D. Moody Smith, Jr. - "The Kingship of Christ" (March 22, 1970)
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| - | 11 O'clock Sunday, March 22, 1970. | 0:04 |
| - | The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. | 0:08 |
| They are new - | 0:15 | |
| (silence) | 0:19 | |
| Quietly. | 0:35 | |
| (silence) | 0:48 | |
| (microphone echoes) | 2:19 | |
| (religious hymn plays) | 2:29 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 3:07 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 3:45 | |
| (silence) | 4:01 | |
| There are two scripture selections for this Palm Sunday, | 4:08 | |
| to which we now turn our attention. | 4:13 | |
| The first is Zachariah chapter nine, | 4:15 | |
| beginning the reading with verse nine. | 4:18 | |
| "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! | 4:23 | |
| Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! | 4:27 | |
| Lo, your king comes to you; | 4:30 | |
| triumphant and victorious is he, | 4:33 | |
| humble and riding on an ass, | 4:37 | |
| on a colt, the foal of an ass. | 4:40 | |
| I will cut off the chariot from E'phraim | 4:43 | |
| and the war horse from Jerusalem; | 4:47 | |
| and the battle bow shall be cut off, | 4:51 | |
| and he shall command peace to the nations; | 4:55 | |
| his dominion shall be from sea to sea, | 5:00 | |
| and from the river to the ends of the earth." | 5:04 | |
| Then we turn to Mark chapter 11 and begin with verse one. | 5:10 | |
| When they were approaching Jerusalem | 5:19 | |
| and had arrived at Bethphage and Bethany | 5:21 | |
| on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, | 5:24 | |
| Jesus dispatched two of his disciples | 5:27 | |
| with these instructions, | 5:30 | |
| "Go into the village just ahead of you | 5:32 | |
| and as soon as you enter it, | 5:36 | |
| you will find a colt tied up | 5:37 | |
| on which no one has ever sat; | 5:39 | |
| untie it and bring it here. | 5:43 | |
| If anyone asks, 'Why are you doing this?' | 5:46 | |
| say, 'The Lord has need of it.' | 5:49 | |
| And he will let you have it without more ado." | 5:51 | |
| So they went off and found a colt tied outside the door | 5:55 | |
| at a street corner | 5:58 | |
| and they started to untie it, | 6:00 | |
| but some bystanders said to them, | 6:02 | |
| "What do you mean by untethering the colt?" | 6:04 | |
| They answered as Jesus had told them | 6:08 | |
| and they let them take it. | 6:11 | |
| So they brought the colt to Jesus | 6:14 | |
| and saddled it with their garments, | 6:16 | |
| and Jesus sat upon it. | 6:18 | |
| Many spread their garments to carpet the road | 6:20 | |
| and others cut down branches off the trees | 6:23 | |
| and scattered them in his path. | 6:26 | |
| And they that went before | 6:29 | |
| and they that followed were crying aloud: | 6:30 | |
| "Hosanna! | 6:33 | |
| Blessed is he who is coming in the Lord's name! | 6:35 | |
| Blessed be the kingdom of our father David which is coming!" | 6:39 | |
| And Jesus entered into Jerusalem and entered the temple | 6:45 | |
| where he looked at the whole scene. | 6:49 | |
| And as night was approaching, | 6:51 | |
| he went away with the 12 to Bethany. | 6:53 | |
| Here ends the reading. | 6:58 | |
| (religious hymn plays) | 7:01 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 7:45 | |
| Let us pray. | 7:49 | |
| Almighty God, our Father, | 8:02 | |
| who art the Lord of all, | 8:05 | |
| we give thee praise that thou has loved us into life, | 8:08 | |
| that thou has not grown tired of loving us | 8:14 | |
| in the way we so often grow tired of doing good, | 8:18 | |
| but all through our days, thou has love us | 8:23 | |
| with a charity which passes understanding. | 8:27 | |
| We blessed thee for placing us in homes and families | 8:32 | |
| where care and comradeship prepare us | 8:36 | |
| for thy better fellowship and care, | 8:39 | |
| and prepare us to meet life. | 8:42 | |
| We offered our thanks for eyes, | 8:46 | |
| which enable us to see the coming of spring | 8:48 | |
| and the coming of truth and the beauty; | 8:54 | |
| for ears which enable us to hear thy word, | 8:58 | |
| to hear music, | 9:03 | |
| to hear laughter, | 9:04 | |
| to hear the speech of our friends, | 9:06 | |
| and to hear the stern voice of duty. | 9:11 | |
| We thank thee for hearts which can love, | 9:16 | |
| and for hearts which can welcome thee, | 9:19 | |
| for hearts which can help. | 9:23 | |
| We offer our gratitude, oh God, | 9:27 | |
| for hands which can perform skilled works | 9:29 | |
| for our fellow man, | 9:32 | |
| for hands which can find new and useful things to do. | 9:34 | |
| We blessed thee for our feet, | 9:40 | |
| which can follow in thy wise paths, | 9:42 | |
| for feet which can take food to the starving, | 9:46 | |
| which can take the Gospel to people who need it. | 9:51 | |
| O God, as we offer our thanks for all of thy blessings, | 9:57 | |
| keep us reminded of thy mercies | 10:01 | |
| and enable us to show our gratitude | 10:04 | |
| by the deeds of kindness | 10:08 | |
| and by the spirit of humility which we have. | 10:10 | |
| O God, we ask thee as we think of our need | 10:18 | |
| for additional blessings, | 10:22 | |
| to keep us from all kinds of deceit and hypocrisy and fraud, | 10:26 | |
| keep us from calling upon other people | 10:33 | |
| to observe law and order while we violated, | 10:37 | |
| whenever it applies to us. | 10:42 | |
| Keep us from condemning other people for being impulsive, | 10:46 | |
| when we have been impulsive ourselves. | 10:51 | |
| Keep us from being impatient | 10:55 | |
| with the irritating activities of others, | 10:57 | |
| and we ourselves have been impatient | 11:02 | |
| and have been irritable. | 11:06 | |
| O God, we ask thee to give us grace and insight and wisdom, | 11:10 | |
| consider ourselves in relationship to others in thy sight, | 11:16 | |
| and then to keep a guard upon our lips | 11:22 | |
| and to deliver us from self-righteousness | 11:27 | |
| and every kind of vain hypocrisy. | 11:30 | |
| Father of all mercies, we lift up to thee | 11:36 | |
| for healing and strength, | 11:38 | |
| our broken promises, our frustrated purposes, | 11:40 | |
| our incomplete lives, | 11:43 | |
| remembering with ourselves all needy ones everywhere. | 11:46 | |
| We pray for those whose lives have been blighted, | 11:53 | |
| have been starved, | 11:57 | |
| and which are in a drought. | 12:00 | |
| That thou was give them thy tender mercy and grace, | 12:03 | |
| until they bloom again like the flowers of the spring. | 12:07 | |
| We pray for all who are beset by evil, | 12:12 | |
| that they may know thee as their deliverer. | 12:15 | |
| We pray for those who are afraid | 12:19 | |
| that they may be delivered | 12:24 | |
| from their fears of imaginary dangers | 12:27 | |
| and that they may be delivered from the real dangers, | 12:32 | |
| which they fear. | 12:35 | |
| Be thou their confidence. | 12:37 | |
| We pray for the distress nations of the world today, | 12:41 | |
| Laos, | 12:46 | |
| Cambodia, | 12:47 | |
| Vietnam, | 12:48 | |
| Palestine, | 12:51 | |
| Diaphra, | 12:53 | |
| all the people of Nigeria. | 12:55 | |
| We pray that the distressed of the world may find the food | 12:59 | |
| which they need for their stomachs, | 13:05 | |
| and that they may find that Gospel, | 13:10 | |
| which enables them to know that man does not live | 13:12 | |
| by bread alone, | 13:15 | |
| but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God. | 13:17 | |
| Help us to hear that word, | 13:23 | |
| which proceeds from thy mouth in this service of worship, | 13:25 | |
| that we may be witnesses, faithful and true | 13:30 | |
| in our day | 13:34 | |
| and in our place. | 13:36 | |
| We make this prayer remembering that better prayer, | 13:38 | |
| which has been taught | 13:41 | |
| by thy son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, saying: | 13:42 | |
| Our Father, who art in heaven, | 13:47 | |
| hallowed be thy name; | 13:49 | |
| thy kingdom come; | 13:52 | |
| thy will be done; | 13:54 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 13:55 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread. | 13:58 | |
| And forgive us our trespasses, | 14:01 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 14:03 | |
| And lead us not into temptation; | 14:07 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 14:09 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, | 14:11 | |
| and the power and the glory for ever. | 14:13 | |
| Amen. | 14:16 | |
| (silence) | 14:24 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 14:33 |
| May the words in my mouth, and the meditations of our heart, | 14:38 | |
| be acceptable in thy sight, | 14:42 | |
| O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. | 14:46 | |
| Amen. | 14:51 | |
| (clears throat) | 14:53 | |
| My earliest recollections of Palm Sunday are dim and remote. | 14:59 | |
| And I suppose, growing dimmer and more remote all the time. | 15:06 | |
| But I can recall thinking of it | 15:12 | |
| as a kind of happy forerunner of Easter and its delights. | 15:14 | |
| I was also aware that on Palm Sunday, | 15:20 | |
| we celebrated Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. | 15:22 | |
| Therefore, I knew that Palm Sunday | 15:27 | |
| commemorated the great religious procession. | 15:30 | |
| And as I recalled it, that must've been quite a scene. | 15:35 | |
| The sky had to be blue. | 15:39 | |
| The air had to be clear. | 15:42 | |
| I could imagine that the sun had just peaked | 15:45 | |
| above the horizon, | 15:47 | |
| and everybody was getting ready for church. | 15:50 | |
| Just now, coming around the bend in the road, | 15:54 | |
| there was a crowd of pilgrims with bright beaming faces. | 15:57 | |
| And as they walked happily along towards Jerusalem, | 16:02 | |
| waving palm branches | 16:07 | |
| and looking something like mayday in red square, | 16:09 | |
| that they shouted or saying their hosannas in unison. | 16:13 | |
| And in the background, | 16:19 | |
| one could almost hear the organ playing a familiar anthem. | 16:21 | |
| Of course in the center of all this was Jesus, | 16:27 | |
| looking just as Solomon had pictured him: | 16:30 | |
| majestic on a shining white donkey, | 16:33 | |
| a genuine old-fashioned sessile be-the-mill-type Jesus. | 16:39 | |
| His robe was deep purple or maroon. | 16:45 | |
| And around his head, there was a golden halo. | 16:49 | |
| Perhaps he smiled or perhaps he waved at the crowd. | 16:54 | |
| Mine was, I suppose, a fairly typical, | 17:02 | |
| if childlike and naive religious picture of Jesus' entry | 17:04 | |
| into Jerusalem. | 17:09 | |
| Sharply, opposed to this is another way | 17:13 | |
| of conceiving the triumphal entry, | 17:15 | |
| which has occurred to me in more recent years. | 17:17 | |
| Jesus comes along in this one | 17:21 | |
| at the head of a rather ragged procession. | 17:24 | |
| He himself is dust-covered and just a bit wild-eyed. | 17:27 | |
| His appearance is more like (indistinct) | 17:33 | |
| than Solomon's head of Christ. | 17:37 | |
| His clothing more does on the disreputable. | 17:39 | |
| His animal is nondescript. | 17:44 | |
| He is not the sessile be-the-mill Jesus, | 17:47 | |
| but perhaps the Jesus of the Gospel according to Matthew, | 17:49 | |
| the recent battalion motion picture. | 17:52 | |
| And along with him come a motley crew | 17:56 | |
| of hippy and radical types, | 17:59 | |
| shouting slogans and waving placards, "Impeach Caiaphas", | 18:01 | |
| "Power through the people," | 18:08 | |
| "Oppose the political religious complex." | 18:12 | |
| Remember John the Baptist overthrow Pilate, | 18:17 | |
| and perhaps, | 18:23 | |
| even Jesus' supports the Jewish women's liberation front. | 18:24 | |
| The pigs, that is the Roman constabulary | 18:32 | |
| and their running dogs, the Jewish Uncle Tom's, | 18:36 | |
| watch warily in the background. | 18:39 | |
| Now is a fore time to try to stop it. | 18:42 | |
| They've seen the bad publicity Mayor Daley got | 18:46 | |
| by letting the police loose | 18:48 | |
| right in front of the TV cameras, | 18:50 | |
| but they can afford to wait. | 18:53 | |
| And wait they will. | 18:54 | |
| They will have opportunity | 18:56 | |
| to silence this dangerous radical. | 18:57 | |
| Now the second of these images may in fact be a bit closer | 19:02 | |
| to historical reality than the first. | 19:06 | |
| After all, Jesus entry into Jerusalem | 19:10 | |
| probably was accompanied by popular enthusiasm | 19:13 | |
| with possible political implications. | 19:16 | |
| On the other hand, | 19:20 | |
| it surely had religious overtones as well, | 19:21 | |
| but not of the sort that pious men have later imagined. | 19:24 | |
| And yet it is difficult adequate led | 19:29 | |
| to reconstruct the scene from the Gospel accounts, | 19:31 | |
| to know what actually happened as distinguished | 19:35 | |
| from what the evangelist have received and reported. | 19:38 | |
| But one must perforce wrecking | 19:43 | |
| with some mental image of the event. | 19:45 | |
| Mark seems to have had one. | 19:48 | |
| And if our interest is at all aroused, | 19:50 | |
| we shall have one too. | 19:53 | |
| Yet what can be established as certainly historical | 19:56 | |
| is only that Jesus entered Jerusalem | 19:59 | |
| near the time of the Passover, | 20:02 | |
| perhaps in the midst of popular enthusiasm and expectation, | 20:05 | |
| perhaps as the object of it. | 20:10 | |
| What can be proposed and believed, | 20:13 | |
| as in fact, Mark and the later evangelists have proposed | 20:17 | |
| and believed it, | 20:21 | |
| is that this popular demonstration was pregnant | 20:23 | |
| with meaning. | 20:26 | |
| It portended the true role and dignity of Jesus | 20:27 | |
| as the Christ, the Messiah, | 20:31 | |
| the anointed king of Israel. | 20:33 | |
| Here was the one who was to redeem Israel. | 20:36 | |
| And at this moment, Israel received him | 20:40 | |
| as her Messiah, as her king. | 20:44 | |
| Now Mark's text is just a bit ambiguous | 20:48 | |
| about the kingship of Christ. | 20:51 | |
| But Matthew, | 20:54 | |
| doubtless believing that he knew what Mark intended, | 20:56 | |
| made matters more explicit. | 21:00 | |
| In Matthew's version, | 21:02 | |
| the crowd shouts not only "Blessed be he | 21:04 | |
| who comes in the name of the Lord," | 21:07 | |
| but also "Hosanna to the son of David, | 21:09 | |
| Hosanna to the Davidic heir, to the king presumptive." | 21:13 | |
| Now, whatever the actual happening, | 21:20 | |
| it's meaning in the eyes of the Gospel writers | 21:22 | |
| is that a king is arriving at the center of his kingdom. | 21:25 | |
| They know this both because they know the event | 21:30 | |
| and because they have read about it in the Scriptures. | 21:33 | |
| The words of the prophet Zachariah | 21:37 | |
| are actually quoted in Matthew, | 21:40 | |
| not in Mark, only in Matthew, | 21:42 | |
| but they have an important relationship | 21:44 | |
| to the Mark on account also. | 21:46 | |
| "Tell the daughter of Zion, | 21:49 | |
| 'Behold, your king is coming to you; | 21:52 | |
| humble and mounted on an ass, | 21:55 | |
| and on a colt, the foal of an ass.'" | 21:58 | |
| Because the Scriptures have prophesied it, | 22:03 | |
| the Gospel writers know | 22:05 | |
| that the coming of Jesus to Jerusalem is the arrival | 22:06 | |
| of the king, | 22:10 | |
| and thus it is well said of him or to him, | 22:12 | |
| "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." | 22:16 | |
| Again, the words are from the Old Testament. | 22:20 | |
| In this instance from the 118th Psalm. | 22:24 | |
| It is certainly noteworthy | 22:31 | |
| that both of these Old Testament texts | 22:32 | |
| spanned in larger context, | 22:35 | |
| which the New Testament Christians must have read | 22:38 | |
| and studied also. | 22:41 | |
| The Zachariah text is not quoted in full in the Gospels, | 22:43 | |
| but it says that this king, | 22:48 | |
| he shall command peace to the nations. | 22:50 | |
| His dominion shall be from sea to sea | 22:53 | |
| and from the river to the ends of the earth. | 22:56 | |
| Moreover the passage from Psalm 118 follows | 23:01 | |
| upon a statement which is applied to Jesus more than once | 23:03 | |
| in the New Testament, | 23:06 | |
| "The stone which the builders rejected | 23:08 | |
| has become the chief cornerstone. | 23:10 | |
| This is the Lord's doing; | 23:13 | |
| It is marvelous in our eyes." | 23:15 | |
| I cannot believe that the contexts are merely coincidental. | 23:19 | |
| The makers of the Gospel tradition understood | 23:24 | |
| that Jesus was no ordinary king, but the king of peace. | 23:27 | |
| They also knew that even as the crowds | 23:32 | |
| at one moment declaimed him, | 23:34 | |
| they would a little later demand his death. | 23:36 | |
| These things they may have already known | 23:40 | |
| because of Jesus or his history, | 23:42 | |
| but they also stood in Scripture. | 23:45 | |
| And that was for them equally important. | 23:48 | |
| Now to understand this king | 23:52 | |
| who enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, | 23:53 | |
| we must understand his character and his destiny. | 23:57 | |
| He is the king of peace, and yet, | 24:01 | |
| he meets the violent end. | 24:04 | |
| He counsels his disciples to turn the cheek, | 24:07 | |
| go the extra mile, | 24:12 | |
| love their enemies. | 24:14 | |
| Yet, he doesn't promise to them peace, but rather a sword. | 24:16 | |
| And if he says he leaves peace with them, | 24:22 | |
| it is not the peace that this world knows or seeks. | 24:25 | |
| When he is asked whether the sons of Zebedee may sit | 24:31 | |
| on his right then on his left hand in his kingdom, | 24:34 | |
| he responds, "Are you able to drink the cup | 24:37 | |
| that I am to drink?" | 24:41 | |
| And quite clearly by that cup is meant his suffering | 24:43 | |
| and even death. | 24:47 | |
| Although Jesus enters Jerusalem as king, | 24:52 | |
| the very entry has an ominous overtone. | 24:57 | |
| Or his kingship is announced in the words of a song, | 25:03 | |
| but also forecasts his rejection. | 25:07 | |
| The Christian reader, as well as the Gospel writer, | 25:11 | |
| knows that the triumphal entry is but a prelude | 25:14 | |
| to the passion. | 25:18 | |
| Nevertheless, the entry is intended to affirm | 25:20 | |
| that Jesus is actually king. | 25:23 | |
| He is the Messiah of Israel. | 25:26 | |
| And not only that, | 25:28 | |
| but the universal Lord and Christ. | 25:30 | |
| Now for the Christians of New Testament times, | 25:35 | |
| this kingship was understood primarily in two ways | 25:38 | |
| or under two aspects. | 25:42 | |
| He was the appointed ruler of the end time, | 25:46 | |
| the one who would come at the close of the age | 25:49 | |
| to hold judgment and to reign | 25:52 | |
| until he should turn over all power | 25:55 | |
| and dominion to God himself. | 25:57 | |
| In the second place however, | 26:01 | |
| in the present time, he was the Lord of the church, | 26:03 | |
| the living center of its life and worship. | 26:06 | |
| The church received commands from him, as Matthew attest, | 26:10 | |
| and addressed prayer to him, | 26:15 | |
| as Paul and the author of Revelation do. | 26:17 | |
| And the expectation that this Christ should assume authority | 26:22 | |
| to rule and to judge all man amounted to a belief | 26:26 | |
| that this lordship over the church in the present age | 26:31 | |
| would ultimately extend to all men, | 26:35 | |
| if only in the age to come. | 26:39 | |
| How, when in the present-state church, | 26:43 | |
| we ask ourselves about the meaning of Christ's kingship. | 26:46 | |
| It is still not irrelevant to think of him | 26:52 | |
| as Lord of the church, | 26:54 | |
| and to affirm that his rules shall ultimately extend | 26:57 | |
| to all men. | 27:01 | |
| If the rule of Christ is not present and visible | 27:04 | |
| among those who styled themselves after his name, | 27:07 | |
| among Christians in the church, | 27:10 | |
| all talk about it is likely to seem empty. | 27:13 | |
| If today some people find it difficult | 27:18 | |
| to speak of God or Christ, | 27:21 | |
| whether within the community of faith or outside it, | 27:24 | |
| the reason may not be far to seek. | 27:29 | |
| The rule of Christ does not find concrete expression | 27:32 | |
| in our relations with each other. | 27:37 | |
| If on the other hand, | 27:40 | |
| confidence in the ultimate rule | 27:42 | |
| of Christ over mankind fades, | 27:44 | |
| there is little reason or basis | 27:47 | |
| for talking about the kingship of Christ in the church | 27:49 | |
| or in our own day. | 27:51 | |
| Doubtless another reason to talk about God and Christ | 27:54 | |
| has become so difficult for some people, | 27:57 | |
| is that one sees little grounds | 27:59 | |
| in what goes on in the church or in the world | 28:01 | |
| for believing that Christ's kingship and God's | 28:04 | |
| is really the last word. | 28:08 | |
| But it may be that just in relation to these points, | 28:12 | |
| the story of the triumphal entry offers a basis | 28:18 | |
| for perceiving and for realizing what is meant | 28:21 | |
| by the kingship of Christ. | 28:27 | |
| How is his dominion exercised? | 28:32 | |
| How does it find expression in the world? | 28:37 | |
| It is not only interesting, | 28:45 | |
| but important that Jesus does not go into the desert | 28:47 | |
| to proclaim himself king | 28:52 | |
| and there await God to come and crown him. | 28:54 | |
| Nor did the Gospel accounts assert | 28:59 | |
| that he ascended from the gates of Jerusalem | 29:01 | |
| to the right hand of God. | 29:06 | |
| Rather, he goes directly to the center of action, | 29:09 | |
| to Jerusalem to confront the people and their leaders. | 29:12 | |
| He seeks vindication not in seclusion, | 29:18 | |
| but at the pulsating heart | 29:20 | |
| of a vigorous, if troubled, nation. | 29:22 | |
| And where else can one today seek the demonstration | 29:26 | |
| of his lordship? | 29:31 | |
| This is not to say | 29:34 | |
| that this chapel is necessarily an irrelevancy, | 29:35 | |
| nor our prayer and piety obsolete. | 29:42 | |
| But the kingship of Christ needs to be sought | 29:47 | |
| where the issues of life and death are raised and answered | 29:49 | |
| in commitments and deeds | 29:53 | |
| rather than in contemplation and words only. | 29:56 | |
| And this seems to me, | 30:00 | |
| a pertinent consideration for our own day, | 30:02 | |
| applicable to the individual Christian, | 30:05 | |
| as well as to the church. | 30:09 | |
| Now, an implication of this... | 30:13 | |
| is that the image of the triumphant and invulnerable Christ, | 30:19 | |
| halo and all, | 30:27 | |
| entering Jerusalem, so to speak, | 30:30 | |
| six inches above the ground | 30:32 | |
| and abstracted from any real issue of his own day. | 30:35 | |
| It's not only historically misleading, | 30:41 | |
| but theologically false. | 30:45 | |
| And yet its opposite number, | 30:49 | |
| the portrayal of Jesus presiding | 30:51 | |
| over a first century political confrontation | 30:53 | |
| also needs qualification. | 30:58 | |
| It has some historical places and some practical point, | 31:02 | |
| but it too can mislead. | 31:06 | |
| There is nothing specifically Christian | 31:10 | |
| about just being where it's at, | 31:12 | |
| even though not being there may amount | 31:16 | |
| to a default of faith. | 31:18 | |
| Jesus' encounter with the authorities | 31:22 | |
| during the passion week is set against the backdrop | 31:24 | |
| of his lifestyle, | 31:26 | |
| as that is portrayed in the rest of the Gospels. | 31:28 | |
| Not just any encounter confrontation | 31:32 | |
| or involvement finds its justification in Jesus, | 31:35 | |
| but only one with a particular perspective and purpose. | 31:39 | |
| Furthermore, we have to remember that from the standpoint | 31:45 | |
| of the simple practical question: | 31:49 | |
| Was Jesus able to bring the whole thing | 31:52 | |
| as a popular movement all? | 31:54 | |
| The answer seems to be no. | 31:56 | |
| Whatever momentary popular success Jesus may have enjoyed, | 32:00 | |
| did not prevent his ministry and his life | 32:04 | |
| from meeting a seemingly disastrous end, | 32:08 | |
| within a relatively short time. | 32:11 | |
| We need not infer from this fact | 32:17 | |
| that Christians must similarly endure disaster | 32:19 | |
| in order to share in any sense in Christ kingship. | 32:23 | |
| Show me you're Christian and I'll show you're a failure. | 32:27 | |
| Perhaps that's too often true. | 32:31 | |
| A neurotic desire to fail is a sign of sickness, | 32:34 | |
| which is not helpful to anyone. | 32:36 | |
| And yet neither success | 32:39 | |
| nor the happy fruition of one's labors | 32:40 | |
| nor obvious progress is necessarily the hallmark | 32:42 | |
| of Christ reign in this world. | 32:46 | |
| That is to say, Christian faith affirms the possibility | 32:49 | |
| of hope in the face of seeming shipwreck and disaster. | 32:52 | |
| The ultimate triumph of goodness and right | 32:57 | |
| in the face of dire is adversity. | 33:01 | |
| Christ reign is therefore realized through crucifixion, | 33:04 | |
| not in avoidance of it. | 33:09 | |
| Accordingly, I think we ourselves are not enabled | 33:12 | |
| to see Christ's kingship by our formulation | 33:17 | |
| of propositions about it, | 33:21 | |
| nor do we see Christ kingship only, | 33:25 | |
| perhaps not even principally | 33:29 | |
| on those occasions when we witnessed the success | 33:31 | |
| or the triumph of some cause which we deemed to be good. | 33:34 | |
| We also, and especially, behold the kingship of Christ, | 33:39 | |
| just when the outcome of issues in this life | 33:44 | |
| and this world are ambiguous or even shattering. | 33:47 | |
| Well there, if ever at all, | 33:52 | |
| the meaning of the reign of the crucified one becomes plain. | 33:54 | |
| It may be in us, the assurance of hope | 34:01 | |
| and the vindication of promise. | 34:05 | |
| Precisely in the narrative of the triumphal entry | 34:10 | |
| of Jesus into Jerusalem, | 34:12 | |
| this hope and this promise find expression | 34:15 | |
| and find confirmation. | 34:20 | |
| For already within the shadow of the cross, | 34:23 | |
| a light of dawn breaks through. | 34:26 | |
| Hosanna! | 34:31 | |
| Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord. | 34:33 | |
| Let us pray. | 34:39 | |
| O Christ, thou who art forever king over ourselves, | 34:46 | |
| the church and the world, | 34:53 | |
| perform thy works in and through us | 34:57 | |
| that all men may see thy radiance | 35:01 | |
| and glorify the Father who is in heaven. | 35:04 | |
| Amen. | 35:08 | |
| (religious hymn plays) | 35:12 | |
| (choir sings) | 35:55 | |
| (choir hymn continues) | 36:41 | |
| (choir hymn continues) | 37:29 | |
| (hymn fades) | 38:26 | |
| (footsteps approaching) | 38:39 | |
| (silence) | 39:04 | |
| (piano playing) | 39:35 | |
| (singing religious hymn) | 39:57 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 40:37 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 41:14 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 41:55 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 42:52 | |
| (religious hymn plays) | 43:28 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 44:02 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 44:39 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 45:04 | |
| - | In Jesus we spread this money before thy altar, | 45:40 |
| like men on the first Palm Sunday spread their offerings | 45:46 | |
| before thee. | 45:49 | |
| Now give us a grace not to follow this with crucifixion, | 45:51 | |
| but with continued avail of thy kingship. | 45:57 | |
| So may this money and our lives be used | 46:02 | |
| to affirm the lordship of peace and of love. | 46:05 | |
| In the name of the Prince of peace, | 46:10 | |
| amen. | 46:13 | |
| Now may the grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, | 46:17 | |
| the love of the Father, | 46:22 | |
| the communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, | 46:25 | |
| rest upon us and abide with us now and evermore. | 46:28 | |
| Amen. | 46:33 | |
| (church bells ring) | 46:36 | |
| (religious hymn plays) | 46:50 | |
| (religious hymn continues) | 47:31 | |
| (faint chattering) | 48:14 | |
| (people chattering) | 48:32 | |
| (footsteps thudding) | 48:46 | |
| (people chattering) | 48:58 | |
| (people chattering) | 49:10 | |
| (people chattering) | 49:20 | |
| (people chattering) | 49:38 | |
| (religious hymn continues in the background) | 49:59 | |
| (religious hymn fades) | 50:40 | |
| (whistling) | 50:55 | |
| (people chattering) | 51:01 | |
| (man vocalizing) | 51:13 | |
| (singing) | 51:34 | |
| (people chattering) | 51:52 | |
| (footsteps thudding) | 52:08 | |
| (silence) | 52:34 | |
| (singing) | 52:48 | |
| (footsteps thudding) | 53:11 | |
| (whistling) | 53:14 | |
| (footsteps thudding) | 53:20 | |
| (people chattering) | 53:28 | |
| (people laughing) | 53:51 | |
| (people chattering) | 54:02 | |
| (footsteps thudding) | 54:12 |