Parade of Difference

Palm Sunday 2017

That first Palm Sunday – was a raucous time in the city of Jerusalem. It was to be expected. After all, it was the beginning of the Festival of the Passover, when religious pilgrims cause the city’s population of roughly 60,000 to 70,000, to swell by 200,000 or more people, all there to commemorate and celebrate Israel’s defining moment, her liberation from Egypt at the original Passover, almost 1300 years before.

After all, this is the reason that Jesus and his disciples are there as well. They have traveled to Jerusalem, as Jesus has done every year for his entire life, for this religious festival.

Yet this year, on this day, something is different. Jesus enters Jerusalem, his ultimate mission fully on his mind. He knows that the end is coming for his earthly journey; this part of his story is coming to a climax. Jesus enters Jerusalem knowing that this time, he will not leave the city alive. Events have transpired, powers have been placed in motion, that will lead to his passion and death this week--And in eight days’ time, to the defining moment for all of us, his startling resurrection.

In eight days’ time, Jesus will achieve his ultimate victory over powers of evil and death as the stone is rolled away from his tomb and he defies the bonds of both earthly and supernatural power. But for now – the procession.

Being the first day of the Festival, there is not one but instead are three distinct processions that enter Jerusalem that day. These are the parades of contrast that I would like to talk about today.

First, of course, comes Jesus. Jesus enters Jerusalem through the east gate of the city – the gate through which the tradition of the People of Israel has always said the Anointed One, the Messiah, will enter Jerusalem.

Through the east gate Jesus enters the city on the back of a donkey as the people shout, “Hosanna!” which literally means, “save us now”. Then they add, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” This proclamation comes from Psalm 118, a psalm traditionally recited by Jews at two important times each year – it is recited at the Feast of the Tabernacle, and at the Feast of Passover. It recalls the way kings historically were welcomed back to Jerusalem as they returned victorious from wars.

  And as Jesus rode down from the Mount of Olives, the people waved palm branches – indicative of a festal procession, a sign of victory and celebration for Jews and Romans alike.

Palm Sunday 16 by Bernard Plockhorst

But this psalm was also understood to refer to the Messiah, the Anointed One who would come and deliver his people. In using these verses to exclaim their fealty to Jesus that day, the people were in fact hailing Jesus as their king, and declaring this as his royal procession.

At the same time as all this was taking place, on the opposite side of the city, entering the city from the west came Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, coming from Caesarea by the Sea, and bringing with him an entourage of at least 1,000 heavily armed Roman soldiers who would either be riding on horseback or chariot, or walking on foot. This procession was designed as a show of force; it was intended for the sole purpose of reminding the people gathered in the city of who was in control.

Lest any group conspire or think about raising up a rebellion, the message was clear: don’t. Don’t even think about it. You will be crushed. With all the extra people gathered for a festival that marked Jewish release from bondage in Egypt, it seemed like a good time to remind any who might be carried away by the hopeful undertone of the festival of the Passover that Rome was in charge. To drive this point home, it was Pilate’s intention to crucify several rebels on Thursday that week—just in time for the Passover. 

The third procession to enter the city, this time from the north with his own followers and royal soldiers was King Herod Antipas, who ruled over Galilee and Perea to the north and east of Judea. Like Pilate, Herod knew how to use violence to suppress rebellion and to express his power and authority over the people. And as he entered the city, his supporters lined the streets, cheering as he arrived.

There was good reason for any Jerusalemites in power or high status or wealth to support and cheer for this king – they were well aware that he had the power to strip them of everything they had if they displeased him, even to the point of exiling them or executing them if he desired to do so. Currying favor with the king was important to the livelihood of many of the residents of Jerusalem that day.

Three processions, for three distinct purposes. The contrasts between Jesus’ historic Palm Sunday procession and the parades of Pilate and Herod are striking. Pilate and Herod enter on warhorses, not unlike the victorious procession of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. when Jerusalem capitulated to him as he entered the city on his way from Tyre to Egypt during the Macedonian conquest. They are preceded and surrounded by heavily armed companies of soldiers. Their processions epitomize military might and muscle. Against Pilate’s and Herod’s armies, Jesus’ poor and ordinary provisions stand out:

He has no herald at arms; no trumpets sound; no chariots of state precede him into the city; there are no liveries that follow. None in his procession carry weapons – only palms. There are no prancing horses or running horses that would create a distance between Jesus and the people, or force away a needful one who came to appeal to Jesus for help.

Rather, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a quiet ass, the mightiest king coming in the most humble of means.

Two of the three men entering Jerusalem on that Festival Sunday were iron-fisted men known for their cruelty. The third is Jesus, known for his healing and mercy.

Two ride war-horses, while Jesus rides on the back of not just a donkey, but the foal of a donkey.

Two are carrying weapons of war, surrounded by military power, exuding the authority vested in them by the state of Rome; Jesus rides in humility, making his royal claim, with every choice declaring that he is the Anointed One, the Messiah, sent by God, proclaiming God’s love. His weapons are forgiveness, grace and mercy; his authority is divine; it comes from God above.

We can compare and contrast all the differences between these three today, and what we will find is that it all boils down to this: Jesus will give the world what the Herods and Pilates of the world never can – eternal life and peace, and a way forward that leads to justice and joy.

And as the processions enter the city something happens. They don’t cross paths, they don’t engage in a show of force or conflict, in the moment they likely not even aware of the presence of the others. But as Jesus enters Jerusalem even as Pilate and Herod enter the city through opposing gates, the earth shakes.

Quakes are mentioned only three times in this gospel: now, at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, at the time of his crucifixion as our King bows his head and dies, and on Sunday a week hence, when he rises from the tomb, his resurrection illustrating the true power and victory of our Lord and Savior. It is as if the spiritual energies that collide and clash here cannot be contained. Even the earth and the heavens bear witness to the majesty of Jesus and to the ultimate power and authority that are his to command.

As we contemplate the contrasting processions of that first Palm Sunday, we are invited to our own commemoration of the Festival of our Passover, where Jesus serves as the Lamb of God, come to take away the sin of the world. We are invited into a week that changed the world.

We are ushered into the story and remain as bystanders and witnesses when Jesus seals his fate by cleansing the Temple and declaring that God’s house will be a holy house of prayer where all are welcome – Jew and Gentile, insider and outside, rich and poor, outcast and sinner, and where all will be healed by the power of a God so merciful, so gracious and righteous, that he redefines the Passover, redefines salvation itself, blessing us with the gift and reality of everlasting life.

You and I, my friends, are among the multitude of souls who are invited into a week brimming with death and life and life after death for all who believe in God’s power and authority over every element on earth. This is God’s gift to us. This is our reality. This is our story. We are invited to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to receive blessing and absolution for our sins, to be fed and nurtured in the faith, to be cleansed for service in Jesus’ name, and to be witnesses of the great and glorious power of God to save. May we all be blessed to know these truths as we embrace the Passion and Cross of Christ in these days.

I urge you to accept this invitation. Immerse yourself in the greatest story ever to unfold, and all for the sake of humankind, for the sake of the kingdom of God. Then and only then in eight days, will we be ready to embrace and to receive the glory of the resurrected Christ. Amen.