Text: Luke 19:28-40 (RSV)
28 And when he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he drew near to Beth′phage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village opposite, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat; untie it and bring it here. 31 If any one asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this, ‘The Lord has need of it.’” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their garments on the colt they set Jesus upon it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their garments on the road. 37 As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
Here it is, Palm Sunday 2019. But there’s something odd about the Gospel lesson. Did you notice what it is? There is no mention of palms in it!
So, at least in the years when we have Luke’s Gospel during this period, maybe we should call today “Cloak Sunday.”
This is one of the differences between Luke’s account and those of the other Evangelists. Is this difference significant? I think so.
As we read on the “Christian Courier” website regarding the Triumphal Entry: “Some ‘paved’ the road with their garments; others with layers of leaves, at least some of which were from palm trees (Jn. 12:13), hence the expression ‘Palm Sunday.’ Spreading garments before a dignitary was a symbol of submission (see 2 Kgs. 9:13). Palm branches were employed also as token of victory (Suetonius, Caligula, 32). Some Jewish coins from the first century had palm leaf engravings with the accompanying inscription, ‘the redemption of Zion.’ Note the ‘palm’ symbolism that is portrayed in the book of Revelation (7:9). The Jewish disciples doubtless were expressing the hope that Jesus would be the one to lead them to victory over their oppressor (Rome).”[1]
But without the palm branches, we have “just” the symbol of submission, and no symbol of victory or redemption. And that, of course, just flies in the face of everything we have come to believe about this Sunday and about Jesus.
Assuming that Luke’s omission was intentional, we might conclude, first, that he left out the palms because he was writing mostly to a Gentile audience – so a reference to palms, deeply significant to Jewish Christians, would have at best been a colorful detail to Gentiles. You might call that the “practical explanation.”
But a second consideration is much more to the point: On another Christian blog, “Psephizo,” from the UK, we read: “But Luke’s account raises another question for us: what kind of king do we want reigning over us? I am not here referring to Charles and Camilla—but to the kind of authority that we are ready to submit to. There are many authorities which exercise influence over our lives, both formal and informal—and in fact all those around us exercise some kind of power over us, through their opinions, personalities and evaluation of us, as we exercise power over them.
“The reason Luke raises this question for us is that this whole section of his gospel is shaped to relentlessly press home the question for his readers: who is Jesus?”[2]
Who is Jesus? It was an important question, because so many, even those who had first-hand experience of Jesus’ actions, his teachings, and his words, got it profoundly wrong. It is an important question today for the same reason.
For many of the people in that crowd, this Jesus who’s riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, just like King David did so many, many years before, is a king in the worldly sense of that word: A warrior, a leader of armies, someone will sweep in to the City of Kings and sweep out the Romans, once and for all. The pent-up frustration and rage, the bitterness of generations of dashed hopes, now erupt in the frenzied cries of the people throwing their garments before him, cries of “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” But given their desire and expectation for a warrior king, I wonder just what that “peace” they crave and that “glory” they seek might look like – the “peace” that comes at the end of battle, maybe, and that “glory” of seeing your enemies destroyed? But that is not what Jesus’ procession was about.
There was another procession going on at the same time that day, on the other side of town. As David Ewart tells us in his “Holy Textures” blog regarding this passage:
“Now Jerusalem is not a large city. And what the authors of the Bible take for granted and fail to mention is that while Jesus is parading in on a colt through one of the back gates, on the other side of the city Pilate is parading in on a war horse accompanied by a squadron or two of battle hardened Roman soldiers. You can bet that he too is being acclaimed by a crowd. There’d be hell to pay if he wasn’t.”[3]
The display of naked power, and all the trappings of cruelty and deadly authority, were on full view in Pilate’s procession. Had those people in Jesus’ procession thought about it, it might have sunk in that they were shouting for the wrong reason, or that they were on the wrong side of town.
Or maybe not. Pilate’s crowd is most definitely not shouting “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” If Pilate and his thugs had gotten wind of what was happening on the other side of town, and heard what that crowd was shouting about Jesus, there would have been a crackdown and some executions for treason – executions on, you guessed it, a cross.
So, beneath the celebrations and the processions on this day there is an ominous undercurrent of danger. Jerusalem was a powder keg waiting for a spark to set it off.
Two processions – the one featuring Pilate, the other Jesus. The contrast could not be more stark. One symbolizing naked power, oppression, violence, ambition; and the other proclaiming that something new had come into the world. Something that would change, something that had changed, the world until the very end of time.
Who is Jesus? We see here that he, clearly and unmistakably, comes in the manner of a king. He is acclaimed by the crowd of his disciples as the king, and they hope the kingdom will now be announced. But, again, what kind of king is Jesus? And what does his kingdom look like? Will it simply be an even greater worldly kingdom than Rome? Will Jesus simply knock Herod off his throne and banish Pilate and his thugs?
Despite what the crowd and the disciples might have wished, we have already seen that this is not what Jesus’ kingship portends. But what, then, does it portend?
First, he is a king who brings peace. Not the peace of annihilation, not the peace of the grave, but the peace of grace. Luke records the crowds as acclaiming: ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ If that sounds familiar, it is – we hear it every Christmas on the lips of the angels as they brought those good tidings of great joy to the shepherds. And, when enthusiastic old Zechariah celebrates the birth of his son, John, who will become the Baptizer, he anticipates that what his son will do will ‘give light to those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death and guide our feet into the way of peace.’ Peace is a major feature of the theology of both Luke and Paul. It is no accidnet that Paul begins every letter, not just with the customary greeting of ‘grace,’ but also with ‘peace’.
Secondly, Jesus is a king who merits praise and brings joy, not only for the people alive back then, not just even for those of us here this morning, but the whole of Creation. If the people stop praising, then the very stones themselves will cry out! Celebration is a consistent theme in Luke, not least in the parables of the lost who are found. God has come near; we are saved; let us rejoice and celebrate!
Thirdly, Jesus is a king who brings power. The disciples welcoming Jesus celebrate the ‘works of power’ they have seen him doing. Luke writes a lot about power – it’s a recurring theme in his Gospel. When the Spirit comes on Mary, the power from on high rests upon her. When Luke recounts in Acts 1 & 2 the Holy Spirit coming to rest on the disciples, it is with power. And when Jesus returns from his temptations in the wilderness, he returns in the ‘power of the Spirit.’
Note however, that this power, unlike the power of Pilate or Herod, is not to be used to control, manipulate, restrict, or destroy, but to bring down the proud ‘in the imagination of their hearts’ and to give ‘freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and to set the oppressed free.’
This truly is a different kind of king to any other the world has ever seen or ever will see. And the reason for that is that this journey Jesus makes up to Jerusalem is not a journey to power and glory, but a journey down in obedience to death, that the glory of God might be seen and that redemption will come to pass. This is why he brings peace: he has turned us from enemies of God to friends through his death.[4]
That is who Jesus is, my friends!
So today, we need to ask ourselves the question: Which procession am I going to join? Am I going to parade with Pilate and march down the gloomy road that leads only to doom? Or am I going to walk with Jesus through the gates of Jerusalem and onward through the gates of Heaven itself?
Let us choose the path of life! Let us wave our palm branches and, along with that joyous crowd, shout at the top of our lungs “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/783-triumphal-entry-of-jesus-into-jerusalem-the
[2] https://www.psephizo.com/preaching-2/no-palm-sunday-in-luke/
[3] https://www.holytextures.com/2010/03/luke-19-28-40-year-c-lent-6-palm-passion-sunday-sermon.html
[4] Adapted from Paul, Ian, https://www.psephizo.com/preaching-2/no-palm-sunday-in-luke/