This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. We recall Jesus’ ‘triumphal entry’ and set our faces towards Jerusalem and the cross. I will be leading worship at All Saints’ Church, Culmstock, and you will be very welcome to join me at 10.30am

Each year as palm Sunday approaches I am reminded of the scene from Jesus Christ Superstar.

As Jesus approaches Jerusalem the crowds sing Hosanna and wave palm branches, whilst the Pharisees look on in disdain. There is something missing from this moment (not just the lack of a donkey), which is often missing in our Bible readings too.

This year the gospel selected is Matthew’s account. Matthew makes a great deal of the donkey, a colt, a foal who has never been ridden before, in accordance with the prophecy in Zechariah

Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zechariah 9:9-12

These details are important, because the king who enters the city so humbly is the one who set prisoners free. Mark too describes the donkey in detail, as do Luke and even John who often deviates in his narrative.

The donkey is important, not just because of the fulfilling of the prophecy, but because of what is left out of the narrative, because it was such an ordinary thing to happen. We rely on historians outside of the gospels to inform us that Jesus’ triumphal entry wasn’t the only one that took place during Passover.

Israel was an occupied land, and Jerusalem the capital city, the holiest place, where pilgrims would come and celebrate their most important festivals. Passover being the holiest of them all, the retelling of how Moses led God’s people out of slavery, redeemed them from Pharoah’s grip, led them out of oppression. Israel in the time of Jesus, was a land under Roman occupation, and emotions ran high at this time. Zealots and freedom fighters could cause trouble, so enforcements from the Roman army were sent in. It was no accident that Pilate was on hand at this very particular time, and Pilate, just like Jesus, had to enter into the holy city.

Jesus enters on the back of a donkey wearing only travelling cloaks, Pilate arrives on a white stallion along with his retinue. Those loyal to Rome would have waved palm branches, may even have laid their cloaks on the floor in tribute. A grand welcome, an act of pomp and circumstance. It would have been a grand moment, an entertaining highlight which had become part of the festival. The procession displayed power and might, and reminded the people of Israel to ‘behave’.

Jesus rides in from the opposite direction, and people, some people choose to line the streets to welcome him instead. Their palm branches do not honour Caesar’s representative, they do not respect the ‘law and order’ Pilate will bring, they cry out prophesies and hope for another redemption from unjust authority.

Everyone who lines the dusty path which Jesus travels has made a conscious decision to do so. They are not just swept up in the spectacle, filled with the carnival atmosphere of pilgrimage, if that’s what they were looking for they would have lined the streets on the other side of town, kept on the right side of law and order Roman style. They have broken away, an act of rebellion, as they choose to welcome Jesus, the true Son of David into the holy city.

Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven.

Matthew 21: 9

Even the words sung and chanted by those creating Jesus’ entourage are incendiary. Caesar was referred to as ‘Lord’ and the ‘Son of God’, he had created a cult of the divine around himself. To give these accolades to Jesus was Roman heresy, those who refused worship Caesar as god were known as atheists.

Pilate enters as representative of Caesar, but Jesus draws the praises of the people.

We often question how those who cheered Jesus as he entered the city on Palm Sunday could turn on him so quickly by Good Friday, but choices had already been made. There were already those who wanted the order of Roman Law and welcomed Pilate into their city, whilst others had been yearning for the Messiah to come and fulfil the Law of of Moses. As the two parties enter the city those in Jerusalem, whether residents or pilgrims, have already made their choice.

As we enter into Holy Week, we too have a decision to make. Do we want to keep the peace of the land, or do we want to follow Jesus? A question which seems particularly pertinent in the United States just now, and what happens in the states has an impact on what happens in the UK. We are seeing a rise in ‘Christian’ Nationalism, but is it gospel? It is costly to follow Jesus, it brings uncertainty on a daily level. This week we will follow Jesus not just into Jerusalem, waving our palm crosses, but as observant Christians we will travel with him through his final supper, his betrayal and arrest, the false accusations and fixed trial, and finally his death on the cross. How close do we want to come to Jesus when the banners are no longer being flown? When the singing stops and the sky turns black? Will we cry ‘crucify’ when Pilate speaks of his innocence, will we seek Pax Romana? Or will we speak truth and stand for justice.

Read the Gospel passage here.

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