Considering the Anxious Lilies: A Sermon Preached on Holy Monday

Considering the Anxious Lilies

FBC|WJ

April 14^th, 2014, Monday of Holy Week

Luke 12:22-28

Will you pray with me?

            God of Holy Week,

            May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight oh God our strength and our redeemer. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

            Go with me if you will to the year 1959. Rogers and Hammerstein created what may be one of the greatest musical masterpieces that turned into one of the favorite movies of so many. The Sound of Music changed the way we look at films and musicals, and the beauty of that movie still captivates young and old to this day.

            In one scene of the movie, Captain Von Trapp in the face of the Nazi regime defiantly sings a song of love to his Austrian homeland. “Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
bloom and grow forever
 Edelweiss, Edelweiss
 bless my homeland forever.” He stood with poise and courage in the face of Nazi power. The words he sang were a metaphor for his beloved Austria, and with Nazi Germany closing in the words reminded the people of the resiliency of the nation they loved.

            Today we hear about a different flower. The text we hear today is on its surface a very weird text for Holy Monday. Part of me wonders if Jesus even remembers the words that he said when he said, “Therefore do not worry about your life.” If anything, Jesus is very concerned with his life during this week of doom and gloom.

            Don’t worry about your life, even to Captain Von Trapp that was counter-intuitive. The reality is that we are creatures who worry, we worry because we are scared, alone, afraid, or in trouble. We worry because of jobs, of friendships, relationships, our own personal failings, or the fact that tax day is tomorrow and you haven’t started your taxes yet. Human beings are extremely good at worrying. But God is even better at causing us to give pause in our daily lives and give us peace.

            God gives us the lilies, the edelweiss, the flowers of Easter to combat the darkness of this week, of any week where worry threatens our very souls. God comes to us in the Christ Child, in the man on the cross and in the empty tomb to remind us again and again that worrying is ok, but worrying should not consume for God is Lord over time and space.

             As a person who suffers from anxiety of the worst kind, this text speaks profoundly to me because it reminds me that all of creation is a part of the magnificent plan of God to take care of all of us. If God can keep the lilies from worrying in all their splendor, can God not keep us safe as well? If God’s eye is on the sparrow, then where does the love of God’s heart lay down? It must be in our very souls.

            So as Jesus turns his face towards the cross and we too turn our eyes towards what is to come we are called not to be anxious. I wonder if Jesus remembered these words he spoke in Luke 12 by the time he got to Luke 22. I wonder if Jesus considered the lilies as he stood before Pilate and the crowds. I wonder if a sparrow flew over in peace as the crowds were yelling crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!

            You see we have the ability to be on this side of the resurrection, we know the outcome. But think of all the worry and despair the disciples must have had this week. The Passover was at hand and they had to make ready for that and on top of everything their Rabbi was telling them he wouldn’t be with them much longer. This was truly a week of worry and anxiety for all those gathered round.

            In one of the most thought provoking scenes in my favorite book series, Harry Potter is dealing with a dying Professor Dumbledore who will not survive the mortal wound he had been blown. The scene has lines such as these, “It's going to be all right, sir," Harry said over and over again, more worried by Dumbledore's silence than he had been by his weakened voice. "We're nearly there ... I can get us both back ... don't worry ... "I am not worried, Harry," said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you.”

            God comes to us during the Holy Weeks of our lives and says, “There’s no need to be worried, I am with you. Just like it was on that first Holy Week all those years ago, in the midst of it all Jesus broke bread and gave wine. He reminded the disciples whose they were and even in their denial there was grace extended.  Just like Captain Von Trapp they sang a hymn the night before he was betrayed. I wonder if it had anything to do with the flowers of the field or the beauty of the created world. Ultimately that doesn’t matter because Jesus faced his death with anxiety, and yet he fulfilled the task set before him since before the dawn of time.

            How will you face this week? Will you face it with anxiety and fear for what is coming on Good Friday? Will you face the future with caution and despair or will you shout yes to what God is doing to bring about Easter morning? These are the juxtapositions of our lives, Holy Week and Easter, death and resurrection, anxiety and joy. But ultimately, Easter, joy and resurrection win!

            Considering the lilies, the next time I’m anxious I’m going to give that a try. The next time I face my cross I’m going to consider the sparrow. Maybe you can do that too? Perhaps you can look into the eyes of whatever is staring you down and remind it that nothing on earth or under the earth or above the earth can stop God’s calming peace to be upon you. Anxiety and worry have no place in the Kingdom of God, and Jesus knew this even when he was anxious on Maundy Thursday.

             At the Garden of Gethsemane, even as Jesus’ anxiety and worry was reaching a boiling point he didn’t let the atrocity of what he was about to face overtake him. He considered all he had preached, all he knew about God and said, “Your will be done.” Even though Jesus went through hell and back to reach Easter morning he didn’t let his worry or anxiety consume him.

            We have a wonderful church member here at First Baptist Church named Diane. Diane is here with us today and the other night we went and saw the movie Noah together and followed it up with discussion at the local coffee house. Diane told us the story of her sitting under an orange tree in Florida worrying about a possible third pregnancy. Thoughts raced through her head and her worry was consuming her until her young son James came up and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and looked at him and James without knowing the situation said in a childlike voice, “It’s going to be ok, it’s going to be ok.”

            Friends if this is not the lesson of Holy Week I don’t know what is. As Captain Von Trapp prepared to sing Edelweiss at the Salzburg Festival he says, “I know you share this love. I pray that you will never let it die.” Jesus, the one we know as Lord never let love die, even in his own mortal death he was clothed with immortal love in spite of his anxiety and worry and pain. So however you consider it, whether it be through Captain Von Trapp standing without worry over his actions or through Diane’s story of sitting under the orange tree, counter to everything we have ever conceived, worry has no place in this week, anxiety has no place in this week for we are bound for the kingdom of God, we are bound for the resurrection and it’s going to be ok! It’s going to be ok! It’s going to be ok!