Bible Tuesday for Palm Sunday, 2016

The Processional Gospel for Palm Sunday

Luke 19:28-40

After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

As this passage begins, “After he had said this…” one needs to read the passage preceding this one, as this one leans and is in reaction to or precedes from what happened in the previous passage. The beginning of Luke 19 is the story of Zacchaeus, the story of a man completely changed, freed, through his encounter with Jesus. The Zacchaeus story closes with Jesus saying, “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Then comes the “Parable of the Ten Pounds”.

The context of this parable is that Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem and comes near. Because Jesus is now very near Jerusalem, the crowds and disciples, “supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.” In response to this heightened anticipation, Jesus tells this parable about a man who “went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return…But the citizens of his country hated him and sent out a delegation after him saying, ‘We do not want you to rule over us.’” When the man returns with royal power, he asks his slaves to report on how the have invested the money he gave them as he left. Some did well while one buried the money in the ground. The ones who invested are rewarded while the one who buried the money. Then those who sent the delegation stating their displeasure are brought before the man and slaughtered.

So what does the Palm Sunday story have to do with Zacchaeus and this parable? It was Jewish tradition as stated in Zechariah 14 that God would appear at the Mount of Olives on The Day of the Lord and become king over all the earth. When Jesus instructs the two disciples to get the unridden colt, they are to use the royal prerogative, “The Master has need of it.” Zechariah 9 describes the tradition of victorious Israelite kings riding into Jerusalem on male donkeys. While Luke does not mention the palm branches being cut and waved, he does mention the cloaks laid on the ground for the donkey to tread on, again following royal tradition. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord,” is the chant that accompanies a new king as he is entering the city to be crowned. Herod is king of the Jews and rules Jerusalem under Roman authority. Yet Jesus is being proclaimed king! “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!” These are the vary words the angels sang to the shepherds when they announced Jesus’ birth. But the Pharisees, the Jewish religion/political party who share many of Jesus’ teachings and beliefs, scold and admonish Jesus to stop this royal acclamation. The Pharisees do not recognized God riding into Jerusalem to take the throne and reign forever.

The parable that Jesus tells right before Palm Sunday foretells exactly what will happen on Palm Sunday and throughout Passion Week. The Israelites see God as absent while they suffer under Roman rule. God/Jesus returns with kingly authority and there are those Jewish leaders who did lead people with mercy and justice and they will be in charge of much after Jesus is crowned (with thorns, albeit) but there are Jewish leaders who ignore the treasure God has laid in their hands and lead with their own egos and laws, not God’s love. From them, they responsibility and authority will be taken and given to others, like Zacchaeus, who prove faithful to God’s way of ruling.

Jesus entry into Jerusalem really is exactly what the Old Testament prophets foretold. It is all coming to fulfillment in this moment. All heaven rejoices and a little bit of earth too. For this reason, if the crowds would stop singing, the stones would start up. God’s promises are being fulfilled in this long awaited act!