Bazaar United Methodist Church

Bazaar, Kansas

April 5, 2009
James 5:13-16
Mark 10:32-34
Mark 11:1-11

Fountains of Happiness

13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make them well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:13-16 TNIV

32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 "We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise."
Mark 10:32-34 TNIV

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' "
4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
"Hosanna!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
"Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
TNIV Mark 11:1-11

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The disciples are dazed and confused. Three times now Jesus has told them that he is going up to Jerusalem to be killed. And he has set his face like flint for Jerusalem. He has been leading them on and suddenly he is not the Jesus they have known. He has been apart and they don't know what to think. They are floundering.

But finally there is a rest, a break, a stop near the Mount of Olives and Jesus sends two of them ahead to find a donkey. They have a few moments of easy resting, a time to breathe and ponder. But then the people recognize who is present and they come running out from the villages. They race out waving their hands, cutting branches as they come scattering their cloaks on the roadway and a wonderful parade begins into Jerusalem. "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!" All right! This is more like it! This is how a king should be greeted! This is what we thought should happen! Jesus was just confused. He didn't really mean all that stuff he said. Arrested, handed over, beaten, killed, raised. No. . .no. . .no, he, he couldn't have meant it. This is right. This is what is meant. This is what is supposed to be. "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Oh, they tried to convince themselves. Tried it as the tensions rose during the week. Tried as it seemed that Jesus was somehow preparing himself in his prayers. They tried to ignore the thoughts he had placed in their minds. . . tried to remember the bright parade. Wasn't that great? A big smile that soon faded.

You know what that is like. Living the brightness of today yet somehow fearful of tomorrow. It was the best of times and the worst of times for the disciples. But for us Holy week is not so agonizing because we know, we know what happens at the end. We just have to remember that there is no resurrection without crucifixion. We do have to live through the treason of Judas, the denial of Peter, the abandonment of the disciples and the crucifixion and death of Jesus before we get to the resurrection. And the hard part of living through those things is that we can all relate to each of them.

We know when we have been the traitor. We know that we have denied Christ. We know that we have abandoned him. And his death just about kills us. And we have been warned that we must die, must die to our selfish selves if we are to be raised in the here and now to live the resurrection life. We would much rather just have a high moment of the parade on Palm Sunday and then jump straight to the resurrection on Easter. But it doesn't really work that way, does it. We must face our own loss, deal a death blow to our treason, denial and abandonment, die to self and selfishness so that we, too can be raised to new life on Easter.

And that has much to do with what we have learned about happiness in these past weeks. We have learned that the happiest people are those who give of themselves to others. I was reading an article in a magazine about Michael J. Fox this week. Do you realize that it has been 19 years since he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease? In 2000 Fox founded the Michael J. Fox foundation for Parkinson's Research. Already it has provided $140 million for research. Their website is a veritable cornucopia of information on Parkinson's Disease, treatment, and news, as well as information for the newly diagnosed and their care givers.

Recently he has written a book called "Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist." It is not always an easy thing to be an optimist with Parkinson's. It is a degenerative and debilitating disease. Of his optimism, Fox says, "It was tested at times. It was tested when I was diagnosed. It was tested when I struggled with alcohol. . .Life was so easy for me. I had this career, this beautiful wife. . .[Parkinson's] was just a reality check.

Although Parkinson's Disease was the proverbial gray cloud, Fox found the silver lining. "Having a sense of humor is absolutely crucial. It's a companion to humility. You have to kind of acknowledge that you're the speck on an elephant's butt.

"Optimism doesn't mean you get to skip the bad stuff. If you're truly optimistic or have a capacity to hope, it should allow you to look at what's bad and really get its measure, and say What is the extent of this? It's the courage to look at something and say, However bad this is, it isn't bad infinitely."

Did you hear that? Optimism doesn't mean you get to skip the bad stuff. If you're truly optimistic-if you have a capacity to hope, it should allow you to look at what's bad and really get its measure. It is the courage to look at something squarely and realize that no matter how bad it is, it is not infinitely bad. It can't possibly be infinitely bad because we know the One who holds eternity in his hands.

Focus and intention are imperative for happiness. The focus can never be self-centered. When we focus on ourselves we deepen depression. When we focus on others and on God love grows and happiness increases. Our intention must always be compassion toward others. We attend to the good things that happen, we interpret life in a positive manner, and we remember good times and continue to build good memories.

It's true, sometimes our fountain of love and joy and happiness is like one of those drinking fountains without enough water pressure. It may be a fountain, but the water barely dribbles out. Usually that has to do with us having taken our eyes off Jesus. Usually it means we are focused on a problem and not on the God who can lead us to the solution. When we lose focus, our fountain of happiness drops low. But when we keep our focus on the God who never wavers in his great love for us, our fountain is more likely to be flowing freely, it may be more like a geyser or a bubbling fountain, it could be like an artesian well or a free flowing fountain. How ever it is, it will not be just dribbling along. How is your fountain of happiness today? Amen.