Jeanette George tells of flying from Tucson to Phoenix. “During the flight she noticed across the aisle a young mom with her baby daughter. Both mother and daughter were wearing, crisp, white dresses. The mother was smiling and the baby was saying "Dada, Dada." She had a little pink bow where someday she was going to have hair and anytime anybody walked by she greeted them with "Dada, Dada." Jeanette concluded, "I think I know who is going to be there waiting when this plane lands, Dada". Meanwhile that baby was the magnet of everyone's attention on the plane. The mom had a baby bottle filled with orange juice. It turned out to be a rough flight and when the baby got fussy, the mom would pacify her with the bottle of orange juice.

“The flight became even more turbulent. Seat belts were buckled and flight attendants had to take their seats. Soon all the fruit juice that had gone down the baby, came back up until it seemed there was more up than had been put in her. The rest of the passengers were not in good condition either, Jeanette said. As the plane was pitching back and forth, Jeanette kept reaching into her purse and handing tissues to the mom. Finally the plane landed and instantly the baby was fine and again saying, "Dada, Dada."

“Jeanette said she looked out the window and there he was. It had to be him -- a young man in white slacks, white shirt, carrying white flowers wrapped in green paper. Jeanette thought, 'This ought to be interesting. He's going to come running and see that baby and keep right on running and say, that's not my kid, that's not my kid.'

"Jeanette writes, 'As he ran to the young mother, I wouldn't say she threw the baby at him, but she did kind of leave quickly to go get cleaned up. This young man picked up that baby, and I watched him as he hugged that baby and kissed that baby and stroked that baby's hair. He said, 'Daddy's baby's come home. Daddy's baby's come home.”

Now let me ask you a question. Why did the little girl’s daddy hug her and kiss her and in spite of the throw up all over her and in spite of the mess she was making all over his clothes did he welcome her so affectionately?  Why did it not matter that she nasty and smelly?  Well, you could say, “Well, he loved his little girl.”  True, but why?  “Good Fathers do.” True, but why?

Whatever the reason that young man loved his little daddy’s girl, that is the spirit; that is the compassion; that is the connection; we need in our elders.  We need that willingness for them to get involved in our smelly lives and love us anyway.  But perhaps I need to ask the same question of our elders?

Why, in the world, would anyone want to be an elder when their primary function is to get involved in our messy lives?  Last week we talked about the main job of an elder is to get into the boat with us and ride out the storms. Why would any sane person want to go through a storm with somebody else? Why take on the responsibility?  Why in the world would someone want to get into the boat with us?
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As I was working on this sermon and remembered that today is Palm Sunday and I had a thought.  Listen to Matthew 21 and then I will share my thought. 

Matthew 21:1-11 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,  2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.  3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."  4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:  5 "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"  6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.  7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.  8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"  10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"  11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

Here is the thought.  A large number in the crowd took off their coats and laid them on the road in front of Jesus.  And then the crowd before Jesus and those after Jesus, I guess, not to mention the donkey Jesus was riding, trampled the coats.  I suspect the coats were ruined and there was no guarantee that once you laid it down you were ever going to get it back.  It appears to me the ones who went and tore branches out of the trees to lie before Jesus were the more thrifty ones. It was not like today, where you can pop into Wal-Mart and buy a cheap coat.  These were probably valuable possessions.

Now why would they do this? Why sacrifice a coat for a moment of praise to a prophet from Galilee?  Why give up something valuable for the praise of God?  Whatever the reason they allowed their coats to be trampled, we need that same spirit in our elders.  We need elders who are ready to sacrifice for the praise of God; who are willing to give up their time and their possessions to help us worship Jesus.

But, why in the world would anyone want to sacrifice so that we can worship?  Why spend the time?  Why work hard for us?  Why make sure that our times together are the best praise they can be?  Why would anyone want to be an elder?  Don’t they have better things to do with their time?
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I want to share a newspaper article I read in the Washington Post last November.  When I read it I was touched and copied it to use in a sermon sometime.  Today is the sometime.

Life and Hope Flow From Palestinian Boy's Death
A photo of a slightly smiling Ahmed Khatib has joined the martyr posters on the walls of a refugee camp in Palestine. A large red question mark appears at the bottom of the wal, "Why the Palestinian children are killed?" it asks in stilted English.

Ismail Khatib and his wife, Abla, have offered a response that has drawn praise from Israeli leaders and challenged Palestinians in this cramped refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli-Palestinian violence for years.

Ahmed, the couple's son, was shot twice last week by Israeli soldiers in what the military said was a mistake made during the heat of street fighting near their house. The boy had been holding a toy gun. He died two days later in an Israeli hospital, and the Khatibs made the surprising choice of allowing his organs to be harvested for transplant to Israelis.

Six people, including five Israeli Jews, have received the boy's heart, lungs, liver and kidneys since then. The recipients range from a 58-year-old woman to a 7-month-old girl, who died two days ago after failing to recover from surgery that gave her half of Ahmed's liver. The rest are recovering.

"My son has died, God rest his soul," Abla, 34, said Wednesday in the family's small living room, filled throughout the morning with women paying quiet condolences. "Maybe he can give life to others."

The donation, which the mechanic and his wife have described as a peace overture that others should emulate, has at least momentarily transformed a persistent conflict between two peoples into a shared drama of ordinary people looking beyond a war that Israeli human rights groups say has killed 672 Palestinian and 118 Israeli minors in the last five years.

Ahmed, a seventh-grader at the U.N. school in the Jenin camp, rose before his five siblings on Nov. 3. It was the first day of  the three-day feast celebrating the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. He dressed and left his house on a steeply sloping alley to pray at a nearby mosque and make the customary feast-day visit to the Martyrs' Cemetery. He would be buried there three days later.

Not long after he left to play that day, several dozen boys arrived at the Khatib home, bustling with people gathering for the feast. They told Abla that Ahmed had been hurt by Israeli soldiers a few blocks away. The family rushed to the hospital to find Ahmed had been shot once in the head and once in the pelvis.  His mother said she knew there was no hope for him. "I saw his clothes full of blood," she said.

The boy was taken to an Israeli hospital in Haifa. But doctors there were unable to detect any brain function, and it was only a matter of time before he succumbed. In the meantime, Ismail asked his wife if she would "mind someone touching her son" to allow his organs to be harvested. Moved by the children suffering in the same hospital ward, Abla agreed to the donation.

Let me ask our question again?  What would cause these parents to give their son’s organs to the very people who had killed him?  Why would they offer such a gift to those who had caused them such pain?  It seems that revenge would be the typical answer, especially in that region of the world.  Why did they give of their son to their enemies? 

Whatever the reason, it is that spirit which we need in our elders.  We need those who can see past the surface; see past our prejudices, and see people as loved by God.  We need elders who are willing to reach out those who are different and even opposed to us, and attempt to touch them with the weapon of love.

But, why would anyone want to be an elder and have the weight of that kind of responsibility.  The responsibility to guide us to love the world around us; to see people through the eyes of Jesus.  Who would think they are good enough to be an elder?
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One more story that has touched my life this week: Behind a church in the small town of Flint Hill, Virginia, you will find the grave of a young men who was studying to be a preacher.  This man’s name was Albert Gallatin Willis.  He died on October 14, 1864. Albert Willis' story is unusual. Albert Willis served with the famed command of Mosby's Raiders during the Civil War. The war was all but lost but the troops under Mosby's kept on harassing the Federal supply trains, wagons, and stores.  It was a desperate action to prolong the war and discourage the fight. It became so bad that, the Union General Phil Sheridan ordered that Mosby and any of his men were to be hung on capture.

In October 1864, Willis and an unnamed comrade were captured by the 2nd U. S. Cavalry and sentenced to die by hanging. However, Willis was offered a Chaplain's exemption because he was a ministerial student. However, because his companion was married, young Willis offered himself as a substitute for friend and died in his place, so that the other might go free.

Once again our question haunts us.  Why would he do that?  Why would he give his life for another?  Why be hanged so another could go free?  Sure it was love, but why did he love? 

Whatever, the reason we need that same spirit in our elders; willing to give it all up for the flock.  I am reminded of a saying of Jesus.

John 10:11-13  "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.  13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Jesus, as the model for all his shepherds, says that a good shepherd is willing to fight for the sheep, to die for the sheep, to sacrifice for the sheep.  If that is true then who in the world would want to be an elder?  If the job description is to be willing to sack it all for us, who would, in their right mind, apply for that job?

Last Sunday night in our small group discussion we read a verse that struck me then as the answer to our question.  Let me read it from the New Century Version.

NCV 1 Timothy 3:1 What I say is true: If anyone wants to become an elder, he is wanting a good work. 

N.T. Wright in his book, Simply Christian,” which we are studying on Wednesday nights, would call this an echo of the voice of God.  There is within each of us a desire to good.  Sure, it is often buried deep, and evil shouts louder than this echo.  But there is an echo within us of the voice of God that whispers, “Do Good. Do something worthy.  Do something that makes a difference.  Make your life count.”  Can you hear that voice?  Those of us who are Christians, who listen to the Spirit everyday, hear this voice loud and clear.   There is within each of us a burning to desire to make your life count. 

And that is why the father hugs his smelly little girl. He knows he makes a difference to that girl’s heart!

That is why they laid their coats at the feet of Jesus.  It was worth it.

That is why the Palestinian parents gave their child’s body parts to their enemies; it gave life to others; it chances things.

That is why Albert Gallatin Willis took his friends place on the gallows, because it was a good thing to do.

And that is why a person would choose to be an elder.  Because it is good; because it chances things; because it is worth it.  Those who are chosen as elders listen to the echoes of God in their hearts because it makes a difference!

Prayer for this Week:

Lord, Grant courage to those who are called to be our elders.  Grant them a desire to serve.  Bless them to know that they make a difference! Amen.