I heard a story the other day of “Monday the donkey”. He went back to the market and strolled, just like the day before, but this time, no one paid attention.
Concerned, “Monday the donkey” came back to her “mummy” donkey, sullen, and said.
“Oh my ‘goodness’, yesterday I went to the market and everyone was waving branches at me and singing, today, I walked by the same into the same market and no one even recognized me.”
A wiser Mummy donkey responded. “It’s because without him you are nothing.”
It took a while to sink in that this figurative “Palm Sunday donkey” problem is actually cancer among many of us, post-modern Christians.
Without clarity of the one who’s worthy of all praise, whose perfect life substituted ours, we go back to the market place seeking our own identity, forgetting that without him we are not only nothing but “can do nothing.” ( John 15:5)
Similarly, I can hardly think of anything that sabotages the message of Easter like our 21st-century obsession with “the self.”
It’s subtle and yet you hear the therapy of it all in our spirituality, Pastors seem to embrace it even more, “you are the master of your destiny” – many pulpits often proclaim and imply.
Before you know it.
The superfluous and superficial self-centered diction of “potential” “destiny” “empowerment” “attitude” “determination” “motivation” etc has overridden the biblical understanding of God’s sovereignty, human perseverance, fallen man—and his need for redemption.
But we love our slogans, don’t we? at least they massage our fallen egos and keep us deceived that we are in charge of this whole thing, even this spiritual thing.
Yet as the Tower of Babel narrative in Gen 11 reminds, the elevation of man has often commenced the belittling of God.
This was Paul’s description and prescription to the Galatians who were tempted to embrace circumcision and dietary laws as a means to salvation.
Description…
“..having begun in the spirit, are you now trying to perfect yourself in the flesh? ” (Gal 3:3)
And so the prescription,
“If righteousness could be achieved by law, Christ died for nothing.” (Gal 2:21)
Can you think of a more dangerous way to sabotage the message of Easter than today’s heathen messaging to “believe-in-yourself”?
I can’t.
Because the message of Galatians is that, we who contribute nothing to our salvation cannot begin to live like we can sustain it all through self-sovereignty.
Divine coup-detat plots start at the point when we begin to believe in ourselves.
There are few other quicker ways to sabotage Easter, sadly.
