‘The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.’ (John 12:12-16)
Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.”
― Saint Augustine
Today is Palm Sunday. Growing up in a Methodist church, for me, it meant being given a cross made from dried palm leaves which, by the time I had got home, was so frayed it looked more like a wicker basket than a cross!
What are your memories of Psalm Sunday?
When I read the verse from John 12 (see above), the thing that stands out for me is how the crowd was both right and wrong at the same time. In fact, the crowds ‘wrongness’ amps up the events that happen over the coming days that led to Jesus’ death on the cross. What do I mean by being both right and wrong?
A wrong picture of kingliness
The crowd were right (and gloriously so) to proclaim with loud voices that Jesus was ‘The King of Israel’ (v13). Yet the issue, and it was a major issue, was the picture of kingliness that they were carrying around in their heads. They wanted a king who would release the nation from the shame and oppression of Roman occupation. They wanted a revolutionary/military leader. Part of the shame that was dealt out by the Romans just a few days later was to hammer a sign above Jesus’ head, whilst hanging on the cross that stated ‘This is the King of the Jews’ (Luke 23:38). From the Roman occupiers’ perspective they had crushed yet another wannabe ‘king’.
Yet Jesus was (and still is) a King. In fact, he is not just any king but The King (Rev 19:13, 16). However, the image of kingship that these people were carrying around in their heads was far too small. Ridding Israel of an occupying nation was such an inconsequential activity for the true King who had come as a true revolutionary to rescue a global people from Satan’s occupation (Heb 2:14), sin’s imprisonment (Eph 2) and death’s final blow (Rom 6:23; Rev 1:18).
This Sunday, can I encourage us to look afresh, beyond a small patch of land in the Middle East to a cosmic King who was coming to Jerusalem, not to win some temporary earthly victory but rather, an everlasting victory and to show his Kingship of a the true Israel (Gal 6:16) and even a whole new creation (2 Cor 5:17)!
If we underplay the magnitude of what Jesus was doing, sadly we end up joining the crowd in being right and yet wrong.
Let me finish with a prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, we’ll exhaust the glory of this passage when the Amazon River flows backwards, the sun turns into a snow cone, and YellowFin Tuna yodel. Who is it that fulfils Zechariah’s magnificent vision (Zac. 9:9-12)? It is you, King Jesus, and we welcome you and rejoice in you on this Palm Sunday.
No other king could vanquish warhorses and warriors, riding the foal of a donkey. No other king could break the battle bow and backbone of warfare, by the brokenness of the cross. No other king could replace the dominion of darkness and the tyranny of evil, with an eternal reign of grace and peace.
No other king would give his life and death for the redemption of rebels and idolaters like us. No other king can possibly make slaves of sin into prisoners of hope.
Lord Jesus, you are that King—the King of glory, the Monarch of mercy, the Governor of grace, the Prince of Peace—the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Great is our rejoicing, because grace is our salvation! You have come to us and for us—righteous and victorious, loving and sovereign.
By the riches of your grace, continue to free us from waterless pits, broken cisterns and worthless idols. By the power of the gospel, enable us to live as prisoners of hope and agents of redemption, until the Day you return to finish making all things new. So very Amen we pray, in your holy and matchless name.