Ep. 89: Palm Sunday
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MATTHEW 21:1-11, MARK 11:1-11, LUKE 19: 29-44, JOHN 12: 12-19
The time of the end had come. Jesus was about to make his entry into Jerusalem as King. King of the Jews, as heir of David’s royal line, with all the symbolic and prophetic importance attached to it. Yet he was not going to be the Messiah that they expected. The Son of David was to make a triumphal entrance, but on his own terms, as deep and significant expressions of his mission and work. Not in the proud triumph of conquests in war, but in the ‘meek’ rule of peace.
It is a mistake to regard this entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as implying that he had for the moment expected that the people would receive him as the Messiah. On the contrary, we regard his royal entry to be seen in the light of the Crucifixion; his history would not be complete, nor thoroughly consistent, without this connection.
It was right for him to enter Jerusalem because he was a King; and as King to enter it in such manner, because he was such a King and this was in accordance with the prophecy of old. It was a bright day in early spring when the festive procession set out from the home at Bethany. Remembering that it was the last morning of rest before the great contest, we may reverently think of much that may have passed in the soul of Jesus and in the home of Bethany. And now he has left that peaceful resting place.
On his approach, a great multitude went forth to meet him. This must have mostly consisted, not of citizens of Jerusalem, whose disregard of Jesus was clear, but of those ‘that had come to the Feast.’ With these were also some Pharisees, their hearts filled with bitterest thoughts of jealousy and hatred. Meantime, Jesus and those who followed him from Bethany had slowly entered the well-known caravan road from Jericho to Jerusalem. It is the most southern of three roads, which converge close to the city, perhaps at the very place where the colt had stood tied.
The announcement that some disciples of Jesus had just fetched the beast of burden on which Jesus was about to enter Jerusalem must have quickly spread among the crowds that thronged the Temple and the City. As the two disciples, accompanied or followed by the multitude, brought ‘the colt’ to Jesus, ‘two streams of people met’ - the one coming from the city, the other from Bethany. What followed was so unexpected by those who accompanied Jesus that it took them by surprise.
The disciples, who hadn’t yet understood the significance of ‘these things,’ even after they had occurred, seem not even to have realised that Jesus was about to purposefully make his Royal entry into Jerusalem. Their enthusiasm seems only to have been kindled when they saw the procession from the town come to meet Jesus with palm branches, cut down by the way, and greeting him with Hosanna shouts of welcome. Then they spread their garments on the colt and Jesus mounted the beast. Then also in their turn, they cut down branches from the trees and gardens and scattered them as a rude matting in his way, while they joined in the Hosanna of welcoming praise.
We are too apt to judge them from our standpoint, twenty centuries later and after our knowledge of the significance of the event. These men walked in the procession almost as in a dream, or as dazzled by a brilliant light all around, as if compelled by a necessity and carried from event to event.
Gradually the long procession swept up and over the ridge where first begins ‘the descent of the Mount of Olive’ towards Jerusalem. At this point, they catch their first view of the south-eastern corner of the city. The Temple and the more northern portions are hidden by the slope of Olivet on the right; what is seen is only Mount Zion, which rose, terrace upon terrace, from the Palace of the Maccabees and that of the High Priest, a very city of palaces, until the eye rested in the summit on that castle, city and palace, with its frowning towers and magnificent gardens, the royal abode of Herod, supposed to occupy the very site of the Palace of David.
They had been greeting him with Hosannas! But enthusiasm, especially in such a cause, is infectious. They were mostly strangers those who had come from the city, chiefly because they had heard of the raising of Lazarus. And now they must have questioned those who came from Bethany, who in turn related that of which they had been eyewitnesses. We can imagine it all, how the fire would leap from heart to heart. So he was the promised Son of David - and the Kingdom was at hand!
‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord … Blessed the Kingdom that cometh, the Kingdom of our father David … Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord … Hosanna … Hosanna in the highest … Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.’ They were but broken utterances, partly based upon Psalm 118, the ‘Hosanna,’ or ‘Save now’ and the ‘Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord’, forming part of the responses by the people.
It must be remembered that, according to Jewish tradition, Psalm 118: 25-28, was also chanted as a ‘call and response’ by the people of Jerusalem, as they went to welcome the festive pilgrims on their arrival, the latter always responding in the second clause of each verse, until the last verse of the Psalm, which was sung by both parties in unison, Psalm 103:17, being added by way of conclusion.
Then the Pharisees made a desperate appeal to the Master himself, whom they so bitterly hated, to check and rebuke the honest zeal of his disciples. He had been silent but could be silent no longer. With righteous indignation he pointed to the rocks and stones, telling those leaders of Israel, that, if the people held their peace, the very stones would cry out.
Again the procession advanced. Immediately before was the Kidron Valley. Here seen in its greatest depth as it joins the Valley of Hinnom and thus giving full effect to the great peculiarity of Jerusalem, seen only on its eastern side - its situation as of a City rising out of a deep abyss. It is probable that this rise and turn of the road - this rocky ledge - was the exact point where the multitude paused again and he, ‘wept over it.’ This was with loud and deep lamentation. The contrast was, indeed, terrible between the Jerusalem that rose before him in all its beauty, glory and security and the Jerusalem which he saw in vision dimly rising on the sky, with the camp of the enemy around about it on every side, hugging it closer and closer in a deadly embrace; and yet another scene, the silence and desolation of death by the Hand of God - not one stone left upon another!
Edersheim poignantly adds,
‘We know only too well how literally this vision has become reality; and yet, though uttered as prophecy by Christ, and its reason so clearly stated, Israel to this day knows not the things which belong to its peace, and the upturned scattered stones of its dispersion are crying out in testimony against it. But to this day, also do the tears of Christ plead with the Church on Israel’s behalf and his words bear within them precious seed of promise. We turn once more to the scene just described. ‘
Another point seems to require a comment. The disciples must have been surprised and perplexed as they seem to have been hurried from event to event. But the enthusiasm of the people, their royal welcome of Jesus, how is it to be explained and how reconciled with the speedy and terrible reaction to his betrayal and Crucifixion?
Yet it is not so difficult to understand it. It has already been suggested that the multitude who went to meet Jesus must have consisted chiefly of pilgrims. The overwhelming majority of the citizens of Jerusalem were bitterly hostile to Jesus. But we know that, even so, the Pharisees dreaded to take the final steps against him during the presence of these pilgrims at the Feast, attempting to stifle a movement in his favour. It proved, indeed, otherwise; for these ‘country people’ were ill-informed; they dared not resist the combined authority of their own Sanhedrin and of the Romans. Besides, the prejudices of the ordinary people are easily kindled and they readily sway from one extreme to the opposite. Lastly, the very suddenness of the blow which the Jewish authorities delivered, would have stunned even those who had deeper knowledge than most of them there.
Again, as regards their welcome of Jesus, we must not attach a deeper meaning to it concerning similarities to the Feast of Tabernacles. It would have been symbolic of much about Israel if they had thus confused the Second with the First Advent of Christ, the Sacrifice of the Passover with the joy of the Feast of Ingathering. But, in reality, their conduct does not support that interpretation. It is true that these responses from Psalm 118, which formed part of what was known as the Hallel, were chanted by the people at the Feast of Tabernacles also, but the Hallel was equally sung with responses during the offering of the Passover, at the Passover Supper and on the Feasts of Pentecost and of the Dedication of the Temple. The waving of the palm branches was the welcome of visitors or kings and not distinctive of the Feast of Tabernacles. At the latter, the worshippers carried, not simple palm-branches, but the Lulav, which consisted of palm, myrtle, and willow branches intertwined.
Lastly, the words of welcome from Psalm 118 were (as already stated) those with which on solemn occasions the people also greeted the arrival of festive pilgrims, although, as being offered to Christ alone, they may have implied that they hailed him as the promised King and have converted his entry into a triumph in which the people did homage. Let Edersheim complete the scene:
‘The Pharisees understood it better and watched for the opportunity of revenge. But, for the present, on that bright spring day, the weak, excitable, fickle populace streamed before him through the City gates, through the narrow streets, up the Temple mount. Everywhere the tramp of their feet and the shout of their acclamations brought men, women and children into the streets and on the housetops. The city was moved and from mouth to mouth the question passed among the eager crowd of curious onlookers, ‘who is he?’ And the multitude answered not that this is Israel’s Messiah King, but rather ‘this is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.’ And now the shadows of evening were creeping up and, weary and sad. He once more returned with the twelve disciples to the shelter and rest of Bethany.’
This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)