Palm Sunday (Luke 19:28-46)

This incident is recorded in each of the Gospels, a reminder of its significance in understanding who Jesus is. We know from John’s Gospel that it took place on the day after he was anointed by Mary of Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. It took place on the first day of the final week of Jesus’ life on earth. This perspective should cause us to look for clues as to how he felt at that time.

The provision of the colt

From one point of view, it is possible to regard this incident as the spontaneous outpouring of an enthusiastic crowd glad that Jesus had come to the annual Passover and who were hoping that he would do something about their captivity to Rome. No doubt, many of the crowd reacted in this way. Yet it is also obvious that Jesus was in control of events, and we can see this from how he obtained the colt to sit on when he entered the city.

Luke’s account informs us that Jesus knew where the colt was, that it was tied, and that no one had ever sat on it. It is possible to suggest that Jesus had arranged for a colt to be made available, but even if he had it is surprising that he would be able to say where it was at that moment. He was not referring to a street that was far away. Instead it was one where his description could be checked easily. The possession of such knowledge indicates that Jesus was divine.

Another intriguing feature of the colt is that no one had ever sat on it. The expected response to anyone who tried would be for the colt to try and throw him off. Clearly, Jesus wanted to sit on this particular colt. We might say that is not a problem for Jesus because he is God and therefore able to control the animal. No doubt, it is possible that was how he controlled the animal. Yet I wonder if there is another explanation, which is that the animal recognised in some way that its Creator was going to use it. The reasons why animals are afraid of humans is that we are sinful. But what would happen when a sinless man sat on it? On this occasion, the colt did not object.

There is a third surprising feature of this incident and that is the presence nearby of secret disciples. How do we know that there were secret disciples there? Because of the way that the spoke about Jesus when the disciples went to get the colt. In obedience to Jesus, the disciples told the owners that the Lord needed the colt. The response of the owners was to let the Lord have the colt, and they must have had some regard for Jesus and some knowledge of who he was when they accepted that he was Lord. Moreover, they showed their recognition of his Lordship by letting the disciples take the colt away. So we can suggest that Jesus used this incident to make some people acknowledge that they recognised that Jesus was the Lord.

Of course, we should try and imagine the two disciples that Jesus sent to collect the colt. They were in danger of getting arrested as thieves when they took the colt away. Maybe they considered that possibility as they went to get it. Nevertheless, on their return, they would tell the others that because they did what Jesus told them to do they did not have any problems. Simple obedience to his instructions brought about the desired result. And that is a good lesson for us to learn as well.

There is another detail here that fits in with what we know of Jesus, and that is his poverty. Jesus always had to borrow things, whether it was a boat or a place to stay. Here he is, about to take part in a parade that will highlight his greatness, and he has to borrow the colt on which he is to sit.

The procession

It is obvious from the description of the procession that it was perceived as a royal occasion. The crowd recognised that it was the arrival of a king. Of course, several normal features associated with the arrival of a ruler were missing. It is striking that Jesus did not have any soldiers in his retinue. Surely, the absence of them would have been observed. Soldiers would normally have been present even if it was a victory parade. The fact that Jesus had no soldiers was a statement of two things: one was that his mission was one of peace and the other was that any fighting that had to be done would be performed by himself.

Of course, we know that both these matters were at the centre of his mission and that both of them were connected to where he was going during this final week. No one in the crowd expected him to go to Calvary, but he knew that was his destination. There he would deal with the issues preventing peace, and there he would deal with the invisible enemies that enslaved the human race. At Calvary, he would pay the penalty of sin and make it possible for sinners to have peace with God. There he also would defeat the powers of darkness and provide the basis for setting free from their dominion all who would trust in him.

Other Gospels tell us that the incident was a fulfilment of prophecy that highlighted the kind of king that Jesus is. The choice of transport indicated that the predominant feature of his character was humility. We are familiar with his own self-description that he was gentle and lowly in heart. Humility points to the perfection of his humanity. And he displayed in situations in which, for others, the temptation to pride would have been at its strongest. Although he was the king, he was still the servant of the Lord who humbled himself to the point of death. And here he is, nearing the day and the location when he would die.

The praise of the disciples

Luke informs us that the disciples together began to praise God. By disciples, he means more than the twelve. There was a large number of them and their reasons for being there were different. Some of them had witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus (John 12:17). Others would have been with him as he journeyed to Jerusalem and would have seen, for example, the healing of blind Bartimaeus. We are told about two of their actions: (1) what they did with their cloaks and (2) what they did with their voices.

With regard to their cloaks, two things occurred. First, some of them used them as a kind of saddle to sit on, and second, some of them spread their cloaks on the road so that the donkey would walk along it. Why did they do this? Normally, a donkey would be ridden bareback. So this little action of putting cloaks on the donkey for Jesus to sit on showed that the disciples did not regard Jesus as an ordinary person. Little things are important and they can say a lot.

Then others in the crowd started putting their cloaks on the road, and the other Gospels tell us that they also cut down palm branches and placed them on the road. I suppose we could say that this custom was the equivalent of a red carpet that is used when an important person arrives. It was a statement that the person riding the donkey was different, that the normal road was not suitable for him. Instead, they covered up the normal road. It is only a symbolic gesture, but it was a very public one. Each person who did this was willing to give up their cloak in order for Jesus to be honoured.

We are not surprised that they would want to sing. After all, the singing is a verbal explanation of what they were doing with the cloaks and the branches. Their words made clear to others that they were delighted that the King had come. Many of them had seen his mighty works, and they had deduced that he was the Messiah, the King that God would send

But what would they want to sing? They combined different ideas in their song. There is a connection to Psalm 118:26, about the one who comes in the name of the Lord, except that they changed ‘he’ to ‘the King’. They realised that Jesus fulfilled that verse in the psalm. It is a psalm that is full of Jesus and we can read it and see some things that perhaps those singing in this incident did not realise, for example, about Jesus being the rejected stone who became the head cornerstone. And they added to the verse a statement about peace and glory, which is probably connected to the way that Jesus had ridden peacefully into the city.

Of course, we know that the singers were not aware of why Jesus was coming into the city. They did not know that he was going to be crucified in a few days. Yet we can read the story with deeper understanding they had, and also sing the psalm with greater awareness than they had. We can, as it were, join in the song because we actually know what really took place. The King has entered the city to go the cross of shame, to experience not the adulation of the masses, but the isolation of Calvary. And yet he keeps on directing the donkey onwards, knowing that each step takes him closer to his arranged engagement. He is going to be crowned, but there is a big battle to take place before that will happen.

As expected, there were those present who spoiled the experience. The Pharisees had their say in verse 39, and we can see that one thing they did not want to say was that Jesus was King. Instead for them, he was only a teacher with a bunch of unruly disciples. It is likely that they knew well the psalm and the passage from Zechariah that was fulfilled in front of their eyes. But they were blind to the amazing reality that they were criticising.

The prophecy that Jesus gave

Sometimes when something notable happens to a person we see his or her outward response, but we are not really sure what the person truly thinks about the situation. In contrast to such, we know what Jesus thought of the city. He knew that it did not appreciate what was happening, and he also knew that in forty years’ time judgement was coming when the Romans would destroy the city in AD 70. Of course, his description of that future event is another evidence that he is divine. Yet how did he react to their current indifference and their future destruction? He wept. What a climax to the parade!

This is a reminder that Jesus has a love of compassion for those who will never become his followers. Many in the city at that time refused to believe in him, and the inhabitants who would live in the city during the next four decades continued to reject him and frequently persecuted his church. Yet he wept over them. He wept for them even although he knew that many of them would soon call for his crucifixion, that in the process they would prefer a bandit to him. The question that challenges us is whether or not we are like Jesus concerning those who are perishing.

Here we have an example of Jesus as the Man of Sorrows. His disciples are rejoicing, his opponents are complaining, and Jesus is weeping. The disciples may have assumed that the procession indicated great days for Jerusalem, but Jesus knew that the opposite was the case. There is something in his sorrow that made him isolated even from those who loved him and wanted to honour him.

Preached on 18th September 2016