"The Path"

    Dear Friends in Christ,     

    In the 4^th chapter of Mark’s Gospel, the 34^th verse, we find an interesting comment about Jesus.  And I’m going to read this comment to you from 2 different versions of the Bible.  The 1^st is the NIV, or the New International Version, which is the one we’ve gone back to today for our regular Scripture readings each Sunday morning.  And the NIV translates Mark 34:4 as follows:  “He did not say anything to them without using a parable.”  That’s just a simple, straightforward statement about how Jesus taught.  But now listen to that verse from what is called the CEV, or the Contemporary English Version.  There it says:  “He did not tell them anything without using stories.”

   And how true that was of Jesus.  He was the master story-teller, the master illustrator.  Whether he was talking about a man who went out to his field to sow seed and how that seed landed on different types of soil, the seed representing the Word of God and the soil representing the different responses that people give to the Word; or whether he was talking about a foolish man who built his house on sand or a wise man who built his house on the rock, or a Jewish man who had been beaten up and robbed but who was helped not by a fellow Jew but by an enemy Samaritan, Jesus conveyed many of the lessons that he wanted people to learn in the form of stories.

   And today, I’m going to follow in his footsteps.  My sermon this morning is going to be done quite differently than the way I normally do it, but I think you’re going to like it.  So at this time I’m going to ask my assistant to come forward – my wife, Marilyn – who will be reading a story written by Max Lucado and who will be stopping at key points along the way so that I can make some comments to relate this story to our lives today.  The title of this story is simply “The Path.”

PART 1:  The court of the king never understood the princess.  My, how her father had loved her!  No topic of the kingdom mattered to him more.  Just the sound of her voice in the hallway and he was off of his throne and out the door.  The king’s advisors were puzzled – puzzled by her discontent.  Of late she seemed restless, bored.  Her questions about the lowlanders in the valley below troubled them.  “They are evil beings,” she was told, “sniveling and selfish.  Don’t think of them.”  But then she’d be found gazing out the window into their village.

   As the king heard their concerns, he always shared his own.  “I know,” he agreed.  “As she grows older, she is…she is colder.  She…is distant.”  He’d pause and usually conclude with the same words, partly explaining, partly hoping:  “She’s not a child anymore.  It is just a phase that will pass.  Surely it will pass.” 

   Oh, how the king loved his daughter!

   The love of a parent for a child is a mighty force, isn’t it?  I mean, when you look at a newborn baby, there’s not a lot that that infant has to offer its parents, is there?  No money, no skills, no help around the house, no words of wisdom.  To see a baby lying in a bassinet is to see a picture of utter helplessness and complete dependency.  But you know what?  That doesn’t matter to mom and dad because they love that child like nothing else in the world.  You can see it in mom’s face as she nurses her little one.  You can see it in dad’s eyes as he cradles that precious child in his big, strong arms.

   And just let somebody try to harm that child, or speak evil of it or to it, and you’ll see mom and dad rise up like a mighty bear defending its cubs.  Indeed, there’s no force more powerful than the love of a parent for a child.  Except for one other force, and that would be the immeasurable, incalculable, insurpassable love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of his children.

   But what happens when one of God’s children becomes rebellious?  What happens when his children turns away from him?  What happens when his children willfully leaves the protective care of their Father?  Perhaps our story will give us some insight into those questions.

PART 2:  You’d think such a love would keep her forever near.  Royal attendants thought as much.  And on the morning she was discovered missing, the people were stunned.  Lowlanders had attacked the night before – if you dare call their efforts an assault!  Their forces were a small flame against the breath of the king.  He and his men withstood them easily.  They laughed, saying that the cost of the battle was nothing more than a night’s rest. 

   But then her absence was reported.  The face of the monarch turned pale at the news.  He demanded to see one of the prisoners.  A lowlander was brought before the throne.  He was hairy and hunched, his head bowed, but not out of reverence.  All his people were stooped and bent – the result of life in the forest.

   The king posed a stark contrast.  He was regal and tall, clean and majestic.  “Where did you take her?” he demanded.  The lowlander snickered a raspy response.  “Take her!  Ha!  She went by choice.”  “I don’t believe you,” said the king.  “Examine her room,” taunted the lowlander.  “Any evidence of resistance?  Ask the guards.  Any report of a scream?  There was none!  She came to us…said she wanted to leave.”

   The attendants of the king murmured in disbelief.  But the king sat silently.  In his heart, he knew the lowlander spoke truth.  And he knew what that truth meant.  He’d never see his daughter again.

   On the mountainside, between the castle and their village, was a forest – an impenetrable forest.  No one, save the squirmy lowlanders, could traverse it.  Trees, so dense that their limbs interlocked.  At their base lay an ocean of thick, thorny thickets.  No one could pass through the forest.

   The prisoner was released, and the king rose and walked to the window.  He’d never see his daughter again.  Of course, his attendants were beginning to assume he wouldn’t want to.  To be kidnapped is one matter, but to defect, to side with the enemy!!  What unspeakable ingratitude!

   What happens when a child of the father becomes an enemy of the father?  What happens when that child who was so strongly and tenderly loved by the father begins to display activity against the father?  It would do us well to find out because the truth of the matter is that’s exactly what we have done.  According to the Bible ach one of us has assumed the role of an enemy against God.  The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in Rom. 5:6 where he writes:  “We were living against God.”  And then 4 verses later he reiterates the same thought, only with even stronger language when he says, “We were God’s enemies.”

   Now an enemy is a hostile adversary.  An enemy is one whose rebellion is not casual, but willful, intentional, calibrated.  And you may be sitting there right now thinking to yourself, “There’s no way that I could ever have been classified as that kind of an enemy against God.”  And I understand where you’re coming from, but let me ask you a few questions, my friends, that just might change your mind a bit. 

   Has there ever been a time in your life when you deliberately hurt or hated or refused to forgive one of your fellow human beings who had hurt or wronged or offended you in some way?  Has there ever been a time in your life when you did something, even though before you did it or in the midst of doing it you knew it was wrong?  You knew that God would not approve of it?  You knew that it was in direct opposition to his will?  Has there ever been a time in your life in which you put something else ahead of God in your life or you failed to love him with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and you did not love your neighbor as yourself?  Need I go on?  Indeed, a careful and honest look into the mirror of God’s law reveals to us just what the Apostle Paul said in those Romans passages I quoted a few moments ago.  We have lived against God.  We have been his enemies.

   So let’s go back to the question I asked a little bit ago.  What happens when one of God’s children become one of God’s enemies?  What does God do in those cases?  It would be nice to know.  So let’s go back to our story.

PART 3:  The attendants were stunned at what the king did next.  He spun from the window and announced, “I will go after her.”  Their response was quick:  “But the forest!”  “I will cut a path.”  “It is thick!”  “I am strong.”  Silence – as the king awaited the next question.

   Finally, one mustered the courage to raise it.  “But, your majesty, the princess is one of them now.  She is (pause), she is…an enemy.”  “Yes,” replied the monarch in a firm voice, “she is an enemy now, but she was my daughter first.”

   And so the king, with sword in hand and love in heart, left the castle and descended into the forest.  He did not hesitate.  One mighty slash after another and ancient trees began to tumble.  His singular task was to carve a road for his daughter.  The image of his daughter, bellying her way through the underbrush, disturbed him.  Already his arms and legs were cut from the thorns.  How much more numerous must be her wounds? 

   Word of the king’s work spread quickly among the lowlanders.  They mounted a quick resistance.  They hadn’t the courage to meet him face-to-face.  So darting from the side, they snapped at his legs.  Swinging from above, they clawed at his shoulders.  But the same sword which felled the trees struck fear in the attackers.  One slash of the blade and they’d scamper into hiding.  Never once did they slow his progress.  Never once did they diminish his resolve. 

   The royal court was astounded.  They could not see their king, but they could see his work!  Like a full-sail schooner slices the sea, so the king cut the trail, leaving in his wake a thin line visible from the castle above.

   Perhaps the most famous road in the world is the Via Dolorosa, which means “the way of sorrows” or “the way of suffering.”  According to tradition, it’s the route that Jesus walked from Pilate’s hall to Calvary hill on that fateful Friday so long ago.  Now to be honest with you, we don’t know the exact path that Jesus followed that day.  And the reason we don’t is because Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. and again in 135 A.D.  And when the city was destroyed the streets were destroyed too.  And so all we can really do is make an educated guess concerning the route that he walked that day on his way to the cross.

   But this much we do know.  We do know where the path began and we do know where the path ended up and we do know who cut the path.  For you see, the path did not begin in the halls of Pilate, but rather in the halls of heaven.  And the journey began when the King, like the king in our story, stepped down from his throne and entered the world of us lowlanders.  Earlier we read Rom. 5:10 where it says we were enemies of God.  But let’s read the whole verse now.  I think you’ll like it:  “While we were God’s enemies, he made friends with us.”

   Note who takes the initiative there.  God does, doesn’t he?  Note who does the reaching out.  God does.  Note who makes friends with whom.  God makes friends with us.  And when does God make friends with us?  While we were his enemies.  The technical, theological term that the Bible uses for this is reconciliation.  Reconciliation.  Like one translation says, “While we were God’s enemies, he reconciled us to himself.”

   So even though we may never know the precise path that Jesus walked that day from Pilate’s hall to Calvary’s hill, we do know all about another path – the path he took from heaven to earth.  We do know that he willingly left his throne on high and cut a path through the thicket of our sin, all so that he could lead us back to our Father’s house once again.

   Let’s finish our story now and see what happens when the king finally finds his wayward daughter.

PART 4:  The forest ended as abruptly as it began, and the king stepped into the clearing as one stepping out of a wall.  Clothing torn and skin bloodied, but work complete.  Only one task remained.

   She was easy to find.  The lowlanders had abandoned their huts and hid in the trees.  The princess didn’t run, but nor did she come.  She stood with her back to her father, knowing he was near, but acting like he wasn’t.  (Heavy sigh)  He sighed at her appearance – clothing and skin shredded from her trip through the forest.  Her hair, once long and radiant, was now matted and caught with burrs.  Already her back was beginning to stoop. 

   He touched her shoulder.  She stiffened.  “What is the attraction here?” he asked.  She had no answer.  Not for her father…not even for herself.  “Come back with me,” he pleaded.  “I’m one of them now,” she replied.  “But you weren’t made for this place!”  Still, she didn’t turn.  Both were silent.

   Finally, the father turned and began the journey back.  She still couldn’t bring herself to look at him, but nor could she let him leave.  “I-I can’t come back,” she blurted.  “I don’t know the way.”  She’d barely spoken the words before the king responded:  “Don’t you know that is why I came?  I have made a way for you!” 

   With that, the daughter turned…slowly…eyes downward…still hesitant to face her father.  But at her feet where he had stood, the dust was clotted crimson.  Blood drops…his blood drops.  Lifting her eyes, she saw what he had done.  A road was cut – not wide, but wide enough!  The father answered her unspoken question:  “It leads home.”  Then he paused.  “Will you go with me?”  He turned and began to walk. 

   She looked.  She looked again at the blood.  She looked again at the path.  She looked at the figure of her strong father walking toward the trees.  And she made her choice.  She straightened her shoulders and began following her father home.

What about you, my friends?  Have you perhaps seen yourself in this story today?  Has there ever been a time in your life when you strayed far from your Heavenly Father’s ways?  Has there ever been a time when you opted to live like the lowlanders of this world rather than like a child of the King?  Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt that you had strayed so far  from your Father’s house that you weren’t sure you would ever be able to find your way back home again even if you wanted to?  If so, I hope that you’ve learned something from our story today.  I hope that you’ve learned that the way has been made.  The path has been cut.  And along that path you will see exactly what the daughter in our story saw – soil stained crimson from the blood drops of a Savior who loved you enough to die for you – a Savior who more than anything wants you to follow him home.  And so I ask you, Will you do that?  Will you go with him?  Will you follow him?  If so, I guarantee that that will be one choice you will never ever live to regret.

   Amen.