The Triumphal Entry: A Perplexing Day

Sermon for CATM – April 10, 2022 – The Triumphal Entry: A Perplexing Day – Matthew 21:1-10

On Palm Sunday we remember a truly perplexing day. As part of our worship today we’ve sung songs of celebration, some of which perhaps have some of the spirit and energy of what we imagine the triumphal entry to have been like.

And there was energy in the crowd as Jesus entered Jerusalem, a lot of that energy was present in the people because Jesus was a fascinating, though controversial, figure.

His teachings at this point were becoming quite well known. The upside-down values of the Kingdom (the meek shall inherit the earth, love your enemies, the blessedness of the poor for starters); the values of the Kingdom are the radical values of Jesus, and the authority he spoke with and the following that gathered behind Him generated all kinds of energy, not to mention a lot of raised eyebrows.

It was Passover time, & Jews from all over the world were crowding into Jerusalem. Some historians have suggested that there were as many as 2 1/2 million people gathering in Jerusalem for this most important festival, where the faithful from far and wide gathered to celebrate this Passover, this deliverance from slavery in Eygpt.

News had gone out that Jesus was on His way, just passing by the towns of Bethphage & Bethany. So a crowd of people rushed out to meet Him.

There were actually 2 crowds. One crowd was accompanying Jesus as He came from Bethany, & the other was surging out from Jerusalem to meet Him.

The crowds must have flowed together in a surging mass like 2 tides of the sea. Jesus was coming, & as the crowds met Him they received Him like a conquering hero. Perplexing because although that is who Jesus was to be, but of course not at all like anyone imagine. His victory would be over sin, not Rome. His triumph would be over death, not over any political agenda.

The sight of this massive welcome really bothered the religious authorities. They had spent a lot of time talking to Jesus and arguing with him, in an effort to silence him, but it seemed that nothing they did would stop the people from following Jesus.

But who was there, in the crowd, and how did they see Jesus? That’s the thing about a crowd. It’s not just a crowd. It’s made up of individuals with their own interests and their own reasons for being there. Some in the crowds were simply curious sightseers, impartial observers.

They had heard recently of the extraordinary event of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. And they wanted to see something else sensational, too. They were pumped for a miracle.

And there were those who had heard of Jesus’ miracles but never actually encountered Jesus. Let’s pick a name to represent this type of person in the crowd. Let’s call her Junia. Junia knew Jesus by rumour.

She knew Him by reputation. She had showed up a couple of times a few hours after Jesus had done a miracle…perhaps the healing of the blind man, someone she knew to be blind for their whole lives.

There was still a buzz in the streets. People were talking about Jesus and about how wonderful and strange it was to see.

If Junia had asked what had happened, those there might have said, as Mark records in chapter 8: “…Some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" 24 He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." 25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village."

If you were Junia what would you have thought after hearing this testimony? [been amazed, maybe skeptical. She would have wanted to talk to the one who was healed]

So Junia, standing among the crowd welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem, would have been eager to see Him, eager to know more. Perhaps wondering what made Him tick.

Who else was in the crowd? Well, there would have been workers: people who worked the market, labourers, street-cleaners. They would have been there by happy coincidence.

Into a perhaps typical, dreary day there rode an unknown man on a donkey who a whole lot of people were gathered around. Some of these workers would have just gotten caught up in the celebration, party-ers without a clue. Others might have looked down at the cloaks and palms on the ground and groaned at the extra work that was in store for them.