Behold Your King Comes unto You
Matthew 21:1-11
Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday begins what we call “Holy Week.” It was a week of very high drama. The entire gamut of emotion was evidenced, great fear, great suffering, great confusion, great sorrow, and finally, great joy. It joins the week of creation as being one of the two most important weeks in human history. It actually begins with the anointing of Jesus for burial by Mary of Bethany. Even though Matthew does not mention the anointing until later in the week, John clearly locates it on the evening before the triumphal entry. The anointing of Jesus with the expensive spikenard becomes the occasion of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. The reason Matthew locates the event later is because he wants to make the association explicit as the next event he records is Judas going to the high Priest to betray Jesus. We must remember that the Gospels follow a combination of temporal and logical arrangement. So the events are not necessarily in chronological order. John uses the chronological order and shows us the connection of Mary’s anointing to Judas’ betrayal by naming Judas as the one most offended by the act. As the Hebrew day begins at sunset, this anointing initiates the drama that follows. It tells us that Jesus came to Jerusalem to die and not yet to reign.
So when we come to Palm Sunday as it is called, we are informed that there was quite a difference in the expectation of Jesus and that of the people. The people would come expecting a Messiah who would overthrow the Romans and set up the Messianic kingdom. Surely the One who could raise the dead and heal the sick could overthrow the Romans. He could speak the word, and the Romans would fall over dead. Jesus certainly was capable of this. Ironically this is demonstrated in the Garden of Gethsemane as recorded in John’s Gospel. But instead of killing the soldiers when Jesus replied “I AM” they only fell backward. With all the heavy armor on, they would be like turtles on their backs. It would have taken several seconds to get back on their feet, plenty of time for Jesus to have escaped with his disciples into the desert. But Jesus came to Jerusalem to be rejected and put to death, not to kill Romans.
On the morning, Jesus departed from Bethany and joined the crowds on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to Passover. Jesus sent his disciples to get him a donkey to ride on, in particular, a colt that had never been ridden. A colt is terrified to be ridden as it has not yet been broken. Matthew’s gospel adds the detail that they were to take the colt’s mother which might serve to calm the colt. Jesus could, of course, as the donkeys maker have calmed the colt in his own power, but it appears He chose to let the colt’s mother do that. Jesus anticipated the owner would confront the disciples about it, so Jesus reolied that the master needed it. So they let the colt and its mother go.
Matthew says that this was done to fulfill the words of the Prophet. “Behold your king comes to you, humbly, sitting upon a donkey, the foal of a donkey.” Matthew stresses that Jesus’ life was the fulfillment of Scripture even as the other gospels. What we get from this is that Jesus is identifying Himself as the promised King. The Jews clearly understood this claim. But they did not understand the nature of this kingship. Perhaps if they reflected upon the text, that this King did not come upon a regal white horse, but a humble donkey. All they could see was a Messianic King who would overthrow the Romans and set up an everlasting kingdom.
They show their understanding by strawing their garments upon the colt and upon the ground before Jesus. It is also said they cut palm branches off the trees and waving them, hence the name “Palm Sunday.” The palm branch was the symbol of the Hasmonean kingdom which started after the victory of Judas Maccabeus over the Greek forces of Antiochus Epiphanes. This was the last time they were a sovereign nation. Rome absorbed Palestine into their Empire and set a non-Jewish king, Herod, to rule over them. When we add that this was the week of Passover in which Israel celebrated its liberation from Egyptian slavery, we can see a perfect storm of misinterpretation. What Jesus came to do and what the people thought Jesus came to do were completely at odds.
Jesus is escorted into the city with the joyous shouts from the 118th Psalm. “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest! The 118th Psalm is an interesting psalm. It does contain the joyous hosanna. But it also talks about rejection as well. The stone the builders were about to reject was to become the chief cornerstone. Even this psalm testifies to Jesus’ sacrificial death. He was indeed a king, just not the one they expected. Soon they would choose Jesus Barabbas rather than Jesus Christ. He was more the expectation of the people. Barabbas came and started an uprising against Rome and was arrested. It is interesting that Bar Abbas means “Son of the Father.” This title fits Jesus Christ as well, and that rightly.
The people in Jerusalem asked who this man was who was coming to Jerusalem. The crowd answered back that it was Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. The other gospels say that the crwods came out of Jerusalem to meet Jesus and His entourage. There was much joy in the city. The Roman chhort in the Fortress Antonio looked down upon this with alarm. The Jewish leaders also were alarmed. Luke tells us that they went to Jesus and begged Him to silence His followers. Rome did not look kindly to insurrection. If the Jewish leaders lost control of the situation, Rome would come down heavily. They were worried that their Temple would be destroyed and that their privileged position might become death or slavery. They would soon reject Jesus in the vain hope that by doing so, the nation and the city of Jerusalem would be saved. The truth was quite the opposite. Their only hope was in Jesus. By rejecting Jesus, they ended up losing their Temple, their city, and their privilege to the Romans.
When we celebrate Palm Sunday, we think of happy children processing down the aisle to the altar waving palm branches. We have fit songs to sing. It is a great celebration of our King. But sometimes, I am concerned if we don’t miss the message of Palm Sunday. We should remember that between Palm Sunday and Easter is the cross. And between the ascension of Jesus and His return is the very troubled world that we live in. For those who remain faithful to Jesus and believe on Him, the day in which we can truly cry out “Hosanna” will come. But it has not come yet. Our own cross lies before us, the one Jesus says we must carry. The world will reject us even as it did Jesus. The world will misunderstand us and our mission as much as it did our Lord’s. The world only sees power. They cannot accept humility and weakness. They are looking for Barabbas to save them, not Jesus. But in the end, Christianity, after almost 300 years of suffering would triumph over the Caesars. But this is not the final victory either. The mixture of Christ and Rome was lie putting together oil and water. A Christendom of worldly power and splendor is at odds with the humble beast of burden. The theology of glory will come. But now it is the theology of the cross.
So we proclaim Christ not with pompous ceremony but with humble service. We point not to ourselves but to our Lord Jesus. We do not come to overthrow the wicked but to proclaim a Savior who wills that every person believe and be saved. “While we were yet enemies, Christ died for us.” We walk in His footprints with our crosses at tow and not palm branches. The time will come for the palms, but not yet. Jesus had palm branches waved at Him, but by Friday they were beating Him with the palms of their hands. He would be beaten, subject to mock worship and then hung on a most miserable of thrones, a cross. Hosanna means “Lord, save us!” This He has done in His own way, by His own atoning death on a cross. In this way, let us offer our hosannas.
