Brief synopsis of the readings: Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week and the readings this week are unusual. We begin in the 19th chapter of Luke’s Gospel. Jesus and his disciples, on their way to Jerusalem, approach the Mount of Olives. Jesus told two of his disciples to find donkey and bring it to him. They found one and began to take him but the owner asked what they were doing. They told him “The Master has need of it” and this appeared to satisfy the owner. As he rode into Jerusalem the crowd spread their cloaks on the ground and began to praise God. They called him a king and the Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke his disciples. But Jesus replied that “if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” The Gospel reading picks up a little later on in Luke and begins with the Last Supper. That scene recounts Jesus blessing the bread and wine but also Jesus makes several predictions (e.g. Peter’s denial that he knew Jesus). It then recounts Jesus in the Mount of Olives where he begged God to “take this cup away from me.” Judas then betrayed Jesus who was arrested. After a mock trial Jesus was then sent to the Roman ruler Pilate who condemned Jesus to death. Jesus was then beaten and crucified between two criminals. After Jesus died he was taken down and was buried in a tomb.

Preaching on Palm Sunday brings certain difficulties. The readings are long and the priest will often encourage the congregation to sit during the Gospel. Good priests will shorten the homily but since I’m not preaching in front of a congregation and don’t have to worry about the length of the mass, I’ll keep mine to its usual length. If you’re using this for your own congregation, feel free to edit.

I’ve always been fascinated by Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Not all Jews lived in Jerusalem by the time of Jesus, and we know that Jesus lived in Nazareth. But large numbers of Jews journeyed to Jerusalem each year to celebrate Passover and it made Jerusalem a busy place. Additionally, what we now call the “old city” has had several gates providing entry. I can’t find anything that clearly told me who entered where or what made the divisions but I think we can safely assume gate entrance was tied to wealth and status and we can safely assume Jesus entered though a smaller gate.

It reminds me of an epic scene in the movie Gandhi. The movie begins with Gandhi in South Africa but he returned to India by ship in 1915. The same ship brought another passenger, a member of the British ruling class. In the scene we see the Brit disembarking to great fanfare, several VIP’s and a band. But someone notices a commotion by the exit for the lesser class and is told that Gandhi was leaving by that exit. That scene in the movie foreshadows the class struggle that will lead to India’s independence in 1947.

I find a parallel here with Jesus. He’s not entering by the main gate but there is still a commotion. As I’ve said many times we have the benefit of history to know that this event begins the journey to the cross and the Resurrection. But those gathered there didn’t. When we see events in the Gospels, Jesus is normally just with his disciples and he journeys to where he will teach. But here the crowds are there to greet him. And in fact, he gives instructions that he will ride into town on a donkey; being mounted on a beast was a sign of importance and authority. Did Jesus do this to bring attention to himself?

We don’t know but that doesn’t sound like Jesus. Well, this is partly to fulfill a prophecy from Zechariah where the king rides on a donkey as a sign of humility. In other words, his humility is shown in that he didn’t ride in on a horse. Conquerors declare victory by riding a horse and Jesus clearly is not a conqueror. And this is shown by Jesus being called a king by the crowd (this made the Pharisees nervous as it would be seen by the Romans as a threat).

And so perhaps Jesus entered Jerusalem in a way that “threaded the needle.” We see him as a king, but a peaceful king. He is not here to conquer but to give new life. He doesn’t do battle with swords, but instead promises eternal life and eternal love. It’s a hard needle to thread, even today. Faith has become politicized in a way that has made many of us uneasy. If we look around we can see countless expressions of triumphalism, where we are told that people of other faiths are the enemy and are in need of being vanquished. Jesus on a horse would have made more sense.

But again, our Jesus was not a conqueror and he was not about defeating anyone. Nor was he someone who snuck in under cover of darkness. Instead he was what we today would call a “servant leader.” And this was supposed to set the theme for becoming the Church we are today. We can see this clearly in the way that his followers laid their cloaks in his path; it was the “red carpet” of his time to recognize the importance of what was happening here.

A week from today we will celebrate a Christ who rises not from a battlefield strewn with the bodies of our enemies, nor someone who used trickery to announce his presence. He will rise in a way that is almost whisper like, a way that even his closest disciples did not recognize.

As we begin Holy Week let us take a lesson from that donkey. We live with the reality that goodness will win, that love will win, and we will win. Not by the sword and horses, but by a man on a lone donkey.