Palm Sunday

Bikes Kings and Palms, and a Donkey

What is the big deal about Palm Sunday?

When I was growing up, summertime was spent outside with friends playing baseball, flashlight tag at night, and riding BMX bikes (we called it “the ride”) creating adventures with dirt and ramps. If we were done playing ball and decided to ride bikes, we would often go get the friends who didn’t like ball but liked bikes. If he couldn’t, we might ask to borrow his bike for the guy who walked to my house to play ball.

We’re going to hear a story about when Jesus borrowed a ride - not a bike but a donkey for a 2 mile trip he could have easily made walking - and gotten there faster. But this wasn’t an ordinary 2 miles.

John 12:12–19 “The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!””

Kings

OT - When a ruler or king was crowned in the capital, he would return to the city he ruled to a big party. People would come out of the city walls (protected it from invaders) to greet the king who rode on a horse.

John: An Introduction and Commentary (2nd Ed.) iv. Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (12:12–19)

Jesus, by a dramatic act, presented himself to Jerusalem as its king, in accordance with prophecy.

A great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. It was the day after the anointing at Bethany, and the pilgrims in Jerusalem for Passover heard that Jesus was approaching.

The population of Jerusalem swelled enormously at Passover time.

Josephus, a first-century Jewish writer, says that when a count was taken on one occasion, the numbers present for Passover reached 2,700,000,194 a figure which is hard to believe, given the size of first-century Jerusalem.

Palm Branches

They took palm branches and went out to meet him. Palm fronds were used by pilgrims at the Festival of Tabernacles and the Festival of Dedication as part of the worship (see commentary on 7:2 and 10:22–39). Palm branches were also used as symbols of victory and kingship. As well as waving palm branches, the crowd was shouting, ‘Hosanna!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ This acclamation is based on Psalm 118:25–26. The literal meaning of ‘Hosanna’ is ‘save now’. By the first century the word may have lost its literal sense and been used, as it is today, simply as a shout of praise. The words Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! in their original context are addressed to pilgrims coming to the temple: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. (Ps. 118:26–27, italics added) They greeted him with palm branches (symbols of victory and kingship) and the acclamation, Blessed is the king of Israel!

The Donkey

Jesus did not need to ride the last couple of miles—he was used to walking long distances and would have been physically fit. Also, pilgrims usually approached the holy city on foot. Jesus’ action made a statement.

The quotation is from Zechariah 9:9,196 where the LORD is portrayed, not in militaristic fashion mounted on a war-horse, but as a king of peace sitting on a donkey. In fact, the following verse says: I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. (Zech. 9:10)

In conscious fulfilment of this prophecy, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey to show that he was the king of the Jews: not the militaristic Messiah of popular expectation, but the universal prince of peace.

This was the first day of what we now call Holy week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion.

We remember each of the events of this week through the drama of rituals and practices, that retell this part of the life of Jesus. In retelling, we remind ourselves of our place in the story as those he came to save.