Declare if you know. Declare. Interesting word, “Declare”. It
suggests that when we communicate, there are a variety of
levels at which we can speak. There are different intensities
we can use when we want to say something.
Some folks merely suggest. They offer timid little ideas and
almost apologize for having dared to offer a creative thought.
One person I know offers ideas, but they are so hedged
around with, “Maybe this isn’t necessary” or “You’ve probably
already tried this” that I hardly even notice that it. A
suggestion, a timid little thought.
Other folks go beyond suggestion, and propose. They think
about some issue and come up with a way to make it work.
They call or they write, they offer to partner in making things
happen. They are not so timid that you cannot hear them,
nor are they so strident that you will not hear them. They do
not merely suggest, they propose. May their tribe increase!
They can be heard.
But then there are others who neither suggest nor propose,
but who announce. There are some folks who do not believe
they need to consult with anyone, but who just announce
what they are going to do, take it or leave it, thank you very
much. Sometimes that works. Years ago, in the old Soviet
Union, they thought that everything should be done by
consensus, and so the Moscow Symphony Orchestra
attempted to play without a conductor. The result was a
musical disaster. Sometimes somebody just has to
announce and lead.
But communication styles do not stop there. While there are
some who suggest, timidly; and while there are some who
propose, lifting up ideas for discussion; and while there are
still others who announce what they are going to do, there is
another level yet. There are those who declare. There are
those who with the force of personality, the authority of
office, the dignity of language, and the power of the moment,
declare. That is the most vigorous form of communication.
To declare. “By the power vested in me, I do now declare
that you are husband and wife”. I like doing that! “In the
name of the Lord, I do declare that you are now in full
fellowship with this congregation.” I like doing that too.
Declare! It communicates confidence, boldness, authority.
So Job says to his friends, after listening to their rhetoric,
“Declare! Declare if you know.” If you know.
I
You see, I think Job is aware that just because we say
something, that does not mean that we know anything. Just
because we are loud, that does not mean we know what we
are shouting about. It was said of one politician that he was
in love with the sound of his own voice. He just kept on
talking, whether he was saying anything or not, because it
sounded so good. A South African humorist, Roy Campbell,
described himself that way:
“Of all the clever people round me here
I most delight in me –
Mine is the only voice I care to hear,
And mine the only face I like to see.”
Job felt that his friends just talked to hear themselves talk.
They approached things not with an open mind, but with an
open mouth. Their declarations were empty, because they
really had not experienced what they were telling him. So
Job challenged them. Declare – if you know.
On Palm Sunday, don’t you get the feeling that maybe the
crowd was declaring what they did NOT know? If it is true
that the shouts of “Hosanna” turned in only a few days to the
cries of “Crucify”, then you have to wonder. Is it possible
that all this exuberance, all this energy, is only a front, and
nothing lies behind it? Like Job’s friends, who said what they
said with such emphasis, but who had never really
experienced life the way Job had, with all its pain and loss
and anguish – like Job’s friends, is it possible that now the
crowd, that day in Jerusalem, is just “sound and fury,
signifying nothing”?
II
Declare if you know. It’s worth pausing to admit that
sometimes we declare ourselves precisely because we do
not know. Sometimes we make pronouncements to cover
over the truth that we have no idea what we are talking
about. A seminary friend of mine said that he didn’t prepare
his sermons ahead of time because he didn’t know what he
thought until it came out of his mouth! Imagine declaring,
what you have not reflected on, but you just opened your
mouth and let whatever come out. Don’t laugh. Many of us
do it. Some of the best funeral sermons I’ve preached were
for people I didn’t really know, and so I could be very clear,
since my mind was not cluttered up with the facts!
Job challenges us, though. Declare if you know. Only if you
know. On Palm Sunday, that crowd, shouting “Hosanna”
and “Hallelujah” for someone they scarcely understood –
what will happen to us when we just open our mouths and let
come out whatever comes out, whether we know anything or
not? Several possibilities:
A
Some of us will just shout whatever the going thing is. We
will get caught up in the mood of the moment, and out comes
whatever the crowd is saying. If the crowd around us is for
something, we are for that thing too. If the crowd around us
was for Maryland, then like lemmings we too cheered for
Maryland. I leave it to your imagination how different things
were at my house on Friday night! If the crowd around us
screams, “Heil Hitler”, as they did a generation ago at
Nuremberg, then all too many echoed, “Heil Hitler”. Some
will just declare what is popular at the moment. Unless we
know better. And if Jesus is popular we’ll shout Hosanna.
But if we do not know Him, how long will that last?
B
Some will shout whatever their prejudices are. In the heat of
the moment, if you declare without knowing, you will display
your true colors and will declare nothing but prejudices. A
young man in our congregation told me this week that he has
been searching for a job. There was one employer who
interviewed him three times over the phone, seemed very
excited, called him in to visit – but when they all got together,
faces fell, and the boss said, “You have great credentials,
your experience is wonderful, but your appearance is not
what we wanted.” No further explanation was offered, but,
hey, is there an equal employment opportunity officer in the
house? Some just declare prejudices if they do not know
what is right. I am pretty sure that much of the crowd on that
Palm Sunday hosannaed Jesus as a way of spitting at Pilate.
They cheered Jesus the Jewish king to slap at Caesar the
Roman emperor. Some of us will declare nothing more than
our prejudices, unless we know something better.
C
And some of us, brothers and sisters, declare what we think
about one another, based on fragments of evidence,
hunches and guesses, and we’ll talk about each other
instead of trying to listen to each other and understand each
other. The challenge of Job is right on target for us. Declare
if you know. Declare what you think of your brother if you
know him. Declare how you feel about your sister if you
have taken the time to know her. Anybody can strew palm
branches and shout hosannas; but it is only a short distance
from the gate of the city to the judgement hall. It is only a
small inflection from the shout of “hosanna” to the cry of
“crucify.” If you do not truly know someone, you will slander
them in a heartbeat. Declare what you know.
III
So Job has called his friends’ bluff. Declare if you know.
Over and over again they have said what they have to say.
By the way, have you figured out yet that just because you
say something over and over again, that doesn’t make it
right? The Tennessee legislature, back in the 1920’s, tired
of working with long and awkward numbers, passed a law
declaring the value of pi, if you remember your geometry, to
be an even 3 instead of 3.14159! Well, Tennessee can pass
all the laws it wants, but that cannot change reality! Job
called his noisy friends’ bluff.
"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall
declare to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the
earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its
measurements--surely you know!”
Dripping sarcasm, Job challenges his friends. What do you
really know? Where were you when God made it all
happen? “Surely you know!” But they didn’t. All they knew
to do was to repeat their nostrums, loud and long, and hope
it would stick.
Even hosannas, often repeated, are not the same thing as
knowing Christ. Palm branches, piled high and deep, are not
the same thing as serving Christ personally. The crowd’s
devotion was as thin as ice, and it soon melted away.
Declare if you know, and only if you know. No substitutes
will do.
A
For we substitute noisy religion for knowing Jesus. Job’s
friends were very religious. They had an airtight theology.
But they had never experienced what he was going through.
Their religion was just theory. And the crowd in Jerusalem
had its own theology, its own expectations. But they had
never sensed the heart of Jesus. They knew nothing of His
compassion, they sensed nothing of His desire to suffer for
their sins. It was easy to be boisterously religious; it was not
so easy to know Jesus. Declare if you know; it’s not the
same thing as being religious.
B
Or we substitute activity for knowing Jesus. We talk about
how involved we are in the church. But that’s not the same
thing. I hear frequently about people who used to be Mr. and
Mrs. Everything at somebody’s church, but who got their
feelings hurt and don’t do diddly anymore. I guess it was a
lot easier to sing in the Hosanna choir and to be chair of the
Palm Branch committee than it was to sit and listen to the
very heart of Jesus, wasn’t it? “Busy, busy Baptist, busy as
a bee; filling up the calendar, but what’s inside to see?”. Oh,
don’t waste the effort, don’t squander the time. Declare if
you know; do church only if you know Him.
C
And we even substitute charity for knowing Jesus. We’ll
even put ourselves out for others, and that’s all to the good,
but is it a substitute for knowing Jesus personally? The
crowd lay down their garments in front of Him. They gave
the very clothes off their backs. But what did it get them? It
got them cloaks marked with the footprints of a donkey, but
they ought to have waited for the footprints of Jesus on their
souls. They depended on their acts of charity to save them,
when all along they ought to have confessed that their
righteousness was as filthy rags. Declare if you know; be
sure you know Him, only if you know Him.
But oh, my brothers and sisters, if you do know Him, then
declare His love to friends and neighbors, family and
coworkers. If you do know Him, then declare His compassion
to the lost of this community, declare it to the broken of this
city. If you do know Him, declare Him to this needy nation
and to this wandering world. Declare. Boldly, confidently,
forthrightly. With all the passion at your command. Declare
if you know.
“Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s
praise.” Ah, yes, but sadly the thousand tongues that did
sing on that Palm Sunday, knew not the cost of their
redemption, knew not the heart of their redeemer, knew not
this Jesus. If you know Him, do not ask for a thousand
tongues until you have declared with the one you have, “My
Redeemer! My great Redeemer.” Declare – if you know
Him.
