When You’re Down

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK

(The Powerpoints used with this srmon are available for free. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com and request #265.)

A. Have you ever had one of those days when everything goes wrong? It doesn’t make any difference how hard you try, it just seems that everything backfires on you? The harder you try, the worse it gets. I’m convinced that all of us have had days like that.

ILL. I heard a story that illustrates this point very well. It is about a lady at the airport who bought a Kit Kat candy bar to eat while she was waiting for her plane.

In the crowded waiting area she spied an empty seat at the end of a row. Rushing to get it, she quickly propped her hang up bag against the end of the row, sat down, & placed her purse & several small items on the table between her & a rather large man seated there, & then turned back to straighten her hang up bag.

With everything finally in order, she was ready to eat her Kit Kat candy bar. But to her surprise, as she started to reach for it, she saw the man in the next seat unwrapping her Kit Kat candy bar, & she watched in utter amazement as he broke off a section & ate it.

She thought, "Well, my goodness, I’ve never seen such gall." She glared at him, & he looked at her, but no words were exchanged.

She was so furious at what he had done that she decided that if he was going to be that brazen about it, she could be brazen, too. So she reached over to him, broke off a piece & ate it herself. Then he broke off another piece & ate it.

It became almost a duel between the two of them to see who would get the most. Quickly the candy bar was consumed, & she sat there just boiling that someone would be so rude & so presumptuous as to eat half of her candy bar.

Well, after a few minutes of silence, the man got up & left & then came back with another Kit Kat candy bar. He unwrapped it, broke off a piece & started eating. She thought, "Well, since he ate half of mine, I’m going to eat half of his." So she reached over & broke off another piece & ate it.

Once again the same scenario was repeated until the whole candy bar was gone. She sat there thinking, "This is the most ridiculous thing that has happened to me in my whole life." She continued to glare at him, & he looked at her, with neither one saying a word.

Just then, over the intercom came the announcement that her plane was ready for boarding. So she opened her purse to get her boarding pass &, to her utter embarrassment, there was her Kit Kat candy bar. She had eaten half of 2 of his candy bars, & her candy bar was still in her purse!

APPL. There are times, I suppose, when things really start to go wrong. Your whole world seems to be crumbling around you & you wonder what is going on.

B. That is probably about the way the apostles are feeling as we come to the 14th chapter of John. Their week had begun gloriously with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, & people waving palm branches & shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!" (John 12:13)

Even the Pharisees & the chief priests who had been plotting against Jesus had cried out in despair, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the