4/15/62

Scripture: Zechariah 9: 9-12; Luke 19: 28-46.

In this period from Passion Sunday through Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter, I want to preach on thoughts that arise from 4 statements in the last paragraph of the United Church of Christ “Statement of Faith.” Last week, we thought of God’s promise of “forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace.” On this Palm Sunday, let us think together on God’s promise of “courage in the struggle for justice and peace.”

The struggle is very real in our time. There are indications that the effort to be fair in human relations is more and more acutely demanding. One of our church members sent me a clipping, during the week, taken from a Milwaukee newspaper. A minister whom I know well, and for whom I have a considerable respect, now serves as Dean of the Chapel at Talladega College in Alabama. When students of that college -- most of them Negro men and women -- decided that the time had come for them to take a stand in the matter of service at a drug store lunch counter (not on the campus, but in the town) he joined them in a “sit-in” demonstration. He was one of 19 who were put in jail. Of course they are charged with the offense of “trespassing after warning” and will probably be prosecuted. It is another of those efforts that many have come to feel necessary in the struggle for justice, fair treatment, for Negro Americans. The debate, pro and con, will go on for a long time. And it is a vivid symptom of only one phase of the constant struggle for justice.

Legislators and law enforcement people deal with it all the time in fields as diverse as housing for everyone and equitable distribution of the tax load. Whole nations of people want a fair plan for their countries among the nations of the world. As for peace, the world cries in an agony of concern for it. The mad race of testing atomic weapons goes on with loud affirmations to the effect that “we will match what you do, blast for blast.” In some quarters, the struggle for what is called “justice” is carried on with complete ruthlessness toward those who do not fit in with proletarist notions and practices.

These struggles for justice and peace are not new under the sun. They are as old as man’s concern for them. People longed for them at the time Jesus walked the earth. The peace of his Palestine was one that was enforced by a heavy-handed foreign government. Justice was what was expedient for that government. But there was corruption among the native Hebrews also. And Jesus was concerned with this. He had very little to say about the foreign government, except that one must give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. But he was terribly concerned for the people of his own native country. The time had come for him to go into the city of Jerusalem -- and it was a dangerous time for his entry. It was near the time for the Passover observance. That was a great time for the Jews. Hosts of pilgrims from far and near would be making their way into Jerusalem. There would be a great many people there to hear whatever he might want to say to them. And there would be leaders who would resent the fact that anyone would listen to him. But Jesus was convinced that his own struggle must now be carried into the capital city.

Perhaps he himself, since he knew the Jewish Scriptures so well, remembered the passage from the prophet Zechariah which speaks of a triumphant king, victorious in his conflicts, coming to his people on a colt, the foal of an ass. Possibly he knew that a great many other people knew the passage well enough so that he could depend on their seeing the drama of an entrance to the city on so lowly a beast. At any rate, when he neared the city he sent a couple of his disciples on ahead into the city for such a colt. He gave them instructions as to what they should do and what to say if anyone challenged them. When the colt was brought to him, he mounted the little animal and rode toward Jerusalem. People along the way began to notice. To the minds of some of them came Zechariah’s words: “Your king is come to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass.” Almost instantly there was excitement: “King?” Why certainly this must be the king who would deliver the people from their oppressors! Soon there was shouting, there was such abandon and joy that people flung down their garments for him to ride across them. People waved branches and sang.

The American Standard Version of the Bible calls the incident “The Triumphant Entry.” Many of us have learned to call it that. The Revised Standard Version, however, is content simply to head the story, “Entry into Jerusalem” and to go on with a narration of the events.

Jesus’ entry was highly symbolic. He had taken care to make it accord with Scriptural tradition. Enough people became excited over it to make it noticeable. But it would hardly compare with the dramatic pageantry with which some triumphant general or king would return from his conquests.

And the triumph of Jesus was a spiritual one, filled mostly with tragic overtones. For a few moments on that one day there was popular excitement born of misapprehension of his mission, and very little notion of the meaning of this particular event. What was in the making was actually the starkest kind of tragedy. There would be some attention paid to his teaching. There would be resentment in important quarters and a well-formed plot to get rid of him. Before the week was out, he would be nailed to a cross. And in another generation [AD 70 to be precise] the city itself would be a complete ruin.

It is too easy to mistake appearance for reality. Too often the Christian church has mistaken mere increase in numbers, good equipment, and impressive programs for that devotion and commitment to Christ’s cause which alone characterizes the true Christian. The church must learn to distinguish between the appearance of triumph and the reality --- “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” [Matthew 7: 21].

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On that day of his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus very deliberately acted out the prophecy: “Behold Thy king cometh unto thee -- lowly, and riding upon an ass -- and he shall speak peace unto the nations.” He came to Jerusalem as the bearer of God’s peace for men and nations. Despite that flurry of excited acceptance on Palm Sunday, his own nation rejected him to its own incalculable loss and hurt. There has been no nation from that day to this, that has accepted him fully. Hence the present condition of the world. But, through him, there are people of every race and nation who have found mental and moral health, winning deliverance form sin and despair. Countless millions, down through the ages, have found God, have gained assurance of divine forgiveness, have been lifted out of loneliness and bewilderment, have achieved insight, courage, and hope for this life and for life to come.

The Triumph of Jesus is in this kind of righteous effect over the people of ages to come, rather than the spectacular triumph of some warrior or politically important figure. His triumph means the ultimate defeat of evil and of unreason, and it opens the way to more abundant life.

The Pharisees knew that this was not triumph of the mighty. Failing to see its real significance, they thought that Jesus should enter a disclaimer. He was a teacher, all right; but what was he teaching? They did not agree that all of his teaching was proper. And certainly this bit of pageantry was, in their view, out of place. It was even dangerous amongst so excitable a people. “Teacher, rebuke your followers,” they called out. But the time had come for this recognition. And he answered, “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

[Luke 19: 39-40]. Of course the people duped themselves. They kept thinking something momentous and spectacular was in the making. Their tragedy was the same as ours, in that so few recognize and respond to the truth in Christ. That truth is that he releases forces in history whereby millions of lives would be bettered and blessed, and the moral climate of the world be transformed in his spirit.

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Coming to a place where he and his little procession could get a good view of the city they were entering, Jesus actually wept over the sight. It was such a beloved, and revered place --- and its inhabitants were so perverse and so foolish. He made a prediction that came true, literally and horribly, only 35-40 years later. For in the year AD 70, Jerusalem was sacked and destroyed. It was not a great war, but it was as bloody and brutal as any. Some civilians who fell into enemy hands were crucified in sight of the defenders of the city, who could see their suffering and be impressed. Others had their hands cut off and were sent back into the city in an effort to undermine morale. When the fighting ended more than a million men, women and children had been slaughtered or had died of starvation, and hardly one stone was left upon another in the smoldering ruins.

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Jesus, as he entered Jerusalem, was sure that its people did not know the things that make for peace. And he could only weep for their future. It has been so with other cities from then until now. The same Rome which brought death and destruction to Jerusalem was itself later destroyed. Stars have looked down on others all the way from Berlin to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Would that we might learn while there is time, the things that make for peace --- the faith and loyalty and devotion whereby men are led to seek justice and ways of cooperation for the common good.

Even in the face of approaching tragedy, Jesus went about the promotion of right attitudes. Some of the most important of his teachings that the Scriptures have recorded, occur in the early part of that week following his entry into Jerusalem. And that was the week during which he drove out, from the temple courtyard, those who bought and sold.

The buying and selling was a legitimate sort of business. People needed proper sacrifice animals. And it was much simpler to buy them there than to bring them from great distances. They also needed plain coins (not those minted by Rome) for the temple tax. Hence the money changers. But the whole thing had encroached until the temple was no longer a place of quiet and awesome worship, but a clattering marketplace (with the priestly class probably getting their due commissions!)

Jesus drove them out. He accomplished this more with moral indignation than by force. The whip of knotted cords is mentioned only in John’s gospel (not in the other accounts). It was probably used to drive the animals. Had Jesus used it on the men, or threatened to use it, the money changers and those who sold could quite probably have overpowered him. As it was, the indignation of the worshippers, and the conscience of those responsible for the unseemly traffic, were Jesus’ allies. They knew that the whole business ought to be elsewhere than in the temple courtyard.

But this proved to be an example of going too far for safety. Jewish leaders were not going to overlook Jesus’ deed in the temple. His challenge to their authority, and the blow to a lucrative business, was not to be tolerated. Let the likes of him stick to spiritual matters!

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Jesus had courage in his struggle for justice and peace. It didn’t come from the people generally, except for the mis-motivated shouting of some of them on Palm Sunday. It did not come from his disciples, for they scattered and took cover when he was arrested. It did not come from his family, for his brothers misunderstood him. It came from the same God and Father of us all, to whom Jesus looked with complete trust. “Yes, but I’m not Jesus,” you may say. True enough --- none of us is! But God has courage for all who will trust in him.

Do you recall the story of the Prophet Elijah who lived long before Jesus’ time on earth. He had tried with all his strength to promote peace and justice during his time -- with some success and with some discouragement. In one of his spent and discouraged times, he went off alone and prayed that he might die. “It is enough,” he lamented. “O Lord, now take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers! I do not desire to live longer. Let me die, for my days are but vanity. I’ve been jealous for the Lord God of Hosts. But now I’m the only one left. And they want to take my life!” [I Kings 19: 4,10].

But, with some rest, he was given renewed courage. He was shown that there were great forces of righteousness that encamped around him like a spiritual army. He remembered that the good God does not slumber nor sleep, but continuously watches over His own.

The Psalmist has put it in understandable language: “O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him, and He shall give thee thy heart’s desire. Commit thy way unto Him, and fret not thyself because of evil doers.” [Psalm 37: 1-7]. The eternal Goodness is on your side when you need courage in the struggle for justice and peace.

This month, on April 23rd, will mark the second anniversary of the death of Kagawa in Japan. There is a short article about him in the April 18th issue of the Christian Century magazine which would be well worth your reading. During his lifetime, this diminutive, disadvantaged, physically weak and diseased body housed a great dynamo of courage and dedication. Son of a nobleman and a concubine, he was a family outcast when he became a Christian. He suffered from trachoma that took most of his eyesight. He had a lung ailment that nearly took his life. He lived so modestly as to be in poverty despite the earnings of his popular books. I’ve seen him, after 4 addresses in one day, so exhausted that I did not see how he could continue; then after a cup of tea and fifteen minutes of meditation he came back to hold a large audience spellbound with his persuasion!

Marianne Pritchard says that her father had seen Kagawa under similar circumstances, lying on the floor of a Japanese house, his arms stretched out as if on a cross, prayerfully drinking in the renewing power of God like a babe taking milk from its mother; then getting up to go at his task again. He drew constant fire from his government, from the police, from other Christians who misunderstood him. But he raised his lone voice against his country’s maraudings in China; he agonized over the impending bloodshed in the Pacific that became World War II; he pleaded with people on both sides of the ocean to pray and work for peace. He taught practical agriculture to poor farmers; cooperative methods of marketing; Bible lessons’ application to people’s needs. He knew the courage that we can have if we depend on the same source available to us.

Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto the God who sustained him, who sustained our Lord, and who sustains all of us who will trust Him.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, April 15, 1962.