3/18/51

Scripture: (Palm Sunday) Matthew 21: 1-11.

I imagine that there are numerous hoarse or husky throats among the inhabitants of our community today. After pinning high hope against the trophies of athletic victory for many years, all who root and cheer from our city now know the exhilaration of victory! For the young men of a favorite team have been able to reach the top in a notable contest of skill and cooperation. We are all happy for them and for their school. [Editor’s note: the high school basketball team had won the Wisconsin state championship.] Now that it has actually happened once, I wonder if there will continue a sustained kind of interest in the young men of teams in succeeding years. The future will be an interesting commentary on those who have followed and cheered today.

[The following paragraph was used instead of the above for the later delivery of the sermon in Hawaii.

It is fun to watch a well organized athletic team at play. And I guess it is fun to be part of such a team. I recall vividly one particular basketball game which I saw while I was a high school student. Our team was in a moderate sized town; the challengers were from the great city of Minneapolis. It was everyone’s guess that the city boys would trounce the local team quite easily. But to our surprise and delight our boys began to play a truly inspired game in the last few minutes of action. The crowd went absolutely wild with excitement. The cheering was deafening and throats were hoarse for days afterward. But our team was winner by a scant 2 or 3 points. So we were a happy high school and town for days afterward.]

On this morning, we call to remembrance another crowd of people who followed and cheered a favorite of their time. They had followed his career with more than a little interest, and had pinned great hopes on him. He was their “man of the hour” as he came to the gates of Jerusalem riding on a donkey. That donkey was not necessary; it was a kind of symbol. The rider had usually walked into the city -- or anywhere else he went, for that matter. He was not accustomed to hire, or buy, such transportation. He was like the pedestrian of today who hasn’t the means to own a car and seldom calls a taxi. And he was well able to walk, because he had been in practice at it for a long time.

But the sacred writings of his people had in them something about a “king” coming “meek and lowly” riding on just such a mount as he had arranged for that day. He had his reasons for wanting to attract a kind of attention on that Sunday. He must have known that the people who followed and cheered him that day would never see in him the kind of king they wanted. His triumphal entrance into the capital city was a way of teaching what no other lesson could have accomplished so fully.

There were many in the crowd of that day who remained excited during all of the first part of the week. They may have done some cheering when the money changers and merchants of sacrifice animals were driven outside the temple. They may have been elated over some of the teachings of this leader, teachings which so discomfited the complacent leaders of the temple. But by Friday morning their elation was all dashed to earth by news that the “Gestapo” had made short shrift of their kingly threat to the powers that be. He had been taken, hastily tried, and put to death. So they had, by the vivid lessons of cruel circumstance, to learn further lessons on what kind of realm it was that the Nazarene had intended to establish. To some of them it became quite plain. To the dull and the stubborn, it may have remained a mystery.

Eventually people learned, to their deep satisfaction, that the realm about which the Galillean had talked so much was a realm of the spirit -- something within the lives of changed people, of far more genuine and enduring stuff than any external form of government could be. Indeed, it is so vital to the welfare of people that the only kind of temporal government under which people can live happily is one in which his principles are given full sway.

For the past month and a half, we have devoted our thoughts, during the sermon time of our services, to an examination of some of the closer followers of Jesus -- those disciples (learners) who were a special group called apostles. Let us look at them again now. How would we size them up had we been doing the selecting?

Would we have selected Simon, the fisherman? - Blustering, clumsy, impulsive, somewhat over-age, coming up from the boats at the shore, smelling of fish? It is hard to imagine this aggressive, rough-handed and rough-tongued fellow as a man for a select group of associates for an outstanding spiritual leader. What education had he? Was he diplomatic? Did he have any psychological sense at getting along with folk? Hardly, one would guess. If we were on the committee of selection, we should probably lay his name aside and keep on looking.

What about his brother Andrew? He had been the first of those twelve to be called to discipleship. But what could one see in him? He too was a fisherman and smelled of his vocation. Perhaps he was a bit less obnoxious than Simon Peter. Indeed he could, and did, bring in certain others. It was he who brought Peter -- but what credit can anybody claim for that? Now if our committee could just get hold of someone who would bring around a few of the “influential people” -- those Scribes and Pharisees who really amount to something in the community -- we could use a man like that! No, Andrew was hardly the type.

Here are two more --- also fishermen (why do we have such a run of people from a vocation so disconnected with the things to which the scholarly priests give their attention?) These two, James and John, are the kind of fellows that are occasionally called “Sons of Thunder.” And when they get a chance, they might start hatching up schemes to get to the places of greatest power and influence in the coming new kingdom. They are sturdy men whose weathered faces can discern at a glance whether the lake will be calm, or whipped by squalls. They know the good places to let down their nets. They are more successful than most other fishermen. Let them go on with their fishing while we look for men of tact and training and proven ability.

There comes to our attention a member of the underground. His blood boils when he is forced, under the Roman rules, to make way on the street for some Roman Legionnaire; when he sees his fellow countrymen required to carry the soldiers’ packs for a mile, and then load them on the backs of another civilian to be carried another mile. One day he will live to see the hated pennants of the foreign power hauled down from the walls of his city, so that they could raise their own Hebrew flag. Well, perhaps we had better be cautious. This fellow, Judas, is shrewd and zealous. But he is likely to become violent. He is too great a risk. We hardly dare to take a chance on him.

Now here is a fellow who looks promising. He has social grace, a good appearance. He has none of the roughness of those whose hands must drive and oxen, or haul the nets, or guide the plow. He is something of a dreamer. And of course dreams are a good thing, if they are the right kind of dreams and one can make them come true. At any rate Nathaniel seems to have no meanness in his makeup. He should get along well with people, and perhaps be a good influence on them. We can keep him on the list while we continue looking around.

Here is -- O no! -- another fisherman! Well, perhaps one should not hold that against him. He does seem conservative; not subject to impulse; unlikely to be swept off his feet. He demands proof for everything. His faith is based on those things only that can be clearly demonstrated. But of course the Kingdom is a venture of faith. Perhaps Thomas would not be so good.

The next fellow is a Quisling. It is a pity anyone would even suggest him. One would rather hiss and boo when he enters the room than to give him any consideration. He is a tool of the army of occupation -- one of those fellows who collects the taxes the Romans demand. Anybody who gets the job makes his own living by the extras he is permitted to collect over and above what the Romans want. Most of those “publicans” collect all the traffic will bear. It is a graft, and no self-respecting Hebrew would even dine at the same table with such a fellow! He’s a traitor to his own people, and a racketeer to boot!

And as if that were not enough, he’s one of those tedious genealogists whose passion is family trees from the deepest root to the tiniest twig. Just mention a family and he’ll launch into a lengthy account of where they came from, whom they married, how many children they had, whom they married, and so on -- and on. Better leave Levi, or Matthew, if you want to call him that, at his tax table by the gate.

What about some of the others -- Bartholomew, Thaddeus, Philip, another James and another Simon from Canaan. No particular qualifications are evident. There must be people of much more prominence and promise than any of them. And yet -- and yet! -- Jesus had called those 12 men, out of the many people who followed him, to become the band of folk who, I think you will agree with me, had more lasting and beneficial influence on the course of history than any other dozen men who ever lived.

Each was different from the other.

“Philip looks before he leaps; Peter leaps before he looks.”

Thomas has to be shown --- everything.

Judas sought renewal and regeneration of the country’s revolution, instead of revolution through regeneration.

James and John wanted to get rid of people who differed with them, instead of surmounting the differences so they could get the people.

And so on through the list.

And yet the gospel says that Jesus chose them “in order that they might be with Him,” and to send them out to preach and teach and heal folk of their troubles. Three years they were with him. They saw what he did; heard what he taught; tried to do what he urged them to do. They were not very brave; they had their jealousies; they were full of doubts and had little faith. But those three years with him built them into the substance of new creatures, men who could be transformed by the Holy Spirit into people of great courage, great faith, great spiritual power for the unselfish, God-honoring ends to which the Master called them. They were his team.

Those who follow and cheer may not be particularly impressive as leaders or potentially famous people. The crowds that cheered Jesus on the day of his triumphal entry really melted away very quickly. And the cheering rooters in the stands, and by the radio and television, are not the fellows who win the game. And next year some of the fellows who played last night must be replaced on the team.

And generation after generation, the great work of the apostles must be carried on for the glory of God and the hope of mankind.

Our Lord had a way of picking out people of willingness, no matter how far they might yet be from the trained perfection of his team. Some of those who followed and cheered that day were almost surely the Christians of ten years later. And, having learned, by that time, some of the disciplines and understanding that come from association with the spirit of the Lord, they were effective members of the team.

For he calls us, not alone to cheer, but to join him, learn of him, serve, sacrifice and give with him. He still needs disciples and apostles today, and in every age. The whole world needs them. And He still looks upon individual people with all their lacks and differences, to be willing to follow him. If we are clay --- yet He is the Potter.

Andrew, Peter, Nathaniel, Thomas --- yes, and also Mary and Martha --- the Master calleth thee! The crowds of today; the disciples who follow him about on Palm Sunday; you and me; the Master calls us to follow him, faithfully dedicating to him and his team the talents which we have.

Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, March 18, 1951.

Also at Waioli Church, April 11, 1976.

[The prayer entered below was used on 3-31-74, 3-23-75, and on 4-11-76 at the Waioli Church, along with the above sermon.]

Eternal God, who art the hope of the ends of the earth, be our hope in this place of prayer. Lead us to the rock that is higher than we are, and be to us a high tower and strong defense against the enemy of our spirits. See how the foes of our living marshal their hosts and encompass our souls with fears and anxieties, failures and humiliations and doubts. O God, put upon our lips and hearts a new song today, “The Lord is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear?”

Take the cloud from our vision, so that we may see. Give us insight to discern truth from untruth, the high from the low, the clean from the unclean, the enduring from the transient. If any of us be confused or bewildered concerning the way we shall take, may we find the path clear, and Thy word a lamp unto our feet.

Strengthen our faith. Save us from credulous acceptance of things unsound and untrue. Give us steadfast trust in those things worth a person’s belief, confidence in those truths that shall not be shaken.

As thus we pray for our own souls, our sympathies and our prayers pass beyond the boundaries of race and class and creed and nation to all worshipping souls and praying assemblies on earth today. We confess our partialism and we pray that our neighbors may confess theirs. Bind us together in common penitence and humility and teachableness before Thee, who art the one God and Father of us all. Let our faith be not a cause for division, but a unifying power to draw together Thy family.

We lay before Thee our intercessions for this sorry, storm-tossed world. We remember the distress and catastrophe among nations. Forgive us that we have not found the way that is Thy will for peoples and nations. We beseech Thee for that discovery. Bring the rulers of the earth to Thy mercy seat. Bring us and all nations to repentance. Let there come light and not darkness; law and not slaughter; brotherhood and not enmity; peace and not warfare; honor and not shame.

Be with all who are too stricken and cast down to pray for aught else than deliverance from their own oppression. Upon bereaved spirits sent thine eternal comfort. Strengthen the tempted; renew hope in the disappointed. Grant Thy peace that passes all human understanding.

We come before Thee in Christ’s name. Amen.