John 12:12-16 (NET)THOUGHTS:12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. They began to shout, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!" 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 "Do not be afraid, people of Zion; look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt!" 16 (His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that these things had happened to him.)
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday -- the beginning of what is known as "Holy Week" (Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday). Many congregations will begin their worship tomorrow with a procession waving palms and singing "Hosanna". We continue to play out the drama of this story some 2000 years later.
The entry into Jerusalem can be interpreted as an acted parable. There is significance in the details.
The messiah that the Jews were expecting is one type of guy who would likely come riding into town on a majestic stallion to kick the Roman occupiers out. He would come in with a royal aura all around him and kick butt. That's not what they got.
Think about this: Jesus could have just walked into the city. That's how he got most places -- even sometimes across the water. Why the young donkey?
If he had walked into town, the stories would probably an unshakable majestic quality all the same. We could get the sense that "He strode purposefully upon the palms though the gates of the city." That's not they way the story goes either.
Jesus rode in on a donkey. No matter how many times we re-tell the story ... no matter how royal and majestic we try to make it sound ... there is something humiliating and humorous about the savior of the world having a "triumphal" entry to the city seated upon a young donkey. It is OK to laugh a little at the sheer ridiculousness of the thought.
Maybe Jesus chose a donkey because it symbolized the type of messiah he was going to be. Maybe it was supposed to show that he wasn't about dealing out royal butt-kickings. The entry on a donkey's colt seems to me to be even more humble than walking into town. Maybe the statement is "I come as one of the oppressed, upon a beast of burden ... and I will carry out my mission as one of the oppressed."
Regardless, the crowds ignore the nature of the transportation and praise him like a king. Maybe the message doesn't sink in until a few days later ... until he's been hanging out in town without any change in the oppressive power structure. Maybe it is this intense disappointment that causes the same crowd that praised him on Sunday to shout "crucify him!" later in the week...
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, help us to love and worship you for who you are. Help us to sift though all the images of who we are told you are and who we want you to be. Help us to know you, to accept you, and to love you as you love us. AMEN.
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