Page 1 of 9

Before I begin DevotionHoly Week in Matthew Prayer Sermon notes I added the story of blind B to todays reading to give us some perspective on the Palm Sunday story. The story of blind Bartimaus happened right before Jesus entered Jerusalem. As J was leaving Jericho there was a large crowd with him. They were pilgrims At Chain of Lakes we are about people being followers of Jesus or disciples. Personally I want us to have a discipleship culture at Chain of Lakes, not a membership culture. Another way to say follower or disciple is Jesus pilgrim. Whats fascinating about the story of blind B is the people tried to block him from seeing Jesus. You remember. A large crowd was leaving the village of Jericho and this blind manB suddenly started screaming, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. All the proper people told B to be quiet. Proper people. Churches know about proper people. We have a small group that has been meeting on Wednesday nights. Its called Unbinding the Gospel. At our small group this past week talked about churches who were proper and pious and where people hid behind pretension. Our group agreed that we dont want our new church to be thought of as proper or pious or pretentious. In the reading for the week we read that great churches are messy. People share themselves with each other. A culture exists where its more important to be real and authentic than to hide behind being proper or pious or pretentious. We could almost call this the three P group.

Page 2 of 9

In this story the three P group was trying to keep B from Jesus. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Thats messy. 3 P told B to be quiet. But B would have nothing of it. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus heard B and asked for him to approach. Jesus said something that was amazing. If you just take one idea out of this sermon remember what Jesus said to B. Jesus said, what do you want me to do for you. Lets think about this. Jesus was the son of God and had the power to do anything. If seems more rational if Jesus had ordered B to get on his knees and ordered B to ask Jesus what he wanted. We could understand a beggar begging from Jesus. Thats not what happened. Its almost as if Jesus was on his knees begging the beggar. Lets move forward to our lives almost 2,000 years later. I believe that if Jesus was physically present with us he would say the same thing that he said to B. He would say this: SLIDE [Your name] what do you want me to do for you? How would you answer this? First of all lets be clear that Jesus isnt trying to meet every of our needs. Hes not trying to help us win the lottery. How many of you paid attention to the lottery this week. Ive never bought a lottery ticket in my life, but even I start paying attention when it reaches 625 million. SLIDE This is a picture of people in Nevada who waited in line for four hours to buy a

lottery ticket. Of course everyone who buys a lottery ticket knows the chances of winning are very small. One mathematics professor said a person is 50 times as likely to get hit by lightning than to

Page 3 of 9

win the lottery. Youd have to buy 50 tickets to have the same chance of winning as getting hit by lightning. What do you want to do for me doesnt mean Jesus is going to help us win the lottery. I do think that Jesus would want us to share ourselves and our lives with him. Thats what B did. B wanted to see. So he told Jesus, My teacher, let me see again. Immediatelya word used often in MarkB was able to see again. B became a Jesus pilgrim. B followed Jesus on his way. I believe that B traveled the 20 miles from Jericho to Jerusalem and was with the crowd when they said as Jesus entered Jerusalem, Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna. IPaul Moorewant to be a Jesus pilgrimsomeone who shares my self and my life with Jesus. SLIDE I got out my business cards this week and on one of them I wrote Jesus Pilgrim.

Im going to put this on the bulletin board on top of my desk. If you have a business card, I encourage you to do the same. Lets push into this a little more. What does it mean to be a Jesus pilgrim? Let me first say what a Jesus pilgrim is not. A Jesus pilgrim is not obnoxious. A Jesus pilgrim doesnt say the word Jesus in every other sentence. A Jesus pilgrim doesnt try to convert every person he or she meets. A Jesus pilgrim doesnt vote a certain way in an election. A Jesus pilgrim doesnt have to be proper, pious or pretentious. What is a pilgrim? When someone says the word I think about the Pilgrims, the people who sailed on the Mayflower to come to the new world. They left Europe in September 1620 and a little more than 60 days later arrived in the New World.

Page 4 of 9

Sometimes pilgrims are described as people who travel to the Holy Land. This Holy Week Jerusalem will be full of pilgrims. Sometimes pilgrims are just described as travelers. Which brings me back to B. Remember B probably traveled to Jerusalem from Jericho. He joined a lot of people. When Jesus entered Jerusalem the Jews were getting ready to celebrate the Passover. By religious decree every male was commanded to come to Jerusalem for the Passover. These were all pilgrims. This huge throng of people were there. At the time of Jesus death the population of Jerusalem was about 80 to 100,000 people. I wonderedhow many people came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. According to the ancient writer Josephus it was 3 million people. All these pilgrims came to Jerusalem for the Passover. For B to be a Jesus pilgrim meant he could see again. Jesus had given B a great gift and B had received it. I believe for us to be Jesus pilgrims we have to receive the gifts that Jesus gives to us. During Lent our Sunday morning small group studied the book of Mark. For one of the sessions I asked the group to write a paragraph about their understanding of who Jesus is. This was a wonderful exercise for all of us. It prompted some excellent conversation. When I wrote my paragraph that week I came up with a new phrase for Jesus. The phrase that I came up with was Jesus as the gift giver. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the gift giver. I encourage you to write that down. Jesus is the gift giver. Its logical to ask if Jesus is the gift giver what do we receive. I believe that Jesus gives us six gifts. Let me share them quickly. 1. Salvation

Page 5 of 9

Through Jesus Christ we are given the gift of salvation Power of this gift Peace that passes understanding Having our heart burn hot inside of us 2. Unconditional love and acceptance We are loved even though we dont deserve or earn this love Jesus is the only source in the universe of complete, unconditional love Jesus knows every part of us and still loves us 3. The Spirit John 20 Jesus breathed on them We have the unending presence of the Spirit with us 4. Forgiveness of Sins Two mistakes that churches and people of faith make about sin What would our life be like if we werent forgiven 5. A role model to live our lifelove as Jesus loved 6. A Call Through Christ were all called to be the people God desires for us to be Were called to hit our STRIDE What is so wonderful is none of us do anything to earn these gifts. A true gift is a present given without condition. Jesus gives us these gifts whether we deserve them or not. We Minnesotans are doers. A lot of us want to be doing something. What do I have to do? What we have to do is open up the gifts and receive them. To be a Jesus pilgrim means we open up these gifts that Jesus gives us and receive them. Lets get even more practical. How does this work? How does being a Jesus pilgrim make a difference in our life. Let me share a couple examples This week I received an E-mail that said, New job. Still have to do old job. Taxes are coming and are going to be higher. Making more money, working more hours, have no time, paying more taxesstressed.

Page 6 of 9

I think that describes a lot of people lives in the noth Metro. Were working hard, we need to pay our mortgage, we have employers who are demanding quite a lot from us, and we dont have a lot of choice about what the boss says. How could a Jesus pilgrim respond to this. A Jesus pilgrim might not be able to change the stresses at work, but a Jesus pilgrim could re-arrange the way he or she looks at work. Our well being doesnt depend on our success at our job. We certainly want to be successful and we can be ambitious. A Jesus pilgrim realizes that our sense of well-being doesnt depend on success. We realize that God is going to love us whether were successful at our job or not. A Jesus pilgrim realizes that God says, It doesnt matter to me if you work 20 hours, 40 hours, or 70 hours this week. I love you. No matter how hard you work, I love you. You are precious in my sight no matter what you accomplish. I love you. If we can tie our own sense of well-being into this love then we can have a peace that passes all understanding. This doesnt mean we dont work hard or arent ambitious. It does mean that we realize that our well-being is not determined by our performance. Another way how being a Jesus pilgrim can make a difference is in how we treat each other. We had a beautiful example of how this can work this past Tuesday night. How many of us attended the Community Meeting at Blaine City Hall? A number of us from Chain of Lakes and within the Presbytery had a meeting at the City Hall where we shared our future plans for the property with the neighbors near the property. Mary Ann Archer was in charge of organizing the event. She did a terrific job. Its ironic that we are even talking about buildings because we are a long ways from putting up a building on a property. But to complete the purchase agreement we have to have the City sign off on future plans.

Page 7 of 9

Tuesday night was the first time we had the chance to share our plans with the neighbors. I was really pleased with the large number of people from the neighborhood who came to the meeting. Im guessing that 45-50 showed up. When so many people showed up, I told someone that these folks were either happy or mad. I soon found out that some of them were mad. They were a bit aggressive. It took a while to discover, but after listening to the questions the neighbors werent mad at us. They were upset with the developer. They had bought their property with the promise that only homes would be near them and now it doesnt look like that is going to happen. They were upset with the City as they had concerns about how Edisonthat is the street south of the propertyis being used. They didnt like that people could park on the street, and they had concerns about the possible traffic on the street. They asked hard questionssome of them were pointed. I was taking the questions. I havent been on the hot seat like that for a long time. If we put ourselves into these folks shoes we can understand why they were upset. I was so proud in how the people from Chain of Lakes treated our future neighbors. We were kind; we shared with them that we want to be good neighbors; we listened to their concerns; we tried to understand their perspective. We loved them. Thats how Jesus pilgrims live. We are always looking to care for people and love people and be kind to people. This doesnt mean we sacrifice our own sense of self. We will stand up in love for what is right. If someone gossips at work, we dont engage in the gossip; if someone is a bully, we stand up to the bully; if people are critical of us we try to understand the criticism and respond with love and kindness.

Page 8 of 9

The flavor of our life as Jesus pilgrims is different. We live with a constant spirit of humility. Just as Jesus did when he entered the City of Jerusalame for the final week of his life. A final way that being a Jesus pilgrim can make a difference is our involvement in the community. Being a Jesus pilgrim is not an individual, one-on-one relationship with God. We care about the community. This past Thursday Val Owens and I had a meeting with Tim Hart-Anderson who is the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis. We are exploring a partnership between Westminster and Chain of Lakes. This partnership could benefit both of our congregations. During the meeting I told Tim some of the stories of our congregation. I shared how we are involved in the community. When we had our Grand Opening we collected hygiene kits for the people of Haiti; we immediately got involved with Manna Market in Blaineand People Serving People. Now weve adopted Lino Lakes Elementary STEM school just down the street. A week from Thursday were sponsoring a parenting speaker who is going to talk about the best method of parentingLove and Logic. I hope youll invite your parent friends to this presentation. Every other Thursday we have five mentors who go into the school to have lunch with a kid and build a relationship. I had a blast having lunch with my mentee this past Thursday. Being a Jesus pilgrim has a social dimension. Its more than our individual spiritual being, we care about the world. Being involved in the world can be very messy, but remember great churches are messy. When were involved in a social ministry we dont ask whether someone deserves our help. Remember what Jesus said to Bwho really didnt deserve any help. What can I do for you? Just as Jesus went out of his way to heal blind B, we go out of our way to help the people who are hurtingeven people who dont deserve our help. Would you like to be a Jesus pilgrim?

Page 9 of 9

Whether you identified yourself as a Jesus pilgrim all your life or whether you are unclear. Repeat these words Jesus I want to be your pilgrim Help me to receive the gifts you have given me May your love be the source of my satisfaction May I go out of my way to share that love with others. Today were celebrating Communion. As we come to the table, may we celebrate that were Jesus pilgrims. May we come with joy.