THE AG NTZING FREEDOM OF DECISION PALM SUNDAY AP RIL #, 1966
MATTHEW 21: 1-17

How free are you?|to What degree do you possess the ability to

determine your own destiny?

Philospphers and theologians. \rt is a question that is relevant _in our day -
in—our-sPeustien - especially 4 tg tain the events of Palm S “nday . \

The day Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem was a day of decision

for him and for the eity.| As we observe the events of% that day, we too

feé@l ourselves caught up in ifs drama :|we too feel that there is something
about it all that assaults our usual apathy and demands that we too make

a dec&sion.

a |

But how free are we? \In what sense is man a free agent in a neutral
environment, capable of picking and chosing for himseif? |There are several
answers to that quest on. \ One of the most popular is that provided by
seinen “—oal ane dorandh would say that there is no such thing as freedom
of will: that man's destiny, man's every decision is predetermined by fate,
or —— - or God - or what have you. Another answer is provided by the
discipline of psychology which points out that we are subject to all sorts
of subconscious drives and motivations: \that freedom is an illusinn
because in reality we are enslaved by powers within us we don't wven
realize exist.’ In the context of man's relationship with God, the rigid
Calvinists have traditionally maintained that man's eternal destiny is a
mater of God's deciding alone: that even the elect and damned are pretermindg
apart from any freedom of choise on man's part.

Undoubtedly there is some truth in all of these:\freddom is a
relative word:\ freedom of will is 4 relative concept. Noone wgo knows much

about the nature of mmn would hold that it exists absolutely.\ And yet in

this matéer of religion the burden of choice does seem to rest on individua
men. :\ Man does seem to have the ‘ability to decide.

Jesus — coerced no one. He called men to follow him, and in either

accepting or rejecting the invitation they seemed to be exercising complete

freedom. \ In the words of the European Theologian, Nicholas Beryaev,

\

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"Man is free to Zo to hell if he so choses". \In fact, one way of looking

at if is that what distinguishes man from the rest of the created order

is this terrible, yet relative, gift of freedom. \ ‘ii alone has the ability
which will affect the future intentionally. \ IN short, I would suggest
that freedom of will, given its limitations and relativity, does exist:
that you and I have the painful pedadacgeacé freedom of decision, and

that we are exercising that freedom ali the time.

and yet to say this, and this alone would be extremely naive, for

obviously the human animal is hesitant to intentionally exercise this

freedom. \ We are hesitant to make decisions: we Would much rather allow
eVery BPse oF ule ei ccevor.\IN the world of business the top is

OCGUpied by those very rare men who are comfortable making decisions.

and all the positions beneath are occupied by the millions of others
who are more comfortable doing what someone else tells them to do, |The
entire jJustifteation for the Pield of advertising , is in one sense, the
realistic positron that people can be told what to do: \that the average
consumer can be coerced into a favorable decision about a product, given
the proper amount and quality of canned motivatiog .

The general trend of our civilization is away from decision making and
toward the relative saftey of NEEL EMSS «\ were shocked several years
ago When 2 young woman Was murdered on the steps to her New York Apartment,
- while thirty two Pearse watehed from their windows.\ We were shocked still

yl We, wae

more by rein response -we didn't want to get involved J when qiestioned

be the police, \An 1 suddenly we discovered that 4 nation We were
suCPorping « serious Lline«s.\ The murder on the apartment house eters

. \ =
Was not an Leoleted incident - but an illustrative incident - of others

that happend every day - in the subwaysm streets and allleys of all our

major cities.\ People simply don't want to get involved.

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A few weeks ago the Gemini 8 Space craft encountered serious diffuculty
while performing a mission so fantastic that our minds are stretched by
the thought of it. The television net works assumed that the flight was
an item of concern in the minds of the American public - and so interupted
regular programming to bring minute by minute coverage of the mission;s
termination. But for many people the assumption was wrong. \ Phone calls
from irate viewers flooded the stations, and the content et tha pathetic
compldants was the same: " WE don't care about this business: nor about the
welfare of the astraunats: we don't want to be involved. We'd much rather
be lulled and tranqulilized by programming, which ~- in the words of its
producers - is aimed at the mentality of an eight year old.

People react much the same toward the Cpurch of Jesus Christ today.

It is generally granted the the church is a goddthing: but for an increasing
percentage of our pepple - not a thing one wants to get involved in:
not a matter one wants to make decisions about.

Man is hesitant to be decisive, man » 42s he is in the mid twentiéth
centery, prefers the safe cocoon of auduvelvewent. Time—and—_+ime—323in,.kf-
metters—es-wite ranginge—-spelities;&zretizion and local saréty-regvlations
_people give-ctequent testimony that the freedom to decide is not oré that
-is-exercisen cemfertebijor_regularly,

On this day, however, we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ into the

city of Jerusalem. I have sii that it was a day of decision, and I would
suggest that a sae oul look at what transpired will provide us with further
food for thought regarding our wwn freedom of decision.

It certainly was a day of decsion for Jesus. New Testament scholars
agree that his decision to go - his turning his “Face steadfastly toward
Jerusalem" was the pivotal point in his life. He had spent his life time
in the rural area: his ministry had centered ain Galalea - améing fishing

people. But-Jesus was? Jew -and-a-man,—_For him, Jersalem was-the—Hely

City} - the City of David - the lecale of the Temple with its legacy

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of hestory- and tradition. For-the-Jew-and-the-man life would@ not—be
complete without—celebrating-the—passove-in thé city. But-even ans
it was to Jerusalem that Jesus would f£dannk finally have to bring his
ministry.) The city wold have to be the final arbiter of his life.
We can assume that had Jesus not come: had he stayed in Galilea,
had he heeded the wrnings of his aieetelee - he would not have been
crucified - but he came - he made the agonizing decision.

The Gospels accounts of the day werscfuac are full of tragic irony -
an irony completely missed by the popular pictures of the event which
show shiny faced children laying well pressed and clean robes in his path.
It was a motely crew. Those wgo came out to meet him were the ones who
knew him from Galilea: the poor and dirty fishermen: the sinners: the
social outcasts.\The spectacle they created must have patsed eyebrows amon,
those who really mattered in the city. To the chief priests and scribes
the event had a note of threatening danger about it. Aiter all, all these
people were in the city in the first place to ceé4jebrate their ancestors
liberation from Egypt,. Nationalist feeling always ran high at the

Passover - coupled with an increased resentment toward the Roman authoriti:
It was an explosive situation inherently

with all the makings or riot and revolution - neither one of which the

relgioous estableshment could well afford. And now, right into the midst

of it all, came Jesus of Nazareth, with a rag tag following that apparently)

thought he was some kind of King. ic “%™% - oH = ee ve
There were a lot of forces patying against each other that day.

each involving dangerous potential,. Certainly it would have been bettter

had he stayed awasy.\ And theb there was the way he came and what he did

When he arrived.\ He had gone out of his way to procurr an ass on which

to ride - and tite people couldn't help but remeber the prophecy of Zecharie

aeopta your King comes to you, humble and lowly is he; riding on an

ass, and on a colt the foal of an ass."| As if this preposterous

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deminstration wasn't enough he went right to the temple, and there drove
out the merchants and money changers .\ Again the people couldn' t help
recalling the prophecy of Malachi: "The Lord whom you seek will suddenly
come to his Temple: the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight,
behold, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. But who can endure the day
of his coming, and who can stand when he appears, "

We know our Lord Jesus Christ - not only as the incarnate son of God
but also as a man:\a man like us, Wibh all our fears and insecurities. On
this day he made the most important decision of his life - and his |
decicion must always stand in judgement upon our own indecisiveness.

But it was also a day of decision for Jerusalem.\ The city was full
of people like you and me: people with free will: people free to chose for
or against, but people shies Sime not have exercised that freedom,

It is naive to assume that the population of Jerusalem was agaisnt him and
wanted him crucified; 1¢-is-naive_to assume, for that—mateer,that—he=was
even—known widely -within—the city . Jerusalem was fulll of respectable,

neutral pepple who didn't want to get invloved:| people who couldn't have

cared less., They had nothing agaist Jesus of Nazareth - and yet history
has judged them, In a very real sense they were guilty of his death": it was
their neutrality - as musk as anything sine - that was resonsible foir

what happened.

In other words, freedom for the Jerusalemites was defined by the fact
that Jesus Christ came into their midst. They were free to chose for or
against him. They were not free to remain neutral - for their neutrality
added up to the same thing as strenuous opposition.

That is the lesson about free will thta Palm Synday teaches us.

On the big tlssues we are free to decide - but never free to rethain neutral.
It is only in the polite cirles of diplomacy that neutrality among nations
is @aken serlolsly - for there is no such thing as neutrality in the

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confrontation of Communism and Democracy. Wadecision mist be and is alwasy
: \ :— made.

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Im-the—very—practical matter of local politics there is—ne—such thingas

neutrality - for abstaining from voting O- uninvejvement—is—the—very

sSame—thing—as_a_yote_ecastfor_the—party _that_has a two te—one—plurality.

In personal confrontation neutrality is equally as impossible\, To ignore a
man in need is to be an accomfliss is his predicament - a _— which is

now law in several atates.\ It is, above all else, impossible for the
instiution that bears the name of Jesus Christ to be netitral about anything.
especdally those problems of the culture in which we live. The church that
turns its head from racial injustice, from poverty, from questions of
morality, is simply throwing its considerable weight behind the status

quo whether it wants to or not, George Arthur Buttrick, commenting on

Jesus driving the money chaneeos from the temple said: "He was ma angry.
So, true Christianity will become angry. \ True Cneisvinntey is known by its
indignations as well as bya its gentleness, by its foes as well as by its
friwnds."

It's a hard lesson for us to learn - because by nature we want our
religion to be comfortable. We don't like it when someone rocks the boat.

We would rather avoid the touchy issue, the controversial subject - the
heated matéer which might turn public opinion against us .\ But on Palm Subday
we ought to see that this is anegation and denial of everything our Lord
did, and especially his decisiveness in confronting Jerusalem.

Finally, Palm Sunday pught to make it abundantly? clear that Jesus
Christ demand a decision of all men. From the beginning he was an intruderd
and an upsetéer of the staus quo. From the inn keeper who refused him
entrance, on down, the men who vonfrented him found themselves forced into

a decision. It was never easy. He, himself said; "He who is not for
me is agaisnt me." .
As he intruded into history, as he intruded into the passive neutrality

of Jerusalem on-the-first_day-oef—the—week of the Passover - so he intrudes

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in$So your life and mine - demanding that we make a decision - forcing our
hand tp exercise the agaonizing freedom of will.

As he claimed the Holy City as his own - so he claims to be the
Sovereign Lord of all life - a claim that elliminates all neutrality.

executed

Those who wanted him Spugifitedzwere a small minogity. But their blood
curdling scream "Crucify him!" was echoed and magnified by the deep
uninvolved silence of the eity.\That cry is magnified today when his
demand is unanswered - when no decigion is made.

How will we decide? Will we decide? Or will oir uninvolvement, our
passive neutrality about Jesus Christ become a silent but powerful
blow against him?

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Amen
This is the question raised and lesson taught by Palm Sunday - the

agonizing freedom of decision.

AMEN

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