[AI translation] It is an inspiring and yet very sad story of a flower Sunday. It is like any mass demonstration: impressive, captivating, terrifying. But when you get to the bottom of it, you are left with a bitter aftertaste. It is good for the soul to see the people thronging the streets of Jerusalem, their faces flushed, the great gestures of reverence as they throw their outer garments into the dust of the street, the flowers and palm leaves at the feet of Jesus. We feel with some inner satisfaction that Jesus is now at last receiving the respect from the great crowd that He deserves. Behold, they receive him as King! This is the highlight of the scene. But there is also a very dark shadow side. It was a salamander, and in a few days the mood of the crowd could be turned to the opposite extreme by clever propaganda.Anyone who knows a little about the psychology of the masses will not be surprised, and this is still the case with every wind shift. A reed-backed man, or even a reed, always leans whichever way the wind blows. It is far worse if it leans neither this way nor that way, and not with a firm conviction. The crowd today is like the crowd on Palm Sunday. It does not even know why it is really enthusiastic, but it is enthusiastic because everyone is. It is carried away by the wave of enthusiasm. He doesn't know exactly why he's dowsing, but he's dowsing because he's being dowsed. In the same way, on Good Friday, he can't even consciously give himself an account of why he is raging, but he rages and curses! It is a very beautiful and uplifting scene on Palm Sunday, but it is not sincere, it is not convincing, it is not trustworthy. It would be very nice if it were true, but unfortunately it is more than a match for the ancient prophetic comment that Jesus quotes in another case: 'This people draws near to me with their mouth and honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me' (Mt 15,8). That's why this big, jubilant, festive mood is sad!
Today, it is feared that it could not even be generally said that this people honours Jesus with their lips. Today, unbelief has even gone so far as to stop honouring the Lord God with their lips, and to proclaim ever more loudly that religion, church, temple, God, is not needed by people today! But this should not shock any of us, it is not a problem. In fact, it is good if the face of the antichrist becomes more and more unmasked, more and more recognisable, so that at least, if he appears without a mask, we know who we are dealing with. The problem is not that those who do not even honour Christ with their lips are becoming bolder and louder, but rather that those who honour the Lord with their lips are only drawing near to Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him! Jesus is not rebuking the unbelievers here, but His believers! He exposes us with this saying, with this sad statement!
Do you feel the sadness in these words, "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me"? Imagine when a man who loves his spouse very much is suddenly forced to realize with sadness that the other is only showing love, forcing affection, devotion, only saying "I love you" with his lips, but feeling that his heart is far from him. They are still bound together by the child, by their dependence on each other, by the ten or twenty years they have spent together, by habit, but what is missing in one part is the wholehearted affection that gives of itself. The other always feels that, although he still gets everything from his spouse, it is not worth much, that their marriage has somehow become an illusory thing. It is not real, not honest, not convincing, not trustworthy, not really from the heart. Or, for example, the name-day of a chief of an office is celebrated by the officials under him: there is a festive atmosphere, nice toasts are made, everyone cheers, smiles, wishes well, but you can feel that behind the nice words there is no heart. The words are just words, there is no warmth behind them, it is just a matter of necessity, because it is the right thing to do, or because it is the right thing to do! The whole celebration has a bitter aftertaste! In this way, imagine the pain of Jesus when he is forced to make this statement: 'This people comes to me with their mouth, and honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me'!
Yet it is feared that Jesus is making this sad statement precisely for us Hungarian Christians today. But is this really so? Let me shed some light on it with an example! A few months ago, the following happened in a village. One day a strange car stopped in front of the priest's house. The news spread like wildfire in the village that "they were taking our priest"! "Well, somebody try that!" said the young men, and armed with hoes and pitchforks, they surrounded the waiting car in a threatening manner, determined that if they wanted to take the priest away, they would tear the car to pieces, but they would not let their priest be harmed. Eventually, it turned out that a friend of the priest's from Pest had stopped by for a short visit while passing through, and the youths dispersed, calming down. It was impressive to see the self-esteem that had been kindled in the youth, but sad that they continued to be as unchurched as before.
Are you beginning to understand what it means that "this people draw near to me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips; but their heart is far from me"? It is generally with a feeling of well-being that we note the murmurings, protests, opposition, demonstrations, here and there, at the news of the plan for optional religious instruction. There is also a need for the public, which has not been consulted, to express its wishes on this important issue. Let us just be careful not to conclude that there is nothing wrong here, that the Hungarian masses are so attached to their faith that they are now finding out how much they love their religion. No matter how important it is for public opinion to speak out, to be inspired on this issue, and no matter how much success it may achieve in the legislative process, in earthly terms, from the point of view of eternity, it will remain a fleeting flower-sunday enthusiasm if parents, children and teachers of the faith do not take religious education and the lessons learned there much more seriously and responsibly than they have done so far.
Although it is true that the attack on Christianity from outside often shakes up the indifferent, and turns even those who never go to church towards the church, and thus necessarily only benefits the church, the cold sympathy in the souls of the masses is not a sign of adherence to Christ, but of adherence to religious tradition. It is not the dormant faith that is awakened in them, but defiance, the "just because" or "just because" spirit, it is not so much the heart that speaks, but rather the mind and the mouth! Even if there is today, as there undoubtedly is today, an increased turning to the Church, and however welcome this phenomenon may be, it is all the more true of Jesus' statement: 'This people draws near to me with their mouth, and honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me'. For why do many people turn to the church? It is not because they are oppressed by their sins and seek forgiveness at the cross of Christ. Not to settle the affairs of their salvation in the hereafter, but because they expect the church, as the depository of morality, to do something, to make its voice heard, to intervene in earthly affairs, to do justice! The crowds on Palm Sunday were also enthusiastic about Jesus because they expected Him to change the political situation, which was then in a sorry state. Because the people were disappointed in Jesus because He had not come for that, it was easy to turn the mood of the crowd against Him a few days later. That is why it is so deceptive when a people honour Jesus with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. If only it were not so with us! Would that all the movements to which circumstances shake us out of our apathetic indifference were true, heartfelt turns to Christ! But is it?
What about your heart, for example? You worship Jesus with your lips. You sang with me just now, 'We are not our own, but the blood of Jesus is our own. Our body and soul belong to God, to honor Him." When you sang that, did your heart leap for joy, that for you too the blood of Jesus was the reward? That you were using your body as God's own, to honour Him? Put your hand on your heart and say honestly: is that heart Christ's? If not, why did you sing? Is it just because others sang alongside you? Because when you come to church, it is customary to sing, it has been the custom here for centuries? Such a full church is so beautiful, and so uplifting when the hymn "I lift up my heart to you" is sung! It would have been so beautiful if it had been true - just as the scene on Palm Sunday would have been so uplifting if it had been true! As beautiful as it is to honour the Lord Jesus with one's mouth, so sad is it to have one's heart far from Him!
Do you know where Jesus is best approached, and where God's nearness is best experienced? Not in a great peril from which He delivers, not in a great sickness from which He heals, not in a protest meeting where there are lessons of faith - but at Calvary alone! Only the heart of one who has gone so close to the cross of Christ that a few drops of the holy blood have fallen on his heart, have been sucked into the centre of his life, have marked and sealed his whole life forever, is not far from the Lord. He who does not love Jesus because he owes the forgiveness of his sins to Him, has been able to begin a new life through Him, and looks for the assurance of happiness after death in Him, cannot love the Lord with all his heart, and his heart is indeed still far from Christ the Saviour!
The road leads from Palm Sunday to Good Friday. Would that we too could go from the spirit of Palm Sunday to the soul-transforming experience of Good Friday, and that the reverence for Christ that will be on our lips would penetrate the very depths of our hearts at the foot of the cross of Christ! By God's grace, this can happen to you now, if you want it and ask with an open heart!
Amen
Date: 30 April 1947, Palm Sunday.
Lesson
Mt 21,1-11