Once upon a time in the heart of a certain kingdom, lay a beautiful garden. Of all the
dwellers of the garden, the most beautiful and beloved to the master of the garden was
a splendid and noble Bamboo. Year after year, Bamboo grew yet more beautiful and
gracious. He was conscious of his master's love, yet he was modest and in all things
gentle.
Often when Wind came to revel in the garden, Bamboo would throw aside his dignity. He
would dance and sway merrily, tossing and leaping and bowing in joyous abandon. He
would lead the great dance of the garden which most delighted his master's heart.
One day the master himself drew near to look at this Bamboo with eyes of curious
expectancy. And Bamboo, in a passion of love, bowed his head to the ground in joyful
greeting. The master spoke: "Bamboo, I would use you." Bamboo flung his head to the
sky in utter delight. The day of days had been growing hour by hour, the day in
which he would find his completion and destiny! His voice came low: "Master, I am
ready, use me as you want." "Bamboo," the master's voice was grave, "I would be
obliged to take you and cut you down."
A trembling of great horror shook Bamboo. "Cut..me..down? Me whom you, master, have
made the most beautiful in all your garden? Cut me down? Ah, not that, not that.
Use me for your joy, oh master, but cut me not down." "Beloved Bamboo," the master's
voice grew graver still. "If I do not cut you down, I cannot use you."
The garden grew still. Wind held her breath. Bamboo slowly bent his proud and
glorious head. Then came a whisper. "Master, if you cannot use me unless you cut me
down, then do your will and cut."
"Bamboo, beloved Bamboo, I would cut your leaves and branches from you also."
"Master, master, spare me. Cut me down and lay my beauty in the dust, but would you
take from me my leaves and branches also?"
"Bamboo alas! If I do not cut them away, I cannot use you."
The sun hid her face. A listening butterfly glided fearfully away. Bamboo shivered in
terrible expectancy, whispering low. "Master, cut away." "Bamboo, Bamboo. I would
divide you in two and cut out your heart, for if I do not cut so, I cannot use you."
"Master, master, then cut and divide."
So the master of the garden took Bamboo and cut him down and hacked off his branches
and stripped his leaves and divided him in two and cut out his heart, and lifting
him gently, carried him to where there was a spring of fresh, sparkling water in the
midst of the master's dry fields. Then putting down one end of broken Bamboo into the
spring and the other end into the water channel in his field, the master laid down
gently his beloved Bamboo.
The spring sang welcome. The clear sparkling water raced joyously down the channel of
Bamboo's torn body into the waiting fields. Then the rice was planted and the days
went by. The shoots grew. The harvest came. In that day was Bamboo, once so glorious
in his stately beauty, yet more glorious in his brokenness and humility.
For in his beauty he was life abundant. But in his brokenness he became a channel of
abundant life to his master's world.
A little parable for this Palm Sunday, 1990--not about Palm branches, though, but about
Bamboo. Even more about Christ.
"Have this mind in you," writes St. Paul, "which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of
no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father." (KJV)
In these poetic lines we discover three things about Christ: who he is, what he has
done in our behalf, what our attitude toward him ought to be.
LET'S CONSIDER, FIRST OF ALL, WHO HE IS. Many of us would like to straddle the fence at
this point. Intellectually, we count ourselves among the Trinitarians. We gladly
embrace the language--Father, Son and Holy Ghost--but deep in our hearts we are
reluctant to make an all-out commitment to the divinity of Christ. The moral
superiority of his teachings we consider beyond question. The picture he gives us of
God is one we would like the whole world to embrace. The love which he taught and
personified we acknowledge to surpass our own in almost infinite proportions.
Still, we want to lump him with other religious geniuses like Confucius, Mohammed, and
Moses. We cannot allow ourselves to acknowledge him as Lord. That is too much to ask
of us intellectually. Even more important, it is too much to ask of us spiritually,
for if he truly is Lord, it would be impossible for us to keep him safely at arm's
length.
Acknowledging him as Lord may require too much from us--not only of our minds, but also
our hearts. Yet this is the bold contention of our faith. Jesus is more than mere
humanity. He is part of the Triune God.
Dorothy Sayers had one of the simplest and most helpful explanations of the puzzling
doctrine of the Trinity I know of. She uses the example of a book. She notes that at
first the book is only an idea in its author's mind. Then it becomes a book that you
can hold and read and study. As you begin to grasp and comprehend its ideas and to put
its precepts into action, however, it becomes something else. It takes on a kind of
life of its own in your mind. So, one work, but in three forms--idea, book, and
realization in the reader's mind.
Christians believe that God also manifests Himself in three forms--God in His Divine
essence, God in the historical person of Jesus, and God, the Holy Spirit, who is the
inward witness of Himself. Thus we can see how St. Paul could describe Christ as
"being in the form of God..." and thinking "it not robbery to be equal with God..."
That is who he is. We need to focus on who Christ is this Palm Sunday.
WE ALSO NEED TO CONSIDER WHAT HE HAS DONE IN OUR BEHALF. St. Paul tells us he "took
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found
in the fashion of man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross...."
In his immortal work, PARADISE LOST, Milton tells us about an angel who sought to be
equal with God. For this he was cast out of heaven and now reigns in hell. These are
the words Milton attributed to Satan, "Better to reign in hell than to serve in
heaven." Note the difference between Satan and Christ. St. Paul describes Christ as
One who does not strive to be equal with God, but rather humbles himself to the level
of humanity, who becomes a servant, and finally dies like a common thief.
We are particularly mindful of Christ's humility on Palm Sunday. History records that
when Chancellor Bismarck of Prussia in the nineteenth century chose to make his grand
entrance into Jerusalem, he did so on a white horse. And he was accompanied by such a
large army of officials that a section of the wall had to be removed. That is the way
a person of greatness is supposed to enter a city. Limos and loudspeakers and lines of
press releases. Not the humble Christ. He enters aboard a lowly donkey.
Even more did he humble himself upon the cross. Just as Bamboo was stripped of his
leaves, with his stalk cut in two and his heart cut out, so the beloved Christ was
stripped of his dignity, forsaken by his friends, broken in body, if not in spirit.
And he did it in our behalf.
In a Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown and Linus are standing next to each other, staring
at a star-filled sky. "Would you like to see a falling star?" Charlie Brown asks
Linus.
"Sure..." Linus responds. "Then again, I don't know," he adds, after some thought. "I'd
hate to have it fall just on my account."
In the book PARABLES OF PEANUTS, Robert Short uses this cartoon to make the point that
a star did fall on our account. God came down to us as Jesus: like a lamb led to
slaughter, He died on our account. What humility. What love and, oh, what he
accomplished there.
Back in 1927 a man named Asibi, a West African native, was stricken with the deadly
disease, yellow fever.
However, Asibi lived. Because his system had conquered the disease, Asibi's blood
contained the antibodies from which to begin to develop a successful vaccine.
Today doctors and drug companies have developed an efficient vaccine against yellow
fever, and their cure has saved the lives of untold numbers of people around the
world. Each dose of vaccine, though, can be traced back to one original blood
sample--that of Asibi. Literally, one man's blood saved the lives of millions of
people.
In a mysterious way we cannot understand, that is exactly what the blood of Jesus
Christ did for us. "By his stripes, we have been healed. Thus we see who Christ is
and what he has done in our behalf.
FINALLY WE NEED TO SEE THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE ON OUR PART TO WHO CHRIST IS AND WHAT
HE HAS DONE. That response is to bow at his feet and acknowledge him as our Lord.
"Wherefore God has also exalted him and given him a name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow...."
We need to join the crowds who threw down their cloaks before him as he rode into
Jerusalem. We need to join the chorus of children singing, "Hosanna to him who comes
in the name of the Lord...." But more than that, we need to make him Lord of our
lives.
A lot of us would like to be like Tommy Lasorda, the irrepressible manager of the Los
Angeles Dodgers. Lasorda accepted a fee to wear a certain shoe a few years back when
the Dodgers were in the World Series. Then another manufacturer made a similar offer,
and now he had a problem. How could he wear both? He thought maybe he could wear one
brand at home and the other on the road and get two fees, but neither company would go
for that.
Finally, he figured out a way to get both fees. He simply wore one shoe from each
manufacturer.
Some of us would like to follow the same tactic in dividing our allegiance between
Christ and the world. It cannot be done. If, as St. Paul instructs, we have the mind
of Christ in us, we cannot at the same time have the mind of the world.
Consider who he is. Consider what he has done in our behalf. And then consider your
response. See if you are not ready this day to join in the hosannas and proclaim him
Lord of your life. See if you too are not willing to be stripped of your leaves and be
crucified with him. See if you are not ready to join that vast company that proclaims
him Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
