PALM SUNDAY

 

Picture it! Jerusalem 32AD! Things were crowded and tense in Jerusalem when Jesus arrived for the Passover. It was worse than Derby Day in Louisville the year cruising was outlawed on Broadway! Jesus; popularity with the masses had reached fever pitch. The jealousy of religious leaders had reached the boiling point! The government’s worry bordered on paranoid.  The whole city was on edge that year! 

Everyone in authority, as well as Jesus himself, knew that his arrival in the city under these circumstances smacked of a showdown. Everybody seemed to know that the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem during the Passover could set off a riot!

When the great crowd that had come to the feast

heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they

took palm branches and went out to meet him,

throwing their coats on the road.

Palm waving and the throwing of coats on the road was not just some spontaneous gesture of welcome. These two actions had serious political overtones. People threw their coats on the road when a new king arrived to ascend his throne and palm waving was a symbol of Jewish nationalism akin to a rebel flag.  Even though the people had tried to make Jesus a king, in hopes that he would be the one to throw the hated Romans out of their land, Jesus had said “no” on more than one occasion to being the political revolutionary they wanted.  This was one of the temptations presented to Jesus in the desert even before he began his ministry. With the crowds in that frame of mind, no wonder the Roman authorities were nervous about the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem that day!

In response to the people’s misguided reception as some kind of political revolutionary, Jesus deliberately came into the city, not in a chariot pulled by white horses, but on the back of a jackass. By choosing that kind of animal, the animal of the poor, Jesus made the statement that he did not come with political power, but with spiritual power! The people just didn’t want to hear it. They wanted a powerful Jewish king and so this symbol of humility simply went over their heads!

Palm Sunday has a lot to teach the Church, even today! My friends, our power is not to be found in political power, no matter how many preachers still try to snuggle up to politicians even today. Our power is even more powerful than political power. Empires and kingdoms have come and gone, but Christianity is still around. We have spiritual power – the power of Jesus himself! Now we only need to own it and unleash it for the good of the world!  We have Pope Francis leading us there! The less worldly power he claims, the more powerful he becomes!