AN ADAMANT YOUNG MAN Palm Sunday April Il, 1965

When he died,Dag Hammarskjold left an indgjlable mark on the United Nations ,of
which he was the secrytary coneral.| He left his mark on histoy also, of which he was
a student, and in which he was an enthusiastic partietpent.| But Dag Hammarsk jold's

immortality may spring not from his mastery of diplomacy nor his historical sensitivity

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but from a mark of another type, ~ a book, published posthumously, the title of which

Is Sinn Markings. \Hammarskjold kept a diary of sorts, a running record of his thoughts
and ideas.\He let it be known that should his life be worth remebering, it washis
wish that these Markings shoduld be associated with him.

| took the title of this sermon from one of the entries, dated sometime in 1951.

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Let me read part of it to you.

A young man, adamant in his comnitted life. The one who was nearest to him relates
how, on the last evening, he rose from supper, laid aside hls garments and washed the feet
of his friends and disciples — an adamant young man, alone as he confronted his final
destiny.

He had observed their mean little play for his — his! - friendship. He knew that not
one of them had the slightest conception of why he had to act the way he must. He knew
how frightened and shaken they would all be. And onmof them had informed on him, and
would probably soon give a signal to the police.

He had assented to a possibility In his being, of which he had had his first Inkling
when he retéirned from the desert. If God required anything of him, he would notméail.

OnjJy recently, he thought, had he begun to see more clearly, and to realize that the

road of possibility might lead to the cross. He knew, though, that he had to follow it,
still uncertain as to whether he was "the one who shal! bring It to pass", but certian that
the answerc could only be learned by féllowing the road to fhe end. The end might be

a death without significance - as well as being the end of the road of possibiltly. ..

A young man adamantin his committment, who waiks the road of possibilti to the end,
without self pity of demand foe sympathy, fulfilling the @estiny he has chosen — even
sacrificing @ffection and feldéowship when the others are unready to follow him — Into
a new fellowship. Qc¥

Of course Hammarskjold Is here referring to Jesus Christ, and his statment Is an
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illuminating description of several hhemes that are present in the account of the
Palm Sunday experience There is the charismatic leader with his loyal following, the

humble man for whose friendship they had actually cpmpeted.\ There was an element of

political intrigue: Judas, nusrsing his hepes that Jesus' entry into Jerusalem would

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coordinate all the dissendnet elements and being about a revolt against Rome, and seeing

his self deception, betraying his into the hands of his enentes.| There was the black mai!

of the High Priests and the religious authorityes, working hehiné the seenes to set the

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stage for his execut ion.| There was the crowd, now for him, now against him, new shouta ng
"Hosanna", now shouting "crucify him.\Finet ly there is a lonely man, beset with doubts

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and misgivings, making the most important decision of his Info.

It is this latter element that caught Hammarskjold's ineginet ion:| that is, the difficulty

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and risk of Jesus decision te go,inte the city in the first, place) Here he seems to be
making Jesus a protetypre for himself and for all men whe must make lonely decisions.

This morning | want te,pursue that thought: asking {what did his decision to enter

the city mean te Jesus. What did ft mean to lervestant) nd Final yy what Hiwz does It

mena to us? |

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For Jesus the decision to_enter Jeruaslem during the Passover Invelved aj\certfan

risk petential.|The very manner_in which he traveled was suggestive and inflammatory.

He could have enéeredt the city like any one of the other thousands who were there for

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the Passever: he could hate slipped In une treed out Instead, he chese te deliberatly
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fulfil! the ancient prophecy of Zechariahs(*Le, your king cpmes to you; triumphant and |

victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass." He knew

that this gesture would strike a spark of recognitien in the heart of every Jew in the city.

Some would rejoice, but others would resent it and feel thrpatened and host! Le.\ He knew

that emetions were easily fanned to a flame during the Passpver. \ the city was crowded

wifh Pitgrims come te celebrate their father's deliverance From a hatted foreiqg.
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domination centuries before.During the Passover, the ordinary resentment toward the

occupying Remans had an unordinary articulateness. Iie knew) that his_ coming Into the city
att Suey MO a sloudy burnin | Lire.
would Stirup-the-peopte-and-cause some—disturbance.\ He couldn't have heiped but know

the danger inte which he was putting himse|f \ He had moved about freely in Galilea. But

now he was coming inte the city,t the capital of Judaism, te the temple with Its chief

priests and scribes. to the living breathing center of life, and there fin the middie of it

all he was acting outt the claim that he was the leng promised Kedeener.\ certainty he

Knew that do do this was to go beyond the point of ne retura: that his confrontation with

Jerusalem would mean one of two things elther his overwhelming acceptance, or his death]
We are led to beleive that he knew he would dle, and that he wiilingly accepted even this

as part of his adamant commitment.

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“Whese are real risks - vst Wome played om bis mnind va the
Soran of dovedh, — al T

But the biggest risk of all, the risk that never occurred to me until | read the words

of Dag Hammarskjold was that the end might be a\"death without signi ficence".)/bi¢ Jesus

know that twenty xeaz centuries hence the ane undéfyéng symbol of Western civilization would

be a cross, his cross? | Didgi he know that millions of men_down through the centuries would

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sing, \"Babathé Beneath the cross of Jesus | fain would take my stand?"/? |The terrible risk

in his walking straight towards his death Is that he couldm;f have known. | is only hope

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was the twelve, one of whom had made plans to betray him, another of whom would deny him,
and the rest_of whom would desert him and melt into the crow Hom could he heve known
that his would net be a "death without significance"?

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This thought caught Hammarskjold's imagination as he went about his duties as Saiz

Secretary Beneral of the United nat ons How does a man knew? How do we ever know if the

small decisions we take will prove to be good deci stone? We den't know, and neither did

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Jesus, but he accepted this very real risk, and went ahead tp do what he felt he must do.

What did Palm Sunday mean to Jesus? || want te suggest this morning that it was a day

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of deep an anxiety for him, an experience of foreboding doubt, a day that demanded his greatest

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courage and conviction. | =
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End what did it meant to Jerussten?| st@enge thing is that Jesus' decision to

enter the city was the first of a number of decisions that would be made in fhe space

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of five days. \HIs decision to enter was the catylist that set off a chain reaction that

did not conclude until he was dead.\And he started if ail himself.

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Jerusalem would gladly have avoided any decision about him. \Jhe city was truly

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neutral. The Temple officllas had probably hanes of him, and perhaps some of the ci tie 6

residnets had Scene him on trips Into Galilea. \But by and large, Jerusalem couodn't have

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cared less: it was simply not a matter of being for him or againt him “\'ne Roman Governor,

paren aid <cneenmners

aman named Pomtius Pilate, accurately expressed the feelings of the people when he

tried to wastj his hands of the whole affeir,\ Jeruatsen would gladly have refrained foom

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a decision.

acid — a

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Notice again that Jesus forced the issue, Hod he not come: had he just walked in and

celebrated the Passover like _any other Jew, Jeruaslem would not have had to decide But

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by coming, by deciding to come in TBeh way he did, he made a decision absolutley necessary.

What did Palm Sunday mean to the city?|/AT first really very little, but ae |
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meant that an uncomfotable decision had to be made.

What then dees Paln Sunday mean to ws? In light of what we have sald about the day's

meaning for Jesus himself and for the city of Jerusalem, what does it mean to us as

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we remember it and celebrate It 20 ceaturies later?|Certainly tke answer ought to be found

somewhere In the area of risk-taking and ecision making.

2s then, both are extremely diff Picult, To combiae them, to

present a decision thit involves a certain degpee of risk is to presen
situation we noaturelly try to vois.| In fact, 2 certain natural

reluctance causes 4 lot of people to avoid making- decisions of any

kind .\ The advertising industry knows this and we are subject to_a barra

a etree et

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to make our decisions for us.\Bag business knoWs THIS’ corporations gi

of subtle persuasion: we are easy prey to techniques and pressures geared
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personality te Sts to discaver that rare person who is secure enou to

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make decisions,

[the truly great _men of American history were those who

coudd except risk and dovbt and move ahead decg isvely .\We honor these men:

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after they're dead: we see How the Greatness of a Jefferron, a Lincoin

and

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Nscanthur.| tn his Pulitzer Prize _Winning Book, Préfiles in Courage,

Joh F.Wennedy told the dtories of men who were not afraid to make decisios

based on their convictbns: and nearly all of the personalities portrayed

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in the book met with public disfaver intheir life times.\ Not only don't

we like to make decisions ourselves, not only do we avoid translating

our convictions into actions, we seem to have 4 particular cultural

aversion for those men who do.

Specifiealiy, in our time there is one great moral issu@ which

has singed the conscience eof men of raith:| theze is one great_is today

SteeetiEni ey

abou t which Christians are making decisions and carying out those

decisions in cocnrete actions. | ins for thelr afforts they are railed

upon a&S agitators: as outsiders involved in anlarea that is best left

et aeaeerreers tes ee ee —_

alone: and of course as Communists. - It seems that anyoae who advocates
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social change must be a communist¢#\ Why is that these peoole who €@o to

Alabama makecuez@eeiceac - - these men and women who risk everything

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because of their convictions, make us feel so ungomfortable?\ Ts it because

their decision forces us to make a decision?\Is it because they're

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Northerners, and white and maybe even Presbyterians, and their decision

implicates us because in a very real sens e they represent us?

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Our whole culture, a culture that envelopes the church, seems to #e¥e
Aesparbel, Xo eemaaeeaimemal
spearates religion entirely from the decision making sente r of life,

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communal and personal. \ We are aghast and uncomfortable when we encounter

those who feel they must live_out their convée tiens:| we are hostile toward

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those who make decisords ASE Beory netr on the degree of | risk involved, but on
Nod nen der ve ; . P

awe they believe is right and necessary. \ How much_easier to wash our

hands of the whole nasty busienes! How much more jcomfortable to stuff
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our religion into a corner and avoifé any real endounter with life and

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the worded .| Hon much beter not to make decis sons, especially risky ones.

( )
\g We ask the question, (What does Palm Sunday mean to us?/, let us not

fomet that on this day, Jesus Crist made a decision; and when he carried
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out his decision it earned him the wrath of a lot of respectable, neutral

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veoble, [20 doubt they called him an outside agitator; for this is what he

was, Hie took himself into ther city and thef@ he agitated: thete , _intheir

city he made it impossible for them to remain on |the easy fence of neutraly

What does Palm Sunday mean to us? \ ze means that we must see a picture

a — Freud
of Jesus Cnrist that is is some thing other than that of gentle Jesus, ered

of women and children. \rt means that we must, on |this day, realize that at

the very heart of thematéer is a decision that Jesus Christ forces men to

pnd er

One of the greatest preachewrs of our time, Hary Zmerson Fosdick, had

the following to say about Jesu =e mature Yeing whet it is, Chri

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hristians commonly interprest Ihim in terms of his toxsia

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loveleiness: we e311 him Sloriness names: but he] himself said he came t
cast fire upon the earth.\Somethine incendiary ukavkexaxeaz about deeu:
starts a conflagration wherever he appears .\To our humeannature he is
upsetting, why mustr we be haunted by his ideals|so far above us? why
must we be made miserable by the hecessity of ehbsing either for him or
against him? [outs not life be easier if he had hot come, so to challenge
ug with his deuanae?" }

Fosdick goes on then to suggest that the meh who has bever felt that
way 3bout Crist has never eally taken him seriously}! That is to say,
Until Wave truly struggled with his dmman until we naive experianced

and anxiety of decision, we have never ¢ome to SP ips with the
fan faith,

Jn this day Jesus Christ forges us to the poig t of decision. |For on

this day he acted out his impatience

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with the periphery @; on this

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city and forced the reluct ant citigenry to
nter of our Lives. liner do we find Christ?
thematters that don!t really concern us, perhs
morning worship. \Ijetesd we will fing his
in the things that veally matter to us, at the
center of our lives where we make our decisogs Yhie is where Christ is
present: this is where he demands to be oresent. |This is what Paim Sunday
It means one thing tner and with this I gonelude we observed
woes sade
that for Jesus the decigon fo enter Jerusalem wag not an easy one. In Dag
HammarskJold's words, we saw Hesus as an adamant jyoun® man who acted out
Or us, no decision is
Satay
a church we have been
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golng through a period that has required quitea flew decisions of us- the
decision to become 2 United Presbyterian Congregation: the decision to
become a National velopment] Pre ject: the decistion

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Huila a2 new bBhurch; and recently, the decision to sell this buULIding
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property .| None of these decisons have been easy: topvether we nave

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struggled with them: - and together we have made then.

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KBULKANZHER2BD As a church we have experienced the pain and the joy

of making far-reaching decisions.

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But in our oersoanl lives we have been mading decions also. | ¥

wrestled with matéers of fsith.\We have heard the claims of Anristianic;

Sunday after Sunday, and found ourselves wantingg to beliebe but hot

being able to believe We have felt the war withlin ourselves: between

faith and logis, between mind and hear ‘\toaay Qs we remeber our Lord's

accept

entry into Jerusalem and what that meant to him, let us each one e#xeent

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risk and doubt, as he aia \1et us have the courpge to believe inspite

of dount; \tet us go from_this place, remebering the story of this day,

with faith that is forged out of decision - faith that expresses itslef

in a life time of decisive Christianity. Amen