In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It was the start of a busier than usual day in the bustling City of Jerusalem with the huge Passover festival crowds filling the streets. It was Palm Sunday. On that first Palm Sunday, two special processions of people also entered the city. From one side it was a familiar procession. The procession we are here to commemorate today of Jesus riding on a donkey followed by His disciples with villagers laying down their robes and palm branches to soften His path. From the other side of the city, a different procession was taking place. Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, the Emperor’s direct representative to the region, was also marching through the city high on his imperial chariot. There were soldiers to his left and right, swords, helmets and shields all gleaming with the reflection of the sun, horses galloping, drums beating to announce his arrival and dust being kicked up in every direction.
Every year the Roman Governor would ride up to Jerusalem from his palace along the cost to be present in the city for the festival of Passover. During the festival, the city’s population soared. The Governor would parade through the city in all his imperial majesty and glory to remind the Jewish pilgrims that Rome was still in charge.
Therefore, if we thought that Jesus’ procession was an accident or simply coincidence, we would be wrong. His entrance into the city was a well-planned procession. Everything He does is a direct response to the grand, imperial, military procession. Jesus rides into the city on the back of a donkey, not on a horse or on a chariot but a simple donkey.
His disciples gather around Him with palm branches, not swords, with robes not shields. As Pilate proudly announced his Imperial arrival into Jerusalem from the West, Jesus humbly approached from the East looking by contrast meek. While Pilate’s procession was powerful and representing the Empire, Jesus’ procession championed the everyday man, who worked hard to put food on his family’s table but struggled to prosper.
So why is any of this important? It is important because we live in a “two procession world” and Palm Sunday is about making a choice between those two processions. For Jesus and His disciples, their procession through Jerusalem was the moment their faith became real. It was the moment they took a very public stand against the Empire and against violence and evil and subjecting themselves to suppressive rulers. It was the moment when they stood up publicly for the everyday people and the marginalized people of the world. It was the moment that the Christian faith made it very clear that God’s Love is for everyone.
On Palm Sunday Jesus goes public and calls His disciples to make a choice and pick a side–God’s way or Caesar’s way, God’s Way or not, the way of mercy and compassion or the way of judgment and suppression, the way of kindness or the way of dominating, the way of loving someone or tearing them down.
Palm Sunday is a reminder of who Jesus is and who we should be as we follow Him. Palm Sunday reminds us that the way of Jesus is the way of hope, the way of humility. Palm Sunday is a reminder that the last week of Christ’s Life was a lonely and painful road but the Light of Easter would pull Him through.
So, on this Palm Sunday, ask yourself: If you heard that Jesus, the miracle worker, was coming to your city, that He was loved by the people but hated by the authorities, do you see yourself going out into the streets to see Him or hiding so you are not considered one of His followers?
May the palms we take home today remind us to walk with Him though life. If you heard that Jesus was coming to your city, do you see yourself going out into the streets to see Him or hiding so you are not considered one of His followers?
Something to think about.
Amen.