Take a moment to centre yourself in prayer:
God of mercy: strengthen our hearts to be present to Jesus throughout his journey to the cross. Open our hearts to speak your peace. May our reflections on your Word be deepened by the nudging of your Spirit, that we might truly follow in the faith he has cultivated in our hearts, Amen
READ Psalm 118:1-2 19, 29
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever!
2 Let Israel say,
‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.*
25 Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.*
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God,
and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar.*
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God, I will extol you.
29 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
Verses 1-4, and 29 are “liturgical.” Verses 5-18 reflect an individual story of salvation. Verses 19-28 are a combination of 1st person and communal praise in dialogue. In this the psalm mirrors the journey of faith: where we move from communal experience to individual response to deeper communal commitment, and so on and so on.
“Steadfast love” in Hebrew is hesed, also can be translated as mercy or kindness.
It is generally what we think of as a love expressed in covenant relationship – there is trust but always based on a commitment by both parties. ( I am a husband, therefore I should act... OR I am a parent, therefore I should act ...)
The last part of the psalm contains liturgies for a “victory” procession, responsive prayer, individual thanks, a communal statement of faith. We find familiar words in verses 23-4, the beginning of a hymn: This is the day that our God has made!
In verse 25, the theme of salvation is based on the hebrew hoshi-a-na, which becomes our HOSANNA.
In verses 26-7 Aaron’s blessing is repeated from Numbers 6:25,
bind the branches reflects the Palm Sunday theme for Christians.
In verses 28-29 we find both personal and communal statements of faith, in a sense closing the circle.
Question for Reflection:
In the Palm Sunday story, both individual commitment and getting caught up in community action are part of the dynamic. Do you feel that one or the other has a stronger influence on you?
READ Matthew 21:1-11 Palm Sunday story
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, just say this, “The Lord needs them.” And he will send them immediately.*’ 4This took place to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
5 ‘Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’
6The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8A very large crowd* spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
10When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ 11The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’
Particular to Matthew is the quotation from Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice, greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
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.
Because Matthew wants Jesus to fulfil the prophecies, he has Jesus seated on both donkey and its colt.
Zechariah was one of the later prophets, active in the time of the Persian emperor Darius, when the temple at Jerusalem was being rebuilt and exile was over. It might not even be from Zechariah, but anonymous proclamations put together to form the ORACLE. It reflects the opinion that the Persians will be defeated by the Greeks, which is fulfilled much later than Zechariah. the author suggests that maybe this is the chance for the next Davidic King to rise!!!
Matthew also has the crowd sing out : Hosanna to the son of David!
An important theme for Matthew – Jesus fulfilling legacy from great-great-great
Then the people of Jerusalem ask: Who is this? And the crowd (from elsewhere?) answer: The prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. Matthew makes a distinction between people of Jerusalem and people from beyond it's walls.
Borg and Crossan contrast two kinds of processions “that day”: Jesus’ peasant procession vs. Pilate’s military parade. Imperial processions were common and well understood, Jesus entry would have been a clear contrast to the gospels early readers.
The Greek author Plutarch describes how kings are supposed to enter a city. He tells about one Roman general, Aemilius Paulus, who won a decisive victory over the Macedonians. When Aemilius returned to Rome, his triumphant procession lasted three days. The first day was dedicated to displaying all the artwork that Aemilius and his army had plundered. The second day was devoted to all the weapons of the Macedonians they had captured. The third day began with the rest of the plunder borne by 250 oxen, whose horns were covered in gold. This included more than 17,000 pounds of gold coins. Then came the captured and humiliated king of Macedonia and his extended family. Finally, Aemilius himself entered Rome, mounted on a magnificent chariot. Aemilius wore a purple robe, interwoven with gold. He carried his laurels in his right hand. He was accompanied by a large choir singing hymns, praising the military accomplishments of the great Aemilius.
Standard practice for Roman leaders to display their power on Jewish festivals. they wWanted to be in the city in case there was trouble – especially at Passover, “liberation from slavery in Egypt” was seen as being a time when rebellion was ripe.
Pilate did not reside at Jerusalem (crowded, hostile, too provincial), but lived instead on the western coast (Mediterranean Sea, Caesarea Maritima, where all things were built and maintained as if in rome.) So his “entrance” into city was significant, it included: cavalry, foot soldiers, armour, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagle, beating drums. All symbols of imperial theology: Caesar as the only Son of God.
Jesus’ entrance on donkey colt was a “counter procession”- it was planned in advance with appropriate symbolism, but alternate theology. Instead of plunder, his symbols were simple, borrowed from ordinary people. No weapons, Jesus comes in peace. No captives humiliated, instead he humiliates himself. No leader on a chariot wearing gold or carrying roman laurels, Jesus rides a donkey and the crowd provides the greenery.
The next line of Zechariah’s prophecy is Zechariah 9:10 – He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations.
Somehow Jesus will defeat the military with simplicity and love.
Question for Reflection:
How do we understand a Christian call to non-violence? At what cost?
Jerusalem: the symbolic associations are both positive and negative
POSITIVE:
It is the city of God/Zion/ the Mountain. The place of tTemple, pilgrimages, festivals and celebrations. It was symbolic of David’s kingdom, united in 1000 BCE. It was rebuilt after exile, a place of “homecoming”, for all the exiles yearning for Jerusalem (freedom). It was the place where God’s people would ultimately be reconciled with God.
NEGATIVE:
Jerusalem represents centralized (exclusive) leadership, at odds with regions, requiring temple taxation. The history of destruction, executions, blasphemy at the hands of foreign invaders made it bittersweet. Exclusive leadership by the temple, economic powers who were collaborating with Rome, meant it was repressive politically. Historically, most prophets usually came from the fringes, criticizing the Jerusalem establishment.
More recently, Rome worked through Herod the Great, other "kings" who grabbed land, extracted taxes. When he died the kingdom was divided in 3 – Rome eventually ruled Jerusalem after removing Archelaus. The Romans collaborated with chief priests and elders (lay landowners) who extracted heavy taxes from both locals and pilgrims and displaced peasants from their lands. The temple priests walked a fine line between Jewish population and Roman rulers, trying to keep their identity separate, but profitting from collusion.
Jesus represented anti-temple, anti-Roman voices: but he was not alone, the Essenes and Zealots also provided opposition.
Jesus was provincial, offered forgiveness, criticized Rome and the temple’s collaboration to oppress the people.
The gospels were likely written AFTER destruction of Jerusalem 70 AD. We find it has negative association for the gospel writers, as they find themselves distancing from the Jews, by this time on Rome's bad side.
The gospels tend to emphasize Jesus’ conflicts with the priests, the temple officials, the Pharisees, etc.
For Jesus, Jerusalem is his destiny – a final and decisive confrontation with those who compete with God. Everything leading up to it is “the way” – choose loyalty to Jerusalem or choose “the way". Palm Sunday is a journey, a pilgrimage, a “way”. then following death and resurrection, the way becomes “the cross”.
2 Themes of Palm Sunday are:
1. Confronting systems of domination re God’s way (Not Jesus against Jews, but against Roman repression and those who collaborate.)
2. Experiencing death and resurrection with Jesus.
Question for Reflection:
How does this change or shift your understanding of Jesus’ decision to go to Jerusalem, and the way in which he entered?
Closing Prayer:
O God of the joyful homecoming, O God of the long farewell;
We pray that you will enter our lives as Christ entered Jerusalem:
- To confront injustice
- To give a peace beyond our understanding
- To love us to death and beyond.
May we celebrate your coming, and not be afraid of you. When we feel like turning from the cost of faith, be with us. When we would turn our loud hosannas into whispers of suspicion or fear, give power to our voices, and transform our doubts.
Do not leave us in the events to come! Even though we may leave you, we pray for the faith to know that you will never abandon us. Forgive us, O god, that we might return to you, transformed in Christ’s name, Amen
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