Christian Life

Jesus reaches Jerusalem – which has been his destination since Matthew 16, following the confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi.  As he approaches the city, he is greeted by a crowd who shout in loud acclamation.

Matthew 21:10 – “When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’”

There’s something powerful in the thought that the city was stirred – and Matthew paints a picture of the impact of his coming into the city.  The word that we translate ‘stirred’ is ‘turmoil’ in the RSV.  Both words convey the atmosphere of something about to happen.  It is helpful to look at an original word in the New Testament and this one literally means ‘to rock to and fro’ – or ‘to agitate’ even ‘shaken as by an earthquake’.  Such was the impact of Jesus on the first Palm Sunday.

In the mind of Matthew, there may well have been a deliberate contrast being made between the sympathetic crowd and the ripple of alarm that was running through the city.

The Jews had been perturbed by Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem once before.  It happens in relation to the visit of the Magi to the young Jesus.  We read, “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” (Matthew 2:3)

Whilst the crowd may welcome him with acclaim, there will be many who feel extremely negative about Jesus coming into the city – and especially the religious authorities.

As Jesus comes into Jerusalem he will confront his enemies.  Whilst the authorities may feel the events will result in their putting an end to Jesus and a victory on their part, the journey to the Cross will lead to ultimate triumph.  It is not inappropriate, therefore, to describe the events of Palm Sunday as a triumphal entry.

We have to be careful with terminology such as ‘triumph’ as it can create thoughts of a loose party atmosphere, rather than Jesus entering into a heated cauldron which was about to boil over.

The palm branches and shouts of praise are pregnant with meaning.  They are reminiscent of what had taken place a century and a half earlier.  In 167 BC Antiochus Epiphanese, the terrorist leader of the day, precipitated a full scale revolt and, having forbidden Judaism on pain of death, he set up, right at the heart of the Jewish Temple, an altar to Zeus and sacrificed a pig on it!  It is hard to imagine a greater insult to the Jews.

The occasion was followed by twenty years of battle and then a great celebration took place which is described in First Maccabees – “On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the 171st year, the Jews entered Jerusalem with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.”

My title ‘Confronting the Enemies’ can appear provocative but, when you examine the impact of those palms, the participants and observers alike would recall the deep emotion of the earlier entry into the city.

The nature of the confrontation – v.v. 1, 7 and 9

We cannot avoid asking why it was that Jesus went to Jerusalem.  Some people have tried to understand this as Jesus making an appeal to the nation and calling for people to follow his way.  Others talk about him confronting the leaders of the nation with the claims of the kingdom.

All of these interpretations fall short of the real meaning of the occasion, which is to continue his ministry and to take the power of his way of peace right into the territory of those who would oppose him.

What we are presented with will inevitably move towards the climax which will be the Cross.  As you read the account, you cannot help but notice that it is written with a degree of objectivity, but it is not devoid of urgency.

Jesus is at pains to show that he led no movement of fanatical nationalism – nor did he come to instigate an armed revolt, even if some might have come to the mistaken assumption from the nature of his entrance.  He has chosen another way – and the quotation from Zechariah 9:9, which is only found in this gospel, is full of insight –

“Say to your Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
  gentle and riding on a donkey,
  and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
                                           (v.5 and Zechariah 9:9)

There is a certain inevitability as Jesus moves towards his Cross.  Michael Green prefers to call the event, “The King comes in judgement to his capital”.

The road from Jericho runs into Jerusalem from the east and Bethphage was a kilometre and a half from the city wall. 

In the nature of the confrontation as Jesus meets his enemies in Jerusalem we find:-

• A clear declaration is being made

In the most unexpected way, Jesus enters the city – but what happens cannot be avoided by all who are present.  He acts out the principle of humble service which he has just enunciated in the preceding chapter as he points out to the mother of James and John the nature of the kingdom and shows compassion to blind men who receive sight.

John Proctor says, “The spreading of garments and branches is a real celebrity welcome.”  Here in Australia we have just finished the latest of those dreadful television programs “I’m a Celebrity – Get me Out of Here!”  They are filmed in Queensland and sold all over the world.  Popular stars of screen and sport find themselves confronted with snakes, cockroaches and so on.  The title of this program is the exact opposite of what is happening with One who is treated as a celebrity coming into the city of Jerusalem.

Jesus has no intention of seeking escape from a journey that is at the heart of his reason for living in this world.  N T Wright talks about being ‘happy to accept that Jesus knew’ the scriptural passages that surrounded this event and ‘intended to evoke and/or act them out.’

Harry Emerson Fosdick, of a past generation, argued that “Palm Sunday dramatized in unforgettable fashion the impossibility of neutrality on great issues.”  He went on to say, “A disturbing nuisance Jesus was, coming thus to Jerusalem, and there is no use trying to keep ourselves out of that picture.  Human nature being what it is, Christ is disturbing … Would not life be easier if he had never come, so to challenge us with his demands?”

Harry Hart Milman captures the mood in the wonderful words of the Palm Sunday hymn:

Ride on, ride on in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die:
    O Christ, thy triumphs now begin
    O’er captive death and conquered sin.

• The unashamed authority of Christ is displayed

When Simon Maccabeus was greeted with “palms and psalms” it was to recognise that he had driven out a foreign force … and he went on to cleanse the city ceremonially to make it fit for worship again.

As Jesus enters the city, he too has a purpose of making the Temple fit for worship – and that is why it is highly appropriate that Matthew should have what we call ‘The Cleansing of the Temple’ following on immediately from this passage.

• Words and actions come together as he enters the city.
  
• Words and actions come together as he turns out the money changers from the Temple.
  
• Together they speak of humility and authority.

What we have is a new kind of king entering into his city – for Jesus brings a freedom that is far superior to anything that military action could bring.

• The response is immediate.
  
• The response may be fickle.
  
• The response matters less than the declaration being made.

The dangers that surround the confrontation - v.v. 8, 10 and 11

George Buttrick suggests that there are three main interpretations of the account of the entry into Jerusalem:

• Jesus intended it as a messianic proclamation: at first he had hidden his messiahship, then his disciples were pledged to secrecy concerning it, but now he openly declares who he is.
  
• There is the view which suggests that, despite Jesus’ request, his followers proclaimed his messiahship in a mingling of spiritual and earthy hopes.
  
• The procession may have come to the feast of Tabernacles and got caught up with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

Many people in the crowd would find it difficult to really understand everything that was happening – and when the people echoed the words of Psalm 118:25-26, it is difficult to know if they really perceived what it meant –

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
  Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

There is no doubt that there is a plurality in the description of the donkeys.  It is hard enough to have one donkey in a procession, as we know from the Opera House journey! – but there are clearly two donkeys.  A lot of people make extraordinarily heavy weather of 21:7, “They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.”  Because only one donkey is mentioned in the other accounts, some people have made out that Matthew has got it wrong. 

Michael Green explains the situation very clearly by replying to scholars who had the crass stupidity to think Matthew is confused:  “Matthew knew his Hebrew a lot better than the said scholars, and that it makes excellent sense to bring the mother along if you are going to seat your leader on a colt that had never been broken in.  The ‘upon them’ refers, of course, to its immediate antecedent in the Greek, ie the clothes which people were, with nationalistic fervour, throwing on to the colt.”

• For the disciples it is dangerous

This point is particularly significant when one considers that within a week the same disciples would be hiding … and, in some cases, seeking to deny even knowing Jesus. 
As they entered the city, they were exposing themselves to all the possibility of being identified by the religious authorities.

We shall inevitably focus in the coming days on the isolation and pain of Holy Week, but it is right to acknowledge that the disciples did make their journey with Jesus into the Holy City – fully exposed as being with him to all who were observing.

Eduard Schweizer reminds us that “the jubilant crowd accompanying Jesus does not get beyond the testimony that he is a prophet.”  Whether disciples did or did not will be decided in the most cruel and dramatic of events that will open up in the week that changed the world!

• For those who oppose him it is dangerous

We often don’t make this point – but those who were opposed to Jesus are coming into the open and putting themselves at risk.  With such a crowd in the city they could be precipitating an unhappy climax which would be difficult to control.
 
In the days that follow, it will not be the reason, the logic, the good sense, or any reasoned-out case that will carry the day.  The entire city seemed to fall under the terrible spell of hysteria, which even those who oppose him may have lived to regret.  For this reason, we always need to be careful about the causes to which we lend our voice – otherwise we may become a clarion voice for injustice.

• For Jesus himself it is dangerous

It is helpful to compare the different gospels, when opening an account in the ministry of Jesus.  This is particularly relevant in this passage.  The timing of it presents numerous issues.  In John’s gospel we have Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem at the outset of his ministry, whereas in the Synoptics it comes at the end and contributes to his death.

It seems to me that the Synoptics locate it correctly and that John is using it particularly to highlight what the ministry of Jesus was coming to do.

• All arrogance, racial animosity and class pride were done away with.
  
• It is a journey that will bring liberty, emancipation and power through the doorway of humility.
  
• The kingdom of God will be brought near.

The result of the confrontation – v.v. 10 and 11

This confrontation will ever head up Holy Week and make the way open to all who will follow … suffering, denial and rejection included.  We are bound to understand these events in the light of resurrection, but we do well to ponder on them by entering into the drama.

• The question that searches the heart, mind and spirit

The question “Who is this?” is raised as he enters the city, as the commotion gives way to the most fundamental and important of all enquiries.  Many believed that he was, or perhaps more accurately, ought to be an armed Messiah. 

Buttrick writes, “They would be ‘free’ they thought, if only someone would throw off the Roman yoke.”  In every war people have looked for victory to bring this miracle – and victory has always failed them.  Some believed him an impostor and a trouble breeder.  That view persists:  there are leaders who, whatever lip service they pay to Christ, would think it worse than unfortunate if many people should take him too seriously.  Some believed him a prophet.  This view has always been popular:  Jesus is a good man and a great teacher … but he is not Saviour.  Buttrick points out, “In the crowd on that first Palm Sunday were represented all the half-beliefs about Christ that mark our own day.”

• The answer that makes sense of all that will follow

We turn to the Johannine account of the first Palm Sunday to get a helpful insight into how we are to make sense of the events of the day.  John writes, “At first his disciples did not understand all this.  Only after Jesus was glorified did they realise that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.” (John 12:16)

This is a clear message from Jesus, as he enters Jerusalem and conveys the sense of God’s judgement upon the hollow worship of the Temple. 

Prof. Walter Wink of Auburn Seminary, New York, wrote a powerful article “The Myth of Redemptive Violence”, in which he argues it is the world’s contention that violence saves, that war brings peace and that might makes right. 

He writes:
"This Myth of Redemptive Violence is the real myth of the modern world. It, and not Judaism or Christianity or Islam, is the dominant religion in our society today. When my children were small, we let them log an unconscionable amount of television, and I became fascinated with the mythic structure of cartoons...I began to examine [their] structure, and found the same pattern repeated endlessly: an indestructible hero is doggedly opposed to an irreformable and equally indestructible villain. Nothing can kill the hero, though for the first three quarters of the comic strip or TV show he (rarely she) suffers grievously and appears hopelessly doomed, until miraculously, the hero breaks free, vanquishes the villain, and restores order until the next episode. Nothing finally destroys the villain or prevents his or her reappearance, whether the villain is soundly trounced, jailed, drowned, or shot into outer space.”

Many of our cartoons are full of violence.  Fewer cartoons have run longer or been more influential for young people than Popeye and Bluto.  Imagine the scene – Bluto abducts a screaming and kicking Olive Oyl, Popeye’s girlfriend.  Popeye attempts to rescue her and the gigantic Bluto beats his opponent to a pulp, while Olive Oyl helplessly wrings her hands.  At the last moment, as our hero oozes to the floor, a can of spinach pops from his pocket and spills into his mouth – and the rest is history.  The format never changes, but neither party gains any insights which makes Bluto to treat Olive Oyl better … and Popeye always waits until the last minute to eat his spinach!

The Christian understanding of living in a violent and uncompromising world is that we might find a new way of peace and hope.  It is this which will enable us to ‘Unlock the Power of Easter”.  I am confident of the fact that such a message is still the most wonderful news of all.

What we have on the first Palm Sunday is not a story that makes no difference, but rather an entry into a city which will change things for ever.  Jesus will confront the power of darkness; he takes the battle into enemy territory and will, through the way of humility and with the suffering of the Cross, blaze a path of victory.

Jurgen Moltmann described the Cross as “not a simple chapter in theology, but the key signature of all Christian theology.”

Getting the right vantage point can make all the difference when you are watching an event.  I recall one such occasion when I was with some friends, who happened to live at a very strategic address … and I had an entirely different view of a very significant event.

We have the vantage point of Palm Sunday, as we see this procession coming into the city.  What do we make of those who make their way down into the Kidron Valley and up into Jerusalem?  Our answer is helped by the fact that we have another vantage point … as we see a lonely cross emerge on the hillside … for what Jesus Christ is to do will be the saving news for all the world!