Gospel Reading from Liturgy of the Palms: Matthew 21:1-11
The Rev. Fleming Rutledge refers to Palm Sunday as “the Trojan horse of the Christian year.” As she writes, “We get lured in by the festivity, but before we know it we are being assaulted by the long dramatic reading of the Passion.”[1] It’s certainly a very apt comparison. Think first of where we started this morning and then where we found ourselves just before I started speaking. In very short order we’ve moved from “Hosanna to the Son of David!” to “Let him be crucified!”
In the span of just a few minutes we’ve experienced an abbreviated version of the Holy Week journey, or at least the journey to a point. The end – or rather the beginning – is still to come. While we know what’s on the horizon, however, those walking through those days with Jesus 2,000 years ago had no idea what would happen from one day to the next, or indeed one moment to the next. That’s why it’s important that we look at these days not through our eyes, but through the eyes of those alongside Jesus – and to do that, we must be willing to experience every event.
To do so takes commitment, yes, but it also requires an emotional and intellectual willingness to travel through the darkness of the week before getting to the sunrise of Easter. Admittedly no one wants to consider the painful parts of the days ahead, but on the flip side we must be prepared for the joy as well. As I’ve said, if you experience it as if it’s for the first time – if you come to each service as if it’s the first time you’ve experienced the events of Maundy Thursday or Good Friday – you’ll align yourselves with those who didn’t yet know what was coming.
That’s why I encourage you to take today simply as the day of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, and nothing more. Take the reading from Matthew used in the Liturgy of the Palms as the moment to witness a significant and intentional – some even use the word choreographed – pronouncement by Jesus. What’s being proclaimed? In the words of Craig Keener, “Jesus was announcing that he was indeed a king, but not a warrior-king. Jesus was the meek one, who came to serve rather than be served.”[2] It’s not simply a matter of Jesus or those in the crowd saying he’s a king. He’s taken deliberate steps to show it, and in a way that fulfills Old Testament scripture.
At the outset, though, with whom does this proclamation resonate? In the boundaries of this passage we find two groups identified: “the crowd” and “the whole city.” Looking closely, we see that it’s not in fact the residents of Jerusalem celebrating Jesus’ arrival; it’s only the crowds traveling with him. Those in the city don’t know what to make of this; they’re “in turmoil,” as we read. At this point, is there any resonance at all? Those with him already know who he is; those in the city haven’t yet figured it out.
That’s what this week is for: to discover anew those moments of resonance and recognition. It’s our time to once again try and figure it out.
You’ve heard me talk in the past about the full narrative arc for this week (and yes, you’ll likely hear me talk about it many more times in the future). As we enter the arc how does this proclamation of Jesus as king resonate with us – a king who enters a city in triumph, is condemned as common criminal, dies on a cross in humiliation, and rises again in glory?
As you think about what Jesus as king means to you, I encourage you not to look to the end of the story … yet. Look only at the here and now, the today that’s the beginning of Holy Week. Each day presents us with opportunities to reflect on the events of that day and that day alone. I pray you will take advantage of each of these opportunities. For now, consider what Jesus entering the city means for you. Consider that he is the king who has come to Jerusalem not as one seeking to rule, but as one living to serve. Lastly, consider the political statement he made – the political statement he makes still – to those in positions of authority.
Before you begin to shift uncomfortably in your seats, though, it’s not a political statement in that sense. Instead, the political statement is found in the symbolism of the journey made by Jesus and his followers from the outskirts of Jerusalem into the city. In a procession that contains elements of other imperial parades of the time, Jesus is making a statement that sets him in direct opposition to the ruling elites and Roman occupiers.
Yes, it’s a statement that truly was – and is – political. “The Jesus who enters Jerusalem,” in the words of James Duke, “was and always is a challenge to this world’s powers and principalities.”[3] And the events we recall today are only the beginning of that challenge; the greater challenge – the greater victory – grows out of the days ahead. I pray you’ll make each stop on the journey and learn once more the power of the Holy Week story, and experience for yourselves the challenge and the victory.
Amen.
[1] Fleming Rutledge, “The Tears of Palm Sunday.” The Undoing of Death, p. 5.
[2] Craig S. Keener. A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, p. 493.
[3] James O. Duke, “Matthew 21:1-11 – Theological Perspective.” Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 2, p. 156.