution. That’s where we spend most of our time. Most of the time is the mean time. You’re waiting for some deal to go through, somebody to pick up the phone, somebody to come home, a paycheck to arrive, a check to be mailed, for a wrong to be made right. That’s where most of the God story takes place, any good story does. And God comes. Jesus comes for you. That’s his promise to us. Will you not receive it today?
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