Behold, Your King! – March 28, 2021, Palm Sunday
Zechariah 9:9-10, Luke 19:28-48
March 28, 2021, Palm Sunday
Today is Palm Sunday. It is the celebration of that day, more than 2,000 years ago, when Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, which began the series of events we now know as Holy Week.
As we think about this today, I hope we can get a sense of how big an event this was! You may recall how there came a point in Jesus’ ministry when “He set his face to go to Jerusalem.” He had been preaching in cities and towns all over the region, but to go to Jerusalem was the culmination of all of that. Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish religious life and culture. And to go there was the culmination – the vortex – of all the controversy and tension between Jesus and those who were opposed to him.
You also may recall how Jesus’ disciples warned him not to go to there! In John’s Gospel, when Jesus said he was going to Bethany, which was near Jerusalem, to help Lazarus, Peter warned him not to go. And then, when Jesus seemed determined, he boldly, if not sarcastically said, “Let us all go, that we may die with him!”
Jesus knew that going to Jerusalem was imperative. It was his destiny, if you will. And as I think about it, I wonder if his disciples would have preferred that he go quietly into the city. If he had to go, couldn’t he go incognito? Perhaps that would have diffused, or at least avoided, some of the tension. The way he did enter the city was anything but discreet. I suppose in a way, it kept Jesus safe – for the moment. Because the religious leaders wouldn’t do anything when there were crowds around. But, in the end, it only made things worse with them!
As you know, I always like you to see the larger context of these stories, and see how they flow. And if you read this whole chapter, you would find Jesus going first to Jericho. And there he has his famous encounter with the hated tax collector named Zacchaeus. You know that story. After being with Jesus, Zacchaeus turned his life around! He pledged to give half of his money to the poor and to refund all the people he had defrauded four times the amount he had taken.
Then, as the people heard these things, Jesus told them what we now call “The Parable of the Talents.” And I like the lead in to this. In verse 11, Luke says, “As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.”
That was the reason he told them that parable. The parable even starts, “And he said therefore,” meaning that he told the parable “therefore” – because of what they were thinking. Do you see? Because they were hoping he was about to become king, he told them this story about the master who gave responsibilities to his servants, and then went away. Was he trying to tell them that he was about to be that master and go away, and they had better take responsibility?
That’s the lead in to this Palm Sunday event. And notice that, even after saying that and telling them this parable, he still enters Jerusalem like a king. Which is what they wanted. That’s so ironic! The irony is dripping from this story!
There, before their eyes, they saw what the prophet Zechariah had said 500 years before. “Behold, your king comes to you, triumphant and victorious.” I’m sure they would have remembered Zechariah’s words that day. I don’t think that was an obscure passage to them! I think they knew certain passages that said things that were important to them, just like we remember parts of the Bible that are meaningful to us.
I think that was obvious that day. And I’m also sure that they remembered stories of the Maccabean revolt, the time a hundred years or so before, when Judas Maccabees rode into Jerusalem victorious over the Seleucid empire of Antiochus IV. (There’ll be a quiz next period!) And on that day the people also waved palms and shouted “Hosanna!” Those elements of the Palm Sunday story were not arbitrary. They were re-enacting that victorious scene from before!
But I’m not sure they understood it this time. As I said, they would have known Zechariah’s words. But it doesn’t seem like they understood his meaning. Because the king would come riding, he said, but on a donkey, even the colt of a donkey. Those words jumped off the screen at me this week! This was very young donkey. When Jesus tells the men to go get it, he says that it was a donkey that “no one has ever sat on before.” I’ve been wondering this week how young and how small it really was?
Sometimes people emphasize here the “miracle” of Jesus “taming” a yet untamed donkey. But I’m thinking now that this was more a matter of him riding one so small. I even had mental pictures of those circus performers who would ride very tiny bicycles! Maybe you’ve seen that before. And I wonder, in this picture, if this grown man on this small donkey would have seemed somehow out of proportion. Would it have even seemed a bit bizarre somehow? And yet intentional!
And what did riding such a young donkey mean? The tradition was that when “a king comes to you triumphant and victorious,” as Zechariah begins, he would come riding a war horse! That was the difference in this scene from the time of Judas Maccabees. Judas rode a war horse into Jerusalem that day!
But, the tradition was also that a king would ride a donkey. But he would do so when he was entering a city with the desire to make peace. And this king was not only riding a donkey, but the colt of a donkey! Zechariah was saying that in his prophecy, and maybe the people were aware of that. But their words and actions were inconsistent with that. They were hailing Jesus as the victorious king! Such was their desire that “the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.”
This scene was his answer to those thoughts. It was his answer to them thinking the kingdom of God was about to happen. It is a paradoxical picture of Jesus who was indeed a king that was coming to them, but not in the way they expected, and not for the purpose they wanted. And instead of entering the city and turning towards the place of Roman power, he turned instead toward the Temple. And you know what happened there.
And the great irony here is that this was good and proper that he was hailed as king. We know that about him. That was his destiny! Indeed, as Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke’s account, “If these people were silent, the very stones would cry out!”
But it’s also an example of people wanting God to do what they wanted God to do, despite what he might be showing them. It’s been said that even Judas may have been doing the same thing in betraying Jesus. He was forcing Jesus’ hand. He was hoping to incite the revolution everyone wanted. He was trying to make him do what he wanted him to do.
Do we ever fall into that trap? Do we ever try to force God’s hand, to hold him to agreements, so we can be in control? Do we ever have a problem with saying “Thy will be done?” You say it every week! I’ve heard you! Sometimes people want to be in control. They dwell on Jesus’ words, “Ask anything in my name, and you shall have it.” That appeals to them. You know, ask the right way, use the right “formula” and God will give you whatever you want.
I’m a little uneasy about that. Because prayer is not ultimately about us being in charge. And I know God wants us to ask. He wants us to pour our hearts out before him. But in the end it’s God who is sovereign, not us. “In everything,” Paul said, “with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.” And what do you get? “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” That’s the most important thing we get when we bring our requests before God!
The King came riding into Jerusalem that day, triumphant and victorious. But what that meant was lost on the people. And the irony was enough to make Jesus weep. “Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace. But now they are hid from your eyes.” And then he went on to describe the destruction of Jerusalem that would happen several decades later, when they really did start the revolution they wanted that day. “All because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
So, what about us? Do we know that time of visitation? Do we understand “the things that make for peace?” Do we understand what Jesus was so desperately trying to tell the people of his day, that his kingdom is so much more than just one country, in one brief time in history? And is it not amazing to us, that here we are 2,000 years later, and we still celebrate Jesus coming into the Holy City, still recognizing the importance that story, and the stories that would unfold that week, would have on our lives?
Think about that this week, as you think about the further events of that first Holy Week so long ago. Know that they, too, are part of your story!
Prayer
Eternal God, as we see the story of Holy Week played out once again, we are in awe of your great love for the world and for us. Help us to know beyond doubt, that we are part of this story too, and that your kingdom has indeed come among us! And so may we see your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. For these things we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.