As we enter Holy Week this week, we’re coming to the end of Lent. For those who aren’t familiar with Holy Week, it includes a number of noteworthy days: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. These, of course, are followed by Resurrection Sunday, or Easter as it is more commonly known in our culture.
Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem. Mark 11 tells us the story:
1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’ ”
4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Mark 11:1-11a
Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem just before Passover evokes two OT passages (Ps 118:25-26; and Zech 9:9). The branches, which John 12:13 describes as palm branches, and the cloaks laid down demonstrate respect. The people’s excitement fills the air. Passover was a time of nationalistic hope for a leader that would deliver Israel from Roman oppression. We see this hope in their cry of “Hosanna!” (Save us!).
While we describe the day as “Palm Sunday” and many churches actually use palm branches in their worship, Esau McCaulley makes an important observation. The symbol Jesus chose was a donkey. Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey fulfills the prophecy of Zech 9:9:
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Scholars debate whether the donkey was a symbol of humility or of royal triumph. Maybe it was both. Either way, the people would have understood the royal and messianic symbolism. Deliverance was near!
Given the celebratory mood and sense of anticipation, this week’s collect and Psalm reading are interesting. They focus on Jesus’ forthcoming crucifixion. This focus invites us to recognize that Jesus’ plan and our plans aren’t always the same thing. (See my video reflection.) Jesus knew they needed deliverance. But they needed deliverance from more than Rome. They needed deliverance from the power of sin and death.
As we think about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and look ahead to Good Friday’s crucifixion, will you join me and others around the world in praying the Palm Sunday (contemporary) collect?
Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the
human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to
take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross,
giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant
that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share
in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
The collect’s mention of “death upon the cross” evokes Jesus’ cry of dereliction, which comes from Psalm 22:1. But reading the wider context deepens our understanding, inviting us to think deeply about Jesus’ experience as he hung on that cross:
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Ps 51:10-15
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
As we pray this collect and reflect on the excerpt from Psalm 22 this week, maybe we can once again surrender our agendas and plans to our Father. Maybe we can recognize the cost for our redemption. Maybe we can remember that God’s ways are higher and better. And we can ask Him to fill our hearts with a deep desire for Him, His kingdom, and His ways.
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Image by Andrea Don from Pixabay
© 2019-2024 Jennifer Brown Jones
Life Beyond #Blessed 