We all love the triumphal entry story. We like the pageantry. We like the celebration. We like the return of the focus of worship to something more joyful than the tone of Lent. We like the hymns in major keys. We like the crowd to be praising Jesus. We like the waving of the palms. We like the familiarity and sense of upcoming celebration. Palm Sunday is cool. We get to sing hallelujahs again. We get to rejoice with the crowd at the coming of the King. Too often, however, we misunderstand what was going on and we’d really rather skip over everything between Palm Sunday and Easter morning. We don’t like to think about what happened next….
So let’s celebrate this morning. Let’s celebrate the triumphal entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into the Holy City of Jerusalem. Let’s wave our palms and sing hallelujahs. Let’s shout our hosannas as praise and acclamation. Let’s take pleasure in the fact that we know something the crowd didn’t know: that Jesus truly is the Messiah – but the Messiah as God intended, not as the crowd anticipated. Let’s enjoy the inside information that riding on a donkey was not only the fulfillment of the prophecy but was also a signal of the humility of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Let’s smile as we wave the palms, knowing that we really get why we celebrate the coming of this Jesus. Let’s celebrate Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees who told Him to quiet the crowd, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” It is a day to celebrate because we understand what the crowd didn’t. But let’s not leave it at this celebration that asks nothing more of us than joyful pageantry. Let’s also remember that this was not the whole story – that there is much more that renders this celebration far more meaningful for us than for the crowds in Jerusalem so long ago.
Even before we get to the stories that will be read on Thursday at our Tenebrae service, even before we get to the events of the trial and crucifixion prior to the glorious rising on Easter morning, we have a few days in Jerusalem and a brief moment beforehand.
The triumphal entry story in the Bible comes before the story of what happened just prior to this great entry, at least in Luke’s Gospel. The other Gospels don’t even mention this little vignette, but it tells us a lot. In verse 41, we see that Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. He wept because He knew the reality of the situation – that the people didn’t really understand who the Messiah was, what He was supposed to be, or what their future held. Jesus knew that the people believed the Messiah would free them from oppression, that they expected an earthly king rather than a heavenly one. He knew their future would not be the triumph over enemies that they were anticipating with the coming of the Messiah, but that their lives would get worse, that they would suffer much greater trials in the future than they’d already suffered, and that their lack of understanding would split them from those who had eyes to see and ears to hear. He wept because of the pain He knew was to come – not His own pain, but that of the people His people.
So we move from Jesus weeping to the triumphal entry, which must have seemed somewhat surreal to Him. Here He knew what was really to happen to His people, had even told the disciples of His own impending death – several times, depending on which Gospel you read – and the people greeted Him like some kind of conquering hero. The Lord Himself has been moved to tears but the people are celebrating, completely unaware of the train wreck about to happen.
After He has ridden into Jerusalem on the donkey, as prophesied, Jesus went to the Temple. He entered the Temple not as a hero but as a vandal. Jesus did not demonstrate the proper behavior for a faithful Jew, buying the requisite offering for sacrifice. Instead, He threw out the people who were selling the offering animals and the money changers. According to two of the accounts – those in Matthew and Mark – He even turned over tables. And though John’s Gospel puts the account of Jesus overturning the tables in the Temple earlier in the narrative of His life, he does include the story. So Jesus, who has arrived as a great conquering hero, goes about destroying His own reputation among the hierarchy almost as soon as He is acclaimed. This is not the expected behavior. The crowds still love Him, but the religious leaders are less than impressed.
All four Gospels continue the story by telling that the religious leaders were not happy with Jesus and either outright state or at least imply that they were beginning to plot against Him. The leaders begin to try to figure out how to get rid of this guy - permanently. Remember, Jesus was not killed by the religious leaders. They had not law to allow for this. Instead, they circumvented their own laws and God’s laws by going around the bushes to set Jesus up with the governmental officials. Jesus was not sentenced in the religious courts but the secular courts. He was not convicted of heresy or apostasy or some grievous sin; He was convicted of treason. And He was not convicted because the religious leaders were so offended by His message of God’s love and grace, but because He threatened their power and position. When He overturned the moneychangers’ tables, when He challenged the empty ritualistic sacrificial system that had some people selling pigeons at the front door while others picked them up at the back door to sell again, when He pulled the focus of the people away from those who had previously enjoyed the prestige and authority, He committed no crime. But in doing all those things, He created the opportunity for those with pious veneers covering jealous hearts to prove their true colors. And they did, as we know. All while the crowd celebrated, oblivious to what was happening before their eyes. And so this whole triumphal entry triggers the events of Good Friday, when Jesus was put to death.
But there were still those few days in Jerusalem. Enough days to share the Passover meal with His friends. Enough days to prepare for the death that He knew was coming. Enough days for the history of the world to have been changed had the people stood by Him. Enough days for the religious leaders to gather their supporters, convince the government that Jesus had committed treason, and brainwash enough people into going against Jesus that when they were offered the option to save Him, they chose Barrabus. There were a few days in Jerusalem for Pontius Pilate to have a dream, for a trial in which Pontius Pilate could have done the right thing. There were a few days in which Jesus could have shown His power and might to overcome the religious leaders and change the events of history. But He didn’t. He didn’t because He knew what the crowd didn’t know, that He was not meant to be a conquering hero, but a humble servant. He knew that His job was not to force others to bend to God’s will, but to make Himself a sacrifice for all the times all the people failed to follow God’s will and followed their own ways instead.
Though these things are not as simple to celebrate as the coming of an earthly king, the knowledge that Jesus did what He had to do and that the events of Palm Sunday set the final process in motion is worth celebrating. What the crowds believed was not real, but we know the whole story. We know that without Palm Sunday, Good Friday would not have happened and without Good Friday there would be no Easter. It seems odd to celebrate with fanfare the impending death of our Lord, the lack of understanding of the crowd, and the actions of the religious leaders who plotted against Him, but what we are celebrating is so much more than the crowd celebrated. We can truly shout Hosanna, save us, with full certainty that Jesus has done exactly that. We can wave our palms knowing that the Messiah has truly come and that His entry into the city did set His people free from oppression – free from the oppression of the system of sacrifice and covenant of law. We can sing alleluias because Jesus has already triumphed – not merely over worldly rulers but over death itself. The pageantry and celebration are appropriate because of those few days in Jerusalem in which Jesus was obedient to the plan that had been laid and that made all the difference. It is good to celebrate, not in ignorance like the crowd on that first Palm Sunday, but with the full knowledge of all that came later, the knowledge of a love for us that is so great Jesus was willing to suffer torture and death for us. Alleluia indeed! Alleluia. Amen.