James T. Cleland - "Triumph and Tears" (March 19, 1967)
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| - | Let us pray. | 0:25 |
| Let the words of my mouth | 0:28 | |
| and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable | 0:31 | |
| in thy sight, oh, Lord, our strength and our redeemer, amen. | 0:36 | |
| Today marks the opening of Holy Week, | 0:52 | |
| the season which calls to remembrance | 0:56 | |
| the defeat and death of Jesus the Christ. | 1:00 | |
| The first Holy Week began so well, | 1:06 | |
| his triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. | 1:10 | |
| The first Holy Week ended so badly, | 1:15 | |
| his corpse in a borrowed tomb behind a sealed stone door. | 1:20 | |
| Now, today, Palm Sunday, | 1:31 | |
| we remember and celebrate a very human triumph. | 1:32 | |
| The prophet of Galilee seems to have | 1:38 | |
| come into his own at last. | 1:41 | |
| It's not entirely without reason that | 1:45 | |
| one New Testament scholar has asserted | 1:47 | |
| that Palm Sunday was the happiest single day in Jesus' life. | 1:52 | |
| People were cheering him and cheering for him. | 1:59 | |
| He appeared to be on the threshold of victory. | 2:05 | |
| Jerusalem, the headquarters of the Jewish religion | 2:09 | |
| seemed ready to capitulate. | 2:13 | |
| Matthew describes the entry in these words. | 2:16 | |
| "When he entered Jerusalem, | 2:20 | |
| the whole city went wild with excitement." | 2:23 | |
| The author of the fourth gospel jotted down | 2:28 | |
| what the Pharisees were captiously murmuring | 2:31 | |
| to one another. | 2:34 | |
| "You see, there's nothing one can do. | 2:36 | |
| The whole world is running after him." | 2:40 | |
| Now, there's an unintentional tribute. | 2:43 | |
| The whole world is running after him. | 2:47 | |
| One begins to understand why that New Testament student | 2:51 | |
| said that Palm Sunday | 2:56 | |
| was the happiest single day in Jesus' life. | 2:58 | |
| And we are gathered here now to hold in memory that man | 3:04 | |
| and that day, to join in the enthusiasm, to shout, hosanna. | 3:09 | |
| Well, not quite. | 3:17 | |
| We are more subdued, more sedate than that, | 3:19 | |
| but we've sang it and listened to the choir | 3:23 | |
| singing it for us. | 3:26 | |
| It all suggests a romantic line from a children's hymn, | 3:29 | |
| "I should like to have been with him then." | 3:33 | |
| Well, why not? | 3:39 | |
| Let us go and be with him on that first Palm Sunday. | 3:42 | |
| Jesus and his followers are coming to the Holy City | 3:49 | |
| along the Jerusalem Jericho Road. | 3:52 | |
| He knew that road. | 3:56 | |
| He located the parable of the Good Samaritan on it. | 3:58 | |
| The time of the year is that of the Passover, | 4:03 | |
| and the thoroughfare is busy with people. | 4:05 | |
| It's really jammed with people, all kinds of folk, | 4:09 | |
| all the kinds of people | 4:15 | |
| we now find in an Easter parade, the devout, | 4:16 | |
| the religiously conservative, the ecclesiastics, | 4:21 | |
| the curious, the camp followers, the beggars, | 4:27 | |
| the petty thieves, the government agents. | 4:33 | |
| It is a mob. | 4:38 | |
| Joseph and Mary, his parents, once thought | 4:41 | |
| they had lost Jesus in a crowd like that | 4:44 | |
| at the same time of year on the same road. | 4:49 | |
| Jesus was 12 years old then. | 4:54 | |
| The first Palm Sunday is 20 years after. | 4:58 | |
| 20 years after. | 5:03 | |
| And Jesus has decided to do something dramatic. | 5:06 | |
| Thus far, he has not claimed in public | 5:11 | |
| in so many words to be the Messiah, the Christ, | 5:16 | |
| the anointed one of God. | 5:23 | |
| He's going to do it now. | 5:26 | |
| Not in words, but in an act. | 5:28 | |
| He's not going to say it. | 5:33 | |
| He's going to pantomime it. | 5:36 | |
| Let him that hath eyes to see, see, | 5:39 | |
| and, God willing, understand. | 5:45 | |
| He's going to play the lead in a very serious charade. | 5:49 | |
| There's an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah, | 5:55 | |
| which Jesus is going to bring to life in himself. | 5:59 | |
| It's in the book of Zechariah, | 6:05 | |
| "Rejoice, greatly, oh daughter of Zion. | 6:07 | |
| Shout aloud, oh daughter of Jerusalem. | 6:11 | |
| Lo, your king comes to you. | 6:15 | |
| Triumphant and victorious is he, | 6:18 | |
| humble and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass." | 6:22 | |
| Jesus acts that out. | 6:32 | |
| Jesus, the unofficial prophet of Galilee, | 6:36 | |
| is claiming to be the Messiah, | 6:41 | |
| the inaugurator of the kingdom of God. | 6:44 | |
| Now the question is, will those who see the charade | 6:49 | |
| understand the intent of it? | 6:55 | |
| Will they remember the prophecy of Zechariah | 6:59 | |
| and really believe that it's being fulfilled | 7:02 | |
| before their eyes? | 7:05 | |
| Jesus' followers, mostly Galileans, | 7:08 | |
| seem to catch something of its purpose, | 7:13 | |
| enough to transform a caravan into a procession. | 7:17 | |
| As a sign of allegiance to their rabbi, | 7:23 | |
| they strew the road with garments and palm branches. | 7:27 | |
| One hopes that Jesus is mounted on a sure footed animal. | 7:34 | |
| He is their prophet, God's spokesman. | 7:42 | |
| That they know, and they will show him to Jerusalem. | 7:46 | |
| Let those hoity-toity city dwellers live and learn. | 7:52 | |
| Let the inhabitants of the Holy City see a thing or two. | 7:58 | |
| Now they're beginning to shout, | 8:03 | |
| "Hosanna to the son of David." | 8:05 | |
| That means to the Messiah. | 8:07 | |
| "Blessed it he that cometh in the name of the Lord." | 8:10 | |
| That suggests Messiah. | 8:15 | |
| "Blessed is the kingdom that cometh." | 8:18 | |
| That's a messianic statement. | 8:21 | |
| "The kingdom of our father, David." | 8:23 | |
| That ought to be messianic. | 8:26 | |
| "Hosanna in the highest." | 8:28 | |
| What the choir sang at the opening of the service | 8:31 | |
| this morning. | 8:34 | |
| Now, that invites the angels to join in the messianic claim. | 8:35 | |
| The Messiah has come to Jerusalem. | 8:43 | |
| It's the happiest single day in Jesus' life. | 8:46 | |
| But, is it? Is it? | 8:51 | |
| Look at his face. | 8:57 | |
| There are the marks of tears on it. | 9:01 | |
| He has been crying. | 9:04 | |
| Well, maybe they are tears of joy. | 9:06 | |
| He is being recognized for what he is | 9:09 | |
| in the very headquarters of the Jewish faith. | 9:12 | |
| And yet, that isn't what he seems to believe. | 9:15 | |
| Listen to him. | 9:19 | |
| "And when he drew near and saw the city, | 9:22 | |
| he wept over it, saying, would that even today, | 9:27 | |
| you knew the things that make for peace, | 9:34 | |
| but now they are hid from your eyes. | 9:37 | |
| For the days shall come upon you | 9:41 | |
| when your enemies will cast up a bank about you | 9:44 | |
| and surround you and hem you in on every side | 9:48 | |
| and dash you to the ground, | 9:53 | |
| you and your children within you, | 9:55 | |
| and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, | 9:58 | |
| because you did not know the time of your visitation." | 10:05 | |
| What's wrong? | 10:17 | |
| Why did Jesus weep when he saw the city? | 10:21 | |
| We're not told, but here are two hints of an answer. | 10:25 | |
| First, he may have had a premonition | 10:33 | |
| that Jerusalem would not listen to his gospel. | 10:38 | |
| Why not? | 10:45 | |
| Because it would mean the subordination | 10:48 | |
| of ecclesiastical pride, of legal self righteousness | 10:51 | |
| and of spiritual status. | 10:57 | |
| It would mean a life lived in the humility of love, | 11:01 | |
| of goodwill even to enemies, | 11:06 | |
| of serious efforts at cooperation. | 11:10 | |
| And it's almost too much to expect a capital city | 11:16 | |
| to behave like that. | 11:22 | |
| And yet, if Jerusalem will not behave like that, | 11:24 | |
| then destruction and doom awaited. | 11:30 | |
| And that actually happened to Jerusalem 40 years later, | 11:36 | |
| as Jesus may have seen it happen to another town | 11:44 | |
| 25 years before the first Palm Sunday. | 11:49 | |
| Four miles from Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, | 11:55 | |
| was the town of Sepphoris, | 12:01 | |
| which Rome took stone from stone in AD 6 | 12:05 | |
| because it harbored proud, religious revolutionists | 12:13 | |
| who were not in any way interested in the humility of love. | 12:18 | |
| Do you think that a boy of 10 by the name of Jesus | 12:25 | |
| could be living four miles from Sepphoris | 12:31 | |
| and not be aware of what was going on there? | 12:35 | |
| And when that town was rebuilt by Herod Antipas in AD 16, | 12:41 | |
| wouldn't you have expected to see a journeyman carpenter | 12:49 | |
| by the name of Jesus on the job, | 12:53 | |
| walking the four miles from Nazareth to work | 12:58 | |
| six days a week? | 13:03 | |
| Jesus knew what came to pass | 13:06 | |
| when the stubborn ecclesiasticism of Judaism | 13:09 | |
| met the even more stubborn imperialism of Rome, | 13:13 | |
| and yet, do arrogant people listen to gentle commands, | 13:17 | |
| however sensible? | 13:24 | |
| Would Jerusalem listen? | 13:26 | |
| He knew the likely answer. | 13:30 | |
| It would not. | 13:32 | |
| And Jesus wept. | 13:36 | |
| There may be a second reason for his weeping. | 13:39 | |
| He may have been too well aware | 13:43 | |
| that people did not understand what he meant by Messiah. | 13:46 | |
| His own disciples hadn't. | 13:53 | |
| Peter had given him that title, | 13:55 | |
| but when Jesus linked it with possible suffering and death, | 14:00 | |
| Peter had ejaculated, "God forbid, this shall not be!" | 14:05 | |
| And what about James and John? | 14:13 | |
| Jesus had nicknamed them sons of thunder. | 14:16 | |
| They had once suggested | 14:22 | |
| that they call down fire from heaven | 14:24 | |
| and burn up a Samaritan village | 14:27 | |
| which had refused to receive Jesus and his disciples. | 14:30 | |
| Sons of thunder, Donner und Blitzen. | 14:36 | |
| What did they know about a peaceful Messiah? | 14:42 | |
| Now, we shouldn't be too quick to criticize | 14:46 | |
| Peter and James and John. | 14:48 | |
| Jesus' view of the Messiah was hardly | 14:50 | |
| a popular contemporary interpretation. | 14:54 | |
| But, if the disciples did not gather | 14:59 | |
| the purport of his message or the quality of his person, | 15:03 | |
| then would those shouting hosanna understand him | 15:09 | |
| and his claim any better? | 15:13 | |
| Oh yes, they cheer him as God's anointed. | 15:16 | |
| But it is as a son of David Messiah, a warrior king. | 15:20 | |
| They expected him to slay the Roman Goliath. | 15:26 | |
| But he's not that kind of Christ. | 15:31 | |
| His kingdom is not the product of the sword. | 15:35 | |
| They appreciate him. Of course, they do. | 15:40 | |
| But, in their way. | 15:44 | |
| They understand him in their fashion, | 15:47 | |
| and Jesus knew that their interpretation | 15:52 | |
| was hardly one which pertained to peace. | 15:56 | |
| One has to see the whole tableau to apprehend Palm Sunday. | 16:02 | |
| The crowd shouting and Jesus in tears. | 16:08 | |
| On what we casually believe to be a day of triumph, | 16:16 | |
| Jesus weeps. | 16:21 | |
| So, after we studied the Lucan account carefully, | 16:24 | |
| we are not so sure that the scholar was right | 16:28 | |
| who said the at Palm Sunday was the single happiest day | 16:33 | |
| in Jesus' life. | 16:39 | |
| Would you like to have been with him then, | 16:42 | |
| on that first Palm Sunday before the first Easter? | 16:47 | |
| Well, here we are on another Palm Sunday | 16:56 | |
| worshiping in a great chapel, | 17:02 | |
| remembering a procession, cheering the Messiah. | 17:05 | |
| And as our acclamations arise, | 17:10 | |
| one wonders if Jesus is weeping again, | 17:13 | |
| weeping over this modern Jerusalem on the campus in Durham, | 17:18 | |
| in the United States, in the world. | 17:26 | |
| Is he saying again, even now, | 17:29 | |
| through his tears, would that you, too, knew even today | 17:31 | |
| on what your peace depends? | 17:36 | |
| But no, it is hidden from you, | 17:39 | |
| and all because you would not understand | 17:44 | |
| when God was visiting you. | 17:48 | |
| Oh, he could well say it to us and to men everywhere. | 17:51 | |
| World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Little Rock, | 17:57 | |
| Birmingham, Selma, Los Angeles. | 18:04 | |
| Do we really know him for whom we sing hosannas? | 18:11 | |
| Do we know what he stands for? | 18:18 | |
| If we did, would we live | 18:21 | |
| with such angry tension and such frustrated fatigue? | 18:24 | |
| Are we intentionally | 18:31 | |
| or unintentionally misunderstanding him? | 18:32 | |
| Are we molding the Christ to fit our patterns | 18:37 | |
| even as we gather to honor him? | 18:41 | |
| Is he a Christ in military uniform? | 18:46 | |
| Is he a Christ tearing up a draft card? | 18:51 | |
| Is he a white Christ? | 18:57 | |
| Is he a Black Power Christ? | 19:01 | |
| Is he a capitalist Christ? | 19:05 | |
| Is he a Republican Christ? | 19:08 | |
| Hmm. Is he a Presbyterian Christ? | 19:11 | |
| Now, maybe he is one of these, but is he because he says so | 19:16 | |
| or because we want him to say so and make him say so? | 19:28 | |
| Has he anything to say about our behavior in corporate life, | 19:37 | |
| international, national, civic, campus, | 19:41 | |
| or doesn't he count for anything | 19:45 | |
| in decisions about global conflict and race tension | 19:49 | |
| and campus friction and daily living? | 19:55 | |
| What am I getting at? | 20:00 | |
| It certainly is not an answer to these problems, | 20:03 | |
| which are baffling the minds | 20:10 | |
| and breaking the hearts of our clashing cultures. | 20:11 | |
| What I think I'm getting at is an attitude. | 20:17 | |
| I am suggesting that in all these areas | 20:23 | |
| of our corporate life, we hesitate | 20:27 | |
| before we give our definite answers in his name. | 20:33 | |
| Our definite answers in his name. | 20:41 | |
| If we are sure of anything about Jesus, | 20:47 | |
| it is that his ways are like God's ways, | 20:50 | |
| and the Bible reminds us that God's ways | 20:55 | |
| are not naturally our ways. | 21:00 | |
| I'm asking for a tentativeness in our certainty, | 21:04 | |
| because it may be that our desire | 21:10 | |
| is not really to be on his side but to have him on our side. | 21:13 | |
| That's why I said that perhaps he weeps, | 21:22 | |
| even as we worship now with hosannas. | 21:24 | |
| Moreover, we must not forget | 21:29 | |
| that the first Palm Sunday was followed in five days | 21:32 | |
| by a cross on a hill, | 21:38 | |
| outside of a wall surrounding a city called Jerusalem. | 21:42 | |
| Jesus carried a cross after others carried palms. | 21:49 | |
| Hosanna is drowned out by, "Crucify him." | 21:59 | |
| That's why a Good Friday hymn was sung this morning, | 22:03 | |
| as well as a Palm Sunday hymn. | 22:09 | |
| So let us walk into Holy Week on tiptoe. | 22:13 | |
| Let us be sure of nothing but that we want | 22:21 | |
| to come to know Him and His will for us | 22:25 | |
| as He would have us know Him and His will for us. | 22:31 | |
| The phrase which should be on our lips this week | 22:38 | |
| as we head toward the real triumph of Easter is, | 22:41 | |
| Lord, I believe. Help thou my misbelief. | 22:46 | |
| Help thou the misbelief that is in my very belief. | 22:55 | |
| Yes, let us walk tentatively, very tentatively, | 23:02 | |
| into Holy Week as we remember that while | 23:06 | |
| many men cried, hosanna, one man wept | 23:11 | |
| for their enthusiastic misunderstanding. | 23:21 | |
| Amen. Let us pray. | 23:28 | |
| Almighty God, long suffering and slow to anger, | 23:36 | |
| we beseech thee graciously to behold us, | 23:43 | |
| a company of men and women for whom Jesus wept, | 23:47 | |
| because of whom he was betrayed, | 23:55 | |
| and to whose advantage he rose again from the dead, | 24:00 | |
| through the same Jesus Christ, thy son, | 24:06 | |
| our savior and our Lord. | 24:09 | |
| Unto God's gracious mercy and protection | 24:12 | |
| do I commit you. | 24:15 | |
| The Lord bless you and keep you. | 24:17 | |
| The Lord make His face to shine upon you | 24:21 | |
| and be gracious unto you. | 24:23 | |
| The Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon you | 24:26 | |
| and give you peace this day and forever more. | 24:29 |
