What You See Is Not What You Get

What You See Is Not What You Get!

“A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds… were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Matthew 21:8-9

“Then the chief priests and the elders… gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.” Matthew 26:3-4

Have you ever used the adage, “What you see is what you get!” We usually mean well when we say it. I know I have even used it to describe myself, “What you see is what you get.” Perhaps you have described yourself, or another, in a similar way. In context, what we usually mean is “I am not hiding anything from you,” or “I don’t have a hidden agenda,” or “I am not two different people, one person with you and another person with someone else.” I can think of certain persons I have described as, “What you see is what you get kind of persons.’”

But, when you get right down to it, most of the time it’s not the whole truth. Most of the time, it’s an illusion. Most of the time, any given situation, or any given human life is far more complex than merely “what you see is what you get.”

You surf the internet and thought you were visiting a friendly, innocuous website only to find out later that behind the friendly display on your screen adware or spyware was invading your computer.

You get a pleasant email from a friend, only to discover later that with it came a virus that wiped information on your hard drive. “What you see is what you get.” Not hardly!

Wouldn’t it be nice if that’s the way life really was? Wouldn’t it be nice if life was so simple and straightforward? “What you see is what you get!” Wouldn’t it be great if life was clearly a matter of good and bad? Wouldn’t it be easier if all our choices were so clearly designated? We could choose more easily and with more confidence and assurance. But as it is, black-and-white choices can be few and far between. Much of the time we all deal with various shades of gray. Almost every good thing can be done with ulterior motives, and almost every bad thing can be done with good intentions. Every hero has his or her failings; every villain has some redeeming qualities. There are absolutes, but we aren't always absolutely sure what they are.

Certainly in the past months as the steroid scandal in baseball has emerged to the forefront of the news, it is beginning to appear more and more that perhaps things were not as we thought. Perhaps some of the sacred, long standing records of baseball were not broken honestly, truthfully and fairly, but with the help of performance enhancing drugs and chemicals.

“What you see is what you get?” Perhaps not!

“What you see is what you get?” When applied to the public events of Palm Sunday, nothing could have been further from the truth! When Jesus rode into Jerusalem the crowds lined the streets and shouted their “Hosannas,” and welcomed him as a conquering king – the arrival of the messiah. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, there was a public demonstration on his behalf. The symbolism of the ride into town was powerful and profound. Such an entry into Jerusalem had been foretold by the prophet Zechariah. The Messiah, the new King of Israel, would come into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, triumphant and victorious, yet humble and peace-loving. For Jesus to ride in as Zechariah had foreseen was to say two things: Here is the messiah, and he comes in peace.

“What you see is what you get?” No way! Peace was not what he found. We know that behind the scenes a desperate and evil treachery was at work conspiring to destroy him. In a matter of a few days, many of the same voices that welcomed him with joyous expectation were now calling for his execution. His best friends who vowed to stand by him through thick and thin couldn’t be found, lost to betrayal, denial, cowardice and fear. By the end of the week, there was another parade. But in this parade the adulation of the crowds had turned to scorn, derision and hatred. Jesus had been arrested without charges, convicted in a prejudiced court, sentenced to die in a political compromise. He had been beaten within an inch of his life and then forced to carry a heavy timber on his bloody back to his own execution. Even when they compelled another man to carry the cross-beam of the cross, Jesus knew that every step brought him closer to the most torturous death ever devised by sinners. The few women who were still faithful were following behind, weeping and wailing. The last moments of Jesus’ life were spent suffocating between two criminals.

“What you see is what you get?” A Palm Sunday parade? Not quite! A Palm Sunday charade might be a better description for it.

If we are honest we also know how quickly life can change for us too. Like Colorado blue skies in the Spring can turn dark, thunderous and rainy in a matter of hours, so can life.

It doesn’t take much does it? If you would have told me 18 months ago that I would be facing 5 surgeries in the same period, I would have been shocked!

How many of our members at Holy Love in the past year or so have faced sudden job losses and job changes that has piled on stress and strain, financially and emotionally?
Ask the Tsunami victims a few hours before it hit if “What you see is what you get?”, and then ask them a few hours later.
How about the financial boom of the mid and late 1990’s? “What you see is what you get?” As time goes on we are more and more seeing that much of it was being propped up by greedy corporate executives, doctored books and overpriced securities.
How about the spouse who thought the marriage was pretty good, not perfect but pretty good, only to find out that the other has been having an affair - for quite awhile?
Even when we look into ourselves we know that “What others see is not always what other’s get.” We know that it doesn’t necessarily take too much to set us off, or to hurt our feelings, or to become angry, bitter, envious, hateful or cynical. “What you see is what you get?” Even with our own selves we know it is not always true – not unless we are self deluded.

In considering titles for this sermon I chose this: “What You See Is Not What You Get.”

When it comes to Palm Sunday, when it comes to life, when it comes to yourself “what you see is not always what you get.” On Palm Sunday there was private treachery going on behind the public parade. At any given time in the world disguised and invisible forces are at work that would inflict suffering and destroy us. Even within ourselves the power of sin, selfishness and self-indulgence lurks and prowls, and especially at moments when are vulnerable, can rise up, take control and wreak havoc, pain and estrangement.

Palm Sunday, Passion Week, Holy Week is not about events way back then. This week is not a study in ancient history. This week is about us right now and about the way things are – a tragic mixture of glory and gory; peace and conflict; celebration and termination; good intentions and ulterior motives; public goodwill and private scorn.

A week that started out with such promise and expectation turned out so bad, so broken, so tragic, so sinful, so deadly – and we, along with the disciples, end up sitting around looking at each other and saying, “What happened?”

The week ended with the hideous spectacle of crucifixion. The disciples were devastated, guilty, lost, confused, angry, grieving, afraid, and numb. The week ended with Pilate handing over Jesus’ dead body to a man named Joseph of Arimathea who quietly laid the body in a tomb hewn out of solid rock. It was the body of a man who’s life had such promise, and people had pinned their longings and expectations upon him, and now they rolled a stone in front of a cave that had become his grave, sealing his body in, and all their hopes and expectations along with him.

It was finished, whatever it had been, whoever he had been, whatever he was supposed to have been about. It was over. It ended as all things finally end. It was time for his family and friends to do what all family and friends of the dead must do - their grieving, and then adjust and cope and get on with their lives as best they could. For isn’t that what we do too? Isn’t that how we handle things? We grieve. We adjust. We learn to cope with a broken reality that can go from good to bad in the blink of an eye. And we hope that things will smooth out for awhile and become tolerable enough to, at some point, make life worthwhile again. We go on living with an ache and empty place in our soul where once lived a joy now turned to ashes and dust.

But don’t forget! Don’t forget that “what you see is not what you get.” Not only was that true of Palm Sunday, when treachery was working behind the scenes, unnoticed and hidden until finally it revealed its hideous face and nailed him to a cross.

It’s is also true of Good Friday, when death, and despair, and evil and sin, had apparently declared victory. Like Palm Sunday, on Good Friday “What you see is not what you get.” Only now the tables are turned. For behind the scenes that entire week, more than that, for his entire life from the moment he was born and even before, there was a divine love operative and at work, the likes of which the world had never scene expressed in a human life.

And sin, death and despair could only hold him for little while, and not many hours later he turned up again, only now he was not merely the dead Messiah of Israel, but the living Lord and Savior of all humanity.

This day and this week is all about the kind of world we live in and about the lives we live – an ambiguous mixture of wonder and want. But this week is also about God, working behind the scenes. And because it’s about God working behind the scenes, we can live with the hope and assurance that no matter how tragic and broken things become, “what you see is not merely what you get.” From out of the darkness and death of a grave emerges the savior of the world, your personal savior. And he is prepared to not merely show how to cope, but comes with a power of love and will accompany you on your journey and begin to make all things new.