Old Testament: Isaiah 50:4-9a
New Testament: Philippians 2:5-11
Gospel: Matthew 26:14 - 27:66
or Matthew 27:11-54
Psalm 31:9-16
Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem was a perfect moment of civil disobedience. He entered through the same gate as the victorious generals of the Roman army but instead of a golden chariot with a prancing stallion and marching soldiers he came riding on a donkey led in procession by the poor, the outcast, the unwanted. They cast palm leaves before him because these were available to those who could not buy the flowers that would have lined the path of the Roman leaders. Jesus came as a “man of the people”…. no power to wield… no social status to demand attention. He was the Son of God but his glory was not revealed in power rather in humility and love. He tried to remind the people of God’s desire to be with them… intimately, compassionately, immediately accessible. Immanuel… God with us.
In that moment of Jesus’s grand entry into the City, he embodied all of the desperate hope of those who followed him. They had waited for generations for God’s chosen Deliverer to come and here he was… the means of their liberation from years of oppression. The people projected on Jesus all of their expectations for a militant Messiah who would lead their revolution. The spectacle of this charismatic man welcomed by cheering crowds of those who existed at the fringes of society… the bottom rungs of the social ladder must have caused terror to rise in the hearts and minds of those in power, both the religious and political leaders.
But the structures of authoritarian society can be indomitable, held in place by the power of the oppressors and the accepted powerlessness of the oppressed. In a brief moment the shouts of joyful “Hosanna” became angry, cries of “Crucify him.” This Messiah was just another in a long line of disappointments. He did not rally the people to strike against the powerful. Rather he spoke of his own death… of sacrifice…. of the true cost of love. He spoke of peace to a people who craved violence. He spoke of forgiveness to a people who wanted vengeance. God had come among them but he was not as they expected him to be, so they rejected his message of hope and transformation.
We live in a time of social chaos… an age of political and religious polarization…. of disinformation and a narcissistic obsession with being famous. Jesus’s lessons of humility… of self-sacrifice…. of unconditional love are either unappreciated or perverted into a false religion where wealth and power are considered evidence of God’s approval. We still attempt to create a Messiah in our own image… We want the emotional high of that grand parade but turn away from the suffering servant as he makes his way to Golgotha.
My prayer is that as the Church gathers together to remember this day… as we wave our palms and sing our hymns of praise… that with eyes and hearts wide open, we truly perceive the man who leads us…. in all of his humility… his sacrifice… his love. And that we have the faith and the strength to continue to follow him… even when the crowds have dispersed and the shouting has ceased … and we stand on a lonely hill in the shadow of a Cross.
The Rev. Robyn Arnold
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