William H. Willimon - "A Violent Week" (March 27, 1988)

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	(organ playing)	0:00
-	Welcome to this service of worship here at	2:49
	Palm Passion Sunday here in the chapel.	2:52
	We're glad that you're here.	2:54
	We particularly welcome our law alumni	2:56
	who are having a meeting this weekend	3:00
	and the Randolph Hills United Methodist church	3:04
	confirmation class that's with us today.	3:07
	We're glad that all of you are here.	3:10
	This afternoon at four PM our choir	3:13
	will be joined by Lorenzo Muti	3:16
	and the Duke Symphony Orchestra to present Verdes Requiem	3:19
	and there are still tickets available	3:26
	for this glorious performance here at the chapel.	3:29
	We've already began setting up for it down in front	3:32
	and we certainly hope you'll be with us.	3:35
	We also call your attention to	3:38
	all of the services and activities	3:40
	that will be held this week here in the chapel.	3:43
	Holy week is the pinnacle of the Christian year	3:47
	and the pinnacle of our year here in the chapel	3:50
	and we invite your participation in these many services.	3:54
	And now let us hear the opening scripture	4:01
	for this Palm Passion Sunday.	4:04
	A reading from the 12th chapter of the Gospel of John.	4:07
	"The next day a great crowd would come to the feast	4:15
	heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.	4:20
	So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him	4:24
	and they cried, 'Hosanna, blessed is he	4:28
	who comes in the name of the lord, even the king of Israel.'	4:33
	And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it as is written.	4:38
	'Fear not daughter of Zion, behold,	4:43
	your king is coming, sitting on an ass's coat.'	4:46
	His disciples did not understand this at first	4:51
	but when Jesus was glorified then they remembered	4:55
	that this has been written of him and had been done to him."	4:59
	(choir singing)	5:13
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis. ♪	5:16
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. ♪	5:17
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	5:24
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. ♪	5:28
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	5:34
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. ♪	5:38
	(organ playing)	5:54
	(congregation singing)	6:36
	(organ playing)	8:06
	(congregation singing)	10:02
-	Let us pray.	11:06
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	11:08
	by the power of your holy spirit so that	11:12
	even as Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem	11:15
	we might welcome him here, amen.	11:19
	A reading from the book of Isaiah.	11:25
	"The lord God has given me the tongue	11:30
	of those who are taught that I may know	11:32
	how to sustain with a word one that is weary.	11:36
	Morning by morning the lord wakens,	11:42
	the lord wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.	11:45
	The lord God has opened my ear	11:51
	and I was not rebellious, I turned not back.	11:53
	I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks	11:59
	to those who pulled out the beard.	12:01
	I hid not my face from shame and spitting,	12:04
	for the lord God helps me, therefore,	12:10
	have I not been confounded, therefore, I have set my face	12:14
	like a flint and I know that I shall not be put to shame,	12:19
	the one who vindicates me is near.	12:25
	Who will contend with me?	12:28
	Let us stand up together.	12:30
	Who is my adversary?	12:33
	Let that one come near to me."	12:35
	Here ends the lesson.	12:39
	The second lesson comes from	12:43
	Paul's letter to the Philippians.	12:45
	"Have this mind among yourselves	12:49
	which is yours in Christ Jesus who,	12:52
	though he was in the form of God,	12:55
	did not equality with God a thing to be grasped,	12:58
	but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant	13:04
	being born in the likeness of humans	13:08
	and being found in human form, he humbled himself	13:11
	and became obedient unto to death, even death on a cross.	13:17
	Therefore, God has highly exalted him	13:27
	and bestowed on him the name which is above every name	13:31
	that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow	13:35
	in heaven and on earth and under the earth	13:39
	and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is lord	13:44
	to the glory of God the father, amen."	13:49
	(organ playing)	14:01
-	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	14:25
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	14:29
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	14:35
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	14:39
	(organ playing)	14:48
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	14:57
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	15:00
	(choir singing)	15:07
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	16:16
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	16:19
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	16:24
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	16:28
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	16:33
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	16:37
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	16:42
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	16:45
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	16:50
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	16:54
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	16:59
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	17:02
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	17:08
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	17:11
	♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪	17:16
	♪ Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ♪	17:19
-	Only a few moments away from where we worship today	18:05
	nuclear warheads are pointed in our direction.	18:14
	All of this could be obliterated in a nuclear moment.	18:19
	And I dare say we don't think too much about that	18:26
	perhaps because it's difficult to think about that.	18:31
	Robert J. Lifton has called this phenomenon nuclear numbness	18:34
	it's a kind of psychic reaction.	18:40
	When one is exposed to violence	18:44
	or the threat of violence for very long,	18:46
	there is a kind of numbness that sets in.	18:50
	It can be explained as a defense	18:56
	against thinking the utterly unthinkable.	19:01
	And I wonder if a similar mechanism is not at work in us	19:06
	as we listen again to the gospel accounts of holy week.	19:12
	Because I know this is not the first time	19:21
	that you have heard the story of the trial	19:24
	and the arrest and the crucifixion of Jesus,	19:26
	and it's not the first time that I have heard it	19:30
	and I wonder, like the child who watches TV too much--	19:33
	Saw recently that the average child has seen something	19:39
	like 5000 murders on TV by the time the child is seven--	19:42
	I wonder if we've heard this story so many times	19:47
	that we're apt to think of it as an injustice or a tragedy,	19:52
	but do we also hear it as a story about violence?	20:00
	The chief priests and the scribes	20:08
	were seeking how to arrest him that they might kill him.	20:11
	And they did kill him, you know?	20:19
	By the end of this week they did kill him	20:23
	in a particularly despicable,	20:25
	inhuman, utterly violent way.	20:28
	For behind Mark's terse account of the crucifixion of Jesus	20:33
	is the horrible image of a man being stripped,	20:40
	spat upon, beaten, hands nailed through the flesh	20:45
	to the wood, sword pierced inside and left to hang up,	20:49
	to bleed and suffocate to death in horrible agony.	20:55
	The next time someone tells you that nuclear death	21:01
	is the worst of all possible fates,	21:04
	would you remind them about Mark 15.	21:06
	I can remember as a child	21:12
	hearing a particularly gifted Baptist preacher	21:16
	describe the crucifixion of Jesus	21:20
	in such gruesome detail that I can remember	21:22
	being sickened by the thought of it.	21:25
	But you see, now my problem is	21:29
	I've heard the story so many times.	21:31
	I've seen it depicted by Cecil B. DeMille,	21:33
	I've heard it over and over again	21:36
	that I am more apt to think of the cross	21:38
	as something in polished silver on an alter	21:40
	rather than blood-stained wood on a hill called Calvary.	21:43
	In other words, I am become numb	21:53
	to the horror of the violence done to Jesus.	21:56
	But even more tragic	22:03
	is that I am become numb	22:06
	to the horror of the violence of those who followed Jesus.	22:10
	And thus, today's sermon.	22:17
	For let us read this story, this story of	22:21
	that final week with bitter recognition	22:24
	that in countless ways we contemporary disciples of Jesus	22:28
	have traded places with those Roman and Jewish officials	22:32
	so bent on the capital punishment of Jesus.	22:38
	We Christians have come a long, long way	22:43
	since the Gospel of Mark.	22:45
	So adept are we at now justifying and explaining	22:49
	our violence to ourselves and to God.	22:52
	We are not simply nuclear numb,	22:58
	we have become gospel numb.	23:01
	The story ending this week began, I remind you,	23:10
	on Christmas with angels singing	23:15
	glory to God in the highest and on earth peace.	23:18
	And later Jesus was to speak, "My peace I give to you,	23:24
	not as the world gives, give I unto you."	23:28
	And that statement reminds us that	23:35
	there already was a kind of peace available	23:37
	by the time Jesus arrived on the scene.	23:40
	Judea was at peace; it was called	23:45
	the Pax Romana--the Peace of Rome.	23:48
	The Roman peace, peace based upon military might	23:54
	and a vast, far-reaching ruthless bureaucracy.	23:58
	Jesus, Luke tells us, was born	24:04
	during the days of of Caesar Augustus.	24:06
	Caesar Augustus who presided over	24:09
	the Pax Augustana--Cesar Augustus.	24:12
	When young Caesar Augustus, before he was crowned emperor,	24:19
	the noble Cicero questioned whether one so young as Augustus	24:26
	was capable of ruling a vast empire.	24:31
	And young Augustus demonstrated his ability to rule	24:36
	by having Cicero beheaded on the spot,	24:39
	left in a pool of blood--this was the Pax Romana.	24:42
	And so Jesus said to his followers,	24:51
	"The rulers of the Gentiles, like Augustus,	24:54
	"love to lord over their subjects,	24:58
	"but it shall not be so among you."	25:02
	The Caesars of this world dominate and exploit	25:06
	but as our epistle lesson reminds us	25:10
	Jesus came in the form of a servant.	25:13
	He emptied himself even unto death on a cross.	25:15
	And I tell you, of all the lessons the gospel attempts	25:19
	to teach us this surely is the most difficult to learn.	25:23
	On the night in which he was betrayed	25:28
	one of Jesus's followers took up a sword	25:34
	and attempted to defend Jesus	25:39
	against his attackers that night.	25:41
	As it turned out he succeeded only in taking off a part	25:46
	of the servant's ear, to which I might have said,	25:49
	if Christians are going to use swords,	25:53
	they at least ought to be good at it.	25:55
	But that isn't what Jesus said.	25:58
	Jesus said to him, "No more of this,	26:01
	"no more of this.	26:07
	"Whoever takes up a sword is going to perish by the sword."	26:08
	Now, what does that statement mean?	26:15
	It may mean just the opposite.	26:17
	If I take up the sword using it to pierce into another side,	26:19
	eventually someone's gonna come along with a bigger sword	26:23
	and know how to use it better than I,	26:26
	and I shall perish by that sword.	26:28
	Or it may mean something else.	26:33
	It may mean that every time I take up the sword	26:36
	I shall perish by that sword.	26:41
	With the point of my sword I take the life of another	26:45
	but with the handle of the sword in my hand	26:48
	I forfeit my own life in Christ.	26:51
	In destroying I am destroyed.	26:57
	So the physicist Oppenheimer, gazing upon	27:03
	the creation of the new atom bomb,	27:05
	recalled the words of the Bhagavad Gita saying,	27:10
	"I am become death,	27:13
	"the destroyer of worlds."	27:17
	I think it's significant that the last miracle	27:24
	Jesus worked this week, the last miracle	27:28
	Jesus worked before he went to his death on the cross	27:32
	was the healing of a wound caused by	27:35
	the sword of one of his own disciples.	27:38
	The story, which begins with angels singing about peace	27:45
	ends this week with a man dying	27:50
	with a sword in his side	27:56
	but not in is hand.	27:59
	And I'll be the first to admit Jesus did not give us	28:04
	much help in thinking through these matters.	28:07
	That is Jesus left us no learned thesis	28:11
	on the subjects of war or peace or violence.	28:14
	Nothing so impressive as books written by	28:18
	Christian ethicists, many of them right here at Duke.	28:19
	All Jesus left us, unlearned uneducated man as he was,	28:23
	was his example.	28:30
	That's all we've got, his example.	28:34
	The way he lived and the way he died.	28:37
	And what was his example?	28:42
	Jesus did not join the Jewish zealots.	28:45
	Maybe Judas was a member of the zealots but not Jesus.	28:50
	The zealots were the first century	28:53
	Palestinian liberation organization	28:55
	who fought to free Judea from Roman oppression.	28:59
	Jesus did not join them, on the other hand,	29:03
	Jesus refused to participate in	29:07
	the Roman occupation of Judea and their attempt	29:09
	to bring law and order to this place.	29:13
	My point is that both options were available	29:17
	to Jesus and yet he chose neither.	29:20
	Instead, he chose the way of the cross.	29:25
	And so the very first Christians refused	29:31
	to serve in the army or to baptize those who did.	29:34
	They protested, of course, that they were	29:38
	loyal citizens of Caesar but in following Christ's example,	29:40
	they refused to take up the sword for Caesar.	29:46
	Early church father Tertullian wrote	29:51
	that in disarming his disciple	29:54
	on Maundy Thursday, no more of this,	29:56
	that Jesus disarmed all of his disciples forever.	30:01
	And so Jesus's people were killed,	30:06
	but they were never killers.	30:08
	Of course, if you know something about church history,	30:12
	you know that all that changed after the fourth century.	30:15
	After the conversion of Constantine,	30:19
	Christians became respectable, people of power,	30:21
	people engaged in important business.	30:25
	We became socially significant,	30:28
	which means, of course, that we got violent.	30:31
	With only a hundred years after the conversion of	30:35
	Constantine, it was illegal for anybody to serve	30:38
	in the Roman army who wasn't a Christian.	30:42
	Ambrose and Augustine, our greatest Christian thinkers,	30:47
	were enlisted in the task of	30:50
	teaching Christians to make war.	30:52
	And they devised theories of the just war.	30:56
	Augustine wrote, "My fellow Christians,	30:59
	"perfect peace is something reserved	31:03
	"only for heaven, not for this world.	31:05
	"While we may regret war, the empire must be defended,	31:09
	"the church must be protected. Hence	31:14
	"Christians can and should fight for these ends." Unquote.	31:16
	The just war, the just war.	31:22
	In many ways it was an advance of civilization.	31:25
	A noble attempt to limit the violence of war,	31:29
	to put the burden of responsibility of warfare always upon	31:31
	the aggressor to limit the affects of war on non-combatants.	31:35
	And after the war just war theory taught	31:41
	everybody who had participated in the war	31:44
	should get back to their church	31:47
	and get down on their knees and ask God for forgiveness	31:48
	not march in triumph behind flags through the streets.	31:51
	Today, of course, the socially acceptable form of warfare	31:57
	is not the just war, but rather, the crusade.	32:00
	For we see war not as something regrettable	32:06
	but as violence imbued with righteousness.	32:09
	God takes sides, our side.	32:13
	Jerry Falwell speaks of the need for	32:16
	a strong nuclear deterrent so God's missionaries	32:19
	will have plenty of time to convert the world to the gospel.	32:22
	Erasmus looked upon the wars of the 16th century,	32:27
	which for the first time were called religious wars,	32:32
	in which Christians fought against Christians	32:36
	and asked sadly, "How can they call upon	32:41
	"our Father in prayer when they drive steel	32:46
	"into the bowels of the their brothers?"	32:51
	Christ, he said, compared himself to a mother hen	32:55
	but Christians today act like hawks.	32:59
	Christ said he was a shepard of the sheep	33:05
	but Christians tear each other apart like wolves.	33:09
	Luther and Calvin both urged their followers to fight	33:14
	on the side of the gospel of course.	33:20
	Only the Anabaptists broke with the Constantinian legacy.	33:24
	Menno Simons perhaps remembering the story of this week	33:29
	said, "Our fortress is Christ, our defense is patience,	33:32
	"our only sword is the word of God."	33:38
	Like Jesus, like many of the early Christians	33:44
	the Anabaptists paid for their faith in blood,	33:49
	this time, by the swords of their fellow Christians	33:52
	rather than by those of pagans.	33:58
	Of course, I expect you will probably remind me	34:03
	at the end of today's service I am no politician,	34:06
	I am no political strategist, I'm a preacher.	34:10
	Which means that I'm somebody pledged to tell the story.	34:14
	Because, when you think about it,	34:21
	that's all we've got is a a story.	34:23
	And our pledge to live as best we can	34:30
	in the light of that story.	34:33
	So this Palm Passion Sunday it is	34:38
	a tradition in the church to have	34:40
	the longest gospel lesson of the entire year.	34:41
	A long story of what they did to Jesus	34:45
	that week and how Jesus responded.	34:49
	And at baptism, you and I both pledge	34:55
	to live in the light of that story.	34:57
	The rulers of this world love to lord over people,	35:04
	he said, in Belfast, Soweto,	35:07
	in Managua, it all goes on.	35:11
	In Moscow, Beirut, Washington, in Johannesburg,	35:17
	we've got our Pax Romana, our Pax Russiana,	35:22
	our Pax Americana.	35:26
	It shall not be so among you.	35:31
	He calls us to put our trust not in...	35:35
	To find our security, not in weapons systems,	35:40
	but to be the sort of people who are so securely linked	35:48
	to him, that we are able to say with	35:51
	the psalmist of old, we do not put our trust in horses,	35:54
	we do not put our trust in chariots or MX missiles,	35:57
	but we will trust in the Lord and him only shall we serve.	36:00
	Well, it's a story and Luke says	36:09
	on the night in which he was betrayed	36:13
	Jesus gathered with his disciples	36:17
	in an upper room to share with them a meal.	36:20
	During the supper, as people often do,	36:23
	he engaged them in conversation.	36:25
	Among the strangest of the dialogues	36:29
	that take place in the upper room was this one.	36:31
	"When I sent you out," Jesus said,	36:38
	"remember I sent you out and I said	36:41
	"don't take a purse or a bag or sandals	36:43
	"for the journey, did you lack anything?"	36:46
	and the disciples said, "Nothing."	36:51
	And then Jesus says to them, "But now I tell you.	36:54
	"let him who has a purse go and get one	36:59
	"and let him who doesn't have a sword go out and buy one.	37:02
	"For this scripture must be fulfilled in me,	37:09
	"he was reckoned with transgressors."	37:12
	And then the disciples said, "Look Lord,	37:16
	"we have two swords right here."	37:19
	And Jesus said, "It's enough."	37:23
	Well it's a curious conversation, don't you think?	37:28
	Why would Jesus be telling people to go out and buy swords?	37:32
	Particularly in the conversation	37:35
	that takes place a little later, you remember?	37:37
	They go out into the darkness to meet Judas	37:40
	and the soldiers to arrest Jesus.	37:43
	And when one of Jesus's disciples pulls his sword	37:46
	and attempts to use it to defend Jesus,	37:49
	Jesus rebukes him in the harshest possible manner.	37:52
	"No more of this!" he says.	37:55
	And he said then to his attackers,	38:02
	"This is your hour and the power of darkness."	38:05
	Well I wonder what's behind all that talk	38:12
	in the upper room about swords.	38:14
	Well, it's hard to know for sure	38:16
	but my old teacher, Paul Minier suggests this,	38:18
	in Mosaic law you could not be convicted of	38:22
	a capital crime unless two witnesses	38:26
	were there to testify against you.	38:29
	Two witnesses had to establish your guilt.	38:32
	So Jesus says to his disciples,	38:38
	"When I sent you out, you remember I told you	38:42
	"take no purse or bag or sandals	38:46
	"but you rely only on me and my power to preserve you.	38:50
	"By the way, did any of you disobey me?"	38:57
	And the disciples say in effect, sure Lord,	39:02
	and we got two swords here to prove it.	39:08
	We knew that you said rely only on me and my power	39:12
	for your security but just in case that didn't work out	39:15
	we kept this .38 here in the glove compartment.	39:19
	And Jesus says sadly, "It's enough.	39:26
	"The two swords are enough to prove	39:33
	"the infidelity of my very own people."	39:36
	And they go out to meet his betrayer,	39:42
	they go out to meet those who would seek to do him violence.	39:46
	But don't you see?	39:51
	When Jesus goes out on that fateful Thursday	39:54
	to confront the powers of darkness,	39:58
	Caesar's people have swords	40:02
	and Jesus's people have swords.	40:06
	When it gets dark, you can't tell the difference	40:10
	between Caesar's people and Jesus's people.	40:14
	They both have swords;	40:18
	they both participate in the powers of darkness.	40:21
	The scripture is fulfilled.	40:25
	He is reckoned with transgressors,	40:27
	many of whom happen to be his very own disciples.	40:34
	No more of this is his last commandment to us.	40:42
	No more of this.	40:48
	(organ playing)	41:02
	(congregation and choir singing)	41:31
-	Almighty God, singing glory, laud, and honor	44:01
	we praise they name this day as the one	44:06
	who set his face towards Jerusalem	44:11
	and never turned back, we praise thee.	44:13
	As the one who suffered, bled, and died	44:18
	for the sins of the world, we worship thee.	44:21
	As the one who rose from the grave	44:25
	to proclaim eternal life, we glorify thee.	44:27
	Yet we also confess our sins singing,	44:33
	ah, holy Jesus I crucified thee.	44:36
	We pray for the courage, gracious God,	44:41
	to confront the darkness in our very lives.	44:44
	Thou hast created a world full of splendor	44:49
	but ours is the freedom to destroy it.	44:53
	Thou hast granted us the gift of life	44:57
	but ours is the choice to preserve it.	45:00
	Thou hast given us the word to proclaim	45:04
	but ours is the ear that is deaf,	45:08
	the tongue that is mute, the eye that is blind.	45:11
	Thou hast sent thine only son to save us	45:16
	but ours is the cross he carried.	45:19
	Oh lamb of God have mercy upon us,	45:24
	have mercy upon all to whom we show little mercy	45:28
	the unloving and the un-beautiful,	45:34
	the bitter and the lonely, the hungry, the sick,	45:37
	the dying, the ones who we call our enemies.	45:42
	Have mercy upon those who love and who	45:49
	in their loving shed thy light in the midst of darkness.	45:52
	Have mercy upon us, oh lord, that	45:58
	in our searching and in our waiting	46:00
	in our joys and in our sorrows,	46:04
	in our knowing and our unknowing	46:07
	our lives may be open to one another and to thee.	46:10
	In the name of him that taketh away	46:17
	the sins of the world, we pray, amen.	46:19
	As a forgiven and reconciled people	46:27
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves unto God.	46:31
	(organ playing)	46:40
	(organ and drums)	48:48
	(choir singing)	49:41
-	Stand please.	58:48
	Hear the gospel, "And when they had sung a hymn	59:04
	they went out to the mount of olives	59:08
	and Jesus said to them, 'You will all fall away	59:11
	for it is written I will strike the shepard	59:15
	and the sheep will scatter but after	59:19
	I am raised up I will go before you to Galilee.'	59:22
	Peter said to him, 'Even though	59:26
	they all fall away, I will not.'	59:28
	and Jesus said to him, 'Truly, I say to you	59:31
	this very night before the cock crows twice	59:36
	you will all deny me three times.'	59:39
	but he said vehemently,	59:43
	'If I must die with you I will not deny you.'	59:45
	And they all said the same."	59:47
-	"And they went to a place which was called Gethsemane	59:51
	and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I pray.'	59:55
	and he took with him Peter and James and John	1:00:01
	and began to be greatly distressed and troubled	1:00:05
	and he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful	1:00:09
	even to death, remain here and watch.'	1:00:13
	and going a little farther he fell on the ground	1:00:18
	and prayed that if it were possible,	1:00:20
	the hour might pass from him and he said,	1:00:23
	'Abba father, all things are possible to thee,	1:00:27
	remove this cup from me, yet not	1:00:31
	what I will but what thou wilt.'	1:00:34
	And he came and found them sleeping	1:00:38
	and he said to Peter, 'Simon, are you asleep?	1:00:42
	Could you not watch one hour, watch and pray	1:00:46
	that you may not enter into temptation?	1:00:49
	The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.'	1:00:52
	And again he went away and prayed	1:00:56
	saying the same words and again he came	1:00:59
	and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy	1:01:03
	and they did not know what to answer him.	1:01:07
	And he came the third time and said to them,	1:01:10
	'Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?	1:01:12
	It is enough, the hour has come.	1:01:17
	The son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.	1:01:19
	Rise, let us be going, see my betrayer is at hand.'"	1:01:23
-	"And immediately, while he was still speaking,	1:01:29
	Judas came, one of the 12, and with him	1:01:31
	a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests	1:01:34
	and the scribes and the elders.	1:01:38
	Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying,	1:01:40
	'The one I shall kiss is the man,	1:01:43
	seize him and lead him away under guard.'	1:01:45
	And when he came he went up at once said to him, 'Master.'	1:01:48
	and kissed him and laid hands on him and seized him.	1:01:51
	One of those who stood by drew his sword	1:01:55
	and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.	1:01:58
	And Jesus said to them, 'If you come out	1:02:02
	as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me?	1:02:03
	Day after day I was with you in the temple	1:02:07
	teaching and you did not recognize me	1:02:09
	but let the scriptures be fulfilled.'	1:02:12
	and they all forsook him and fled.	1:02:15
	And they led Jesus to the high priest	1:02:17
	and Peter had followed with him at a distance	1:02:20
	right into the courtyard of the high priest.	1:02:22
	He was sitting with the guards warming himself at the fire.	1:02:25
	Now the chief priests and the whole council	1:02:28
	sought testimony against Jesus but they found none,	1:02:30
	for many bore false witness against him,	1:02:34
	their witness did not agree.	1:02:37
	Some stood up and bore false witness saying,	1:02:38
	'We heard him say I will destroy this temple that is made	1:02:41
	with hands and in three days I will build another.'	1:02:43
	yet not even so did their testimony agree	1:02:47
	and the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus,	1:02:49
	'Have you no answer to make, what is it	1:02:53
	that these men testify against you?'	1:02:55
	But he was silent and made no answer.	1:02:58
	Again the high priests ask him,	1:03:01
	'Are you the Christ, the son of the blessed?'	1:03:02
	Jesus said, 'I am and you will see the son of man	1:03:06
	seated at the right hand of power	1:03:10
	coming with clouds of heaven.'	1:03:12
	And the high priest tore his garments and said,	1:03:14
	'Why do we still need witnesses,	1:03:16
	you heard his blasphemy, what is your decision?'	1:03:17
	And they all condemned him as deserving death.	1:03:21
	Some began to spit on him and to cover his face	1:03:24
	and to strike him saying, 'Prophesy!'	1:03:26
	and the guards received him with blows."	1:03:28
-	"And as Peter was below in the courtyard	1:03:32
	one of the mage of the high priest came	1:03:34
	and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him	1:03:38
	and said, 'You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.'	1:03:41
	But he denied it saying, 'I neither know	1:03:45
	nor understand what you mean.'	1:03:48
	and he went out into the gateway	1:03:51
	and the mage saw him and began again to say	1:03:53
	to the bystanders, 'This man is one of them.'	1:03:56
	but again he denied it.	1:04:00
	And after a little while, again,	1:04:02
	the bystander said to Peter,	1:04:03
	'Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.'	1:04:05
	but he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear,	1:04:10
	'I do not know this man of whom you speak.'	1:04:14
	and immediately the cock crowed a second time.	1:04:17
	And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him	1:04:21
	'Before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times.'	1:04:24
	and he broke down and wept.	1:04:30
	And as soon as it was morning the chief priest	1:04:33
	with the elders and scribes and the whole council	1:04:36
	held a consultation and they bound Jesus	1:04:38
	and led him away and delivered him to Pilate	1:04:41
	and Pilate asked him, 'Are you the king of the Jews?'	1:04:44
	and he answered him, 'You have said so.'	1:04:49
	and the chief priest accused him of many things.	1:04:52
	And Pilate again asked him, 'Have you no answer to make?	1:04:55
	See how many charges they bring against you.'	1:04:59
	But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate wondered.	1:05:03
-	"Now at the feast he used to release for one of them	1:05:08
	one prisoner of whom they asked.	1:05:11
	And among the rebels in prison who had committed murder	1:05:13
	in the insurrection was a man called Barabbas.	1:05:17
	The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do	1:05:20
	as he was want to do for them and he answered,	1:05:22
	'Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?'	1:05:25
	For he perceived it was out of envy	1:05:29
	the chief priest delivered him up.	1:05:31
	The chief priest stirred up the crowd	1:05:33
	to have him release to them Barabbas instead.	1:05:35
	Pilate again said, 'Then what shall I do	1:05:38
	with the man whom you call king of the Jews?'	1:05:41
	and they cried out again, 'Crucify him!'	1:05:44
	and Pilate said to them, 'Why, what evil has he done?'	1:05:46
	but they shouted all the more, 'Crucify him!'	1:05:50
	So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd	1:05:54
	released for them Barabbas and having scourged Jesus	1:05:56
	he delivered him to be crucified	1:06:00
	and the soldiers led him away inside the palace	1:06:03
	and they called together the whole battalion.	1:06:06
	They clothed him in a purple cloak	1:06:09
	and planting a crown of thorns they put it on him	1:06:11
	and they began to solute him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'	1:06:15
	and they struck his head with a read and spat upon him	1:06:18
	and they knelt down in homage to him,	1:06:20
	and when they had mocked him they stripped him of	1:06:22
	the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him	1:06:24
	and they led him out to crucify him.	1:06:28
-	"And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene,	1:06:31
	who was coming in from the country,	1:06:34
	the father of Alexander, and Rufus to carry his cross.	1:06:36
	And they brought him to the place called Golgotha.	1:06:41
	And they often him wine mingled with myrrh	1:06:44
	but he did not take it and they crucified him	1:06:47
	and divided his garments among them	1:06:50
	casting lots for them to decided what each should take.	1:06:53
	And it was the third hour when they crucified him	1:06:57
	and the inscription of the charge against him read,	1:07:00
	'The King of the Jews.'	1:07:03
	And with him they crucified two robbers,	1:07:05
	one on his right and one on his left	1:07:08
	and those who passed by derided him,	1:07:11
	wagging heads and saying, 'Aha, you who would	1:07:13
	destroy the temple and build it in three days,	1:07:17
	save yourself and come down from the cross.'	1:07:19
	So also, the chief priest mocked him to one another	1:07:23
	with the scribe saying, 'He saved others,	1:07:26
	he cannot save himself, let the Christ,	1:07:29
	the king of Israel come down now	1:07:31
	from the cross that we may see and believe.'	1:07:33
	Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.	1:07:38
-	"And when the sixth hour had come	1:07:43
	there was darkness over the whole land	1:07:44
	until the ninth hour and at the ninth hour	1:07:46
	Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli,	1:07:49
	lema sabachthani?' Which means,	1:07:51
	My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?	1:07:54
	And some of the bystanders hearing it said,	1:07:58
	'Behold, he's calling Elijah.'	1:08:00
	and one ran and filling a sponge full of vinegar,	1:08:03
	put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink saying,	1:08:06
	'Wait, let us see whether Elijah	1:08:09
	will come down and take him.'	1:08:11
	and Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.	1:08:14
	And the curtain of the temple was torn in two	1:08:19
	from top to bottom and when the Centurion	1:08:21
	who stood facing him saw that he thus breathed his last	1:08:24
	he said, 'Truly, this man was the son of God, amen.'"	1:08:27
	(organ playing)	1:08:38

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "A Violent Week" (March 27, 1988)

Description:

Sermon start time: 18:05. Sermon end time: 40:50.
The preacher introduces the development of the theory of non-violence throughout Christian history, arguing that Jesus models and teaches non-violence, and so should his disciples. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “When it gets dark, you can’t tell the difference between Caesar’s people and Jesus’ people. They both have swords; they both participate in the powers of darkness.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4w95134t

Date:

March 27, 1988

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Biblical Book:

Mark

Chapter and Verse:

Mark 14:1-15:47

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0076
ref8460_hei
uachapelsermaud
duke:321635
dcrmv001076
ark:/87924/r4w95134t
5e510092-64cc-4ba4-a580-f9b9d40df63b

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "A Violent Week" (March 27, 1988)

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Duke University Archives