Sometimes we can be so focused on staying on top of all the details of having a guest arrive and stay with us that we forget to enjoy why they’re even visiting in the first place. Different guests can lead to different distractions or matters on which we focus. When in-laws visit, for example, we might be so fixated on making sure that nothing goes wrong so there is nothing to criticize. If it’s a friend that we’re excited about doing a bunch of activities with, then the focus is on making sure all of those activities are lined up and ready to go. In such cases, the time can come and go so quickly that after the fact we realize it was such a whirlwind that we didn’t really even get to enjoy their company or appreciate why they visited in the first place.
Let’s be careful to avoid making that mistake during Holy Week as we reflect on Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Let’s be deliberate about taking the time to appreciate why he arrived in the first place.
As is the tradition in many of our congregations, during the season of Lent we have midweek services that typically draw out the events of Holy Week and spread out their focus over the five weeks after Ash Wednesday. Those five weeks generally cover what happens over the course of this one week, Holy Week, from Palm Sunday until Good Friday.
This week then, we take a very focused look at Jesus’ journey and how it changed from the cheers at his entry into Jerusalem to the jeers of the crowds and criminals at his cross. And as we follow Jesus once again, we see him as the prophet Zechariah did – as our King. More than that – he is our Conquering King, and on this day we celebrate the Arrival of our Conquering King.
Are you surprised to see our Conquering King be so concerned about the details of his entry into Jerusalem? Was this the standard operating procedure as Jesus entered a new city or town? Did he always send his disciples (always the same two?) ahead of him to make sure everything was just right before coming to town? Was Jesus like the celebrity or performer who has a very specific list of standard requirements for travel or accommodations? Did things have to be a certain way before he would arrive on the scene or did he ever just waltz into town quietly and unassumingly?
This was different. Jerusalem was not just another stop on his tour of preaching his message and performing his miracles. This was the destination. This was where he came to die. It sounds so morbid to state it like that, doesn’t it? He came to Jerusalem to die.
We don’t like to be faced with the blunt reality of death. We don’t like to know we’re at the point where death is so quickly approaching that we must make arrangements for it. We need to prepare for it as we anticipate death creeping and lurking nearer and nearer. And it’s one thing to have to handle such responsibilities for ourselves (which most of us are OK neglecting or putting off until “someday” that so often arrives finding us ill-prepared), but it is another thing to be the one tasked with carrying out those responsibilities on behalf of someone else.
Though they were unlikely aware of it, that was precisely what the two disciples Jesus sent were doing – making arrangements for his death.
Given the circumstances then, it isn’t a surprise that Jesus made such detailed arrangements to enter Jerusalem to die. Much is made of the manner by which Jesus entered Jerusalem. We draw attention to the donkey and the humility it symbolizes (and a borrowed one, no less – Jesus didn’t even own his own ride!). This is certainly in keeping with Jesus, who is literally the perfect embodiment of humility, as described in Philippians 2.
It has also been pointed out that in those days when a king paraded on a donkey, as opposed to a decorated war horse, there was a good reason. It was to communicate that they were not at war with anyone, but were enjoying a time of peace. These are valid truths and considerations as we see our Conquering King Arrive.
But we don’t want to overlook the simplest explanation of all for Jesus entering Jerusalem atop a donkey: he had to. As Matthew explains, the prophet Zechariah foretold it would happen that way, and so it had to. “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ‘Say to Zion, “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey’” (Mt. 21:4-5). With this prophecy, the prophet Zechariah added his own brushstroke to God’s Old Testament canvas whereby he was prophetically painting a picture so that believers awaiting the Messiah would know what to look for. So, since Zechariah described his Jerusalem entry this way, it had to be this way.
What kind of king, after all, doesn’t deliver on his promises? A king or authority that makes promises while vying for a position or trying to get elected into power who then goes back on those promises or leaves them unkept is not likely to remain in that position very long. The confidence of his people will dwindle and along with it, so will his power. He must hold himself to what he claimed he would do. That is expected of anyone in a position of authority.
As far as Jesus is concerned, consider the damage that would have been done if he had not carried out all that was foretold of him. What would that have done to the credibility of his message? Which of his words were to be trusted? To not do what the prophets and what he himself said he would do would have completely undermined his preaching. And if his message could not be trusted, then his actions would have been brought into question. The cross would have been emptied of its power and the empty tomb rendered insignificant. Jesus’ words had to be backed up by his actions so that his actions could give power to his words. So he arrived just as Zechariah said he would.
And when he did, as foggy as the crowds were on the implications of his arrival, they knew who he was. “The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’” (v.9). The designation Son of David was not one thrown around lightly – it was a title reserved for the Messiah. “Hosanna” meant “save us!”, so the word was being spread around that the man riding atop the donkey was in fact the One God had promised to deliver his people.
What appears to be quite clear over the course of this most holy of weeks in the church year is that the crowds were quite unaware of how God would deliver his people through this Messiah. The lack of a crown or scepter or any sort of armed guard or soldiers accompanying Jesus was not at this point a cause for concern. The people of Jerusalem were used to revolts and rebellions. Others had pushed back against Roman rule and oppression, so it wouldn’t have been strange at all to see Jesus follow that same path of uprising and opposition on his way to the throne.
But they most assuredly didn’t expect the remainder of the week after Jesus’ arrival to play out as it did. Throughout history, kingdoms and the kings who ruled over them asserted themselves by some show of force. They wielded weapons to shed the blood of all enemies in their path. They destroyed the opposition and eliminated any and all threats. They struck fear into those they defeated and ruled with might.
This Conquering King, however, came to establish an unparalleled kingdom that would never end. And he did it in a radically different way.
He wouldn’t do it by asserting himself, but rather by offering himself. He wouldn’t do it by a show of force, but through what appeared to be a disgraceful display of weakness. He wouldn’t do it by spilling the blood of his enemies, but by spilling his own blood. This Conquering King did not rise up to some elevated throne in a worthy palace, but was instead raised up on a cross flanked by criminals.
Apparently, those realities did not measure up to the expectations of many in the crowds as Jesus entered Jerusalem. By the end of the week, it was no longer a welcome party receiving Jesus, but a vicious mob calling for his head. Jesus did not fit the description of the kind of conquering king they anticipated and demanded. So instead of the week concluding with a grand coronation, it ended with a gruesome crucifixion.
It is a good time to reevaluate our relationship with this King this time of year. Is he the kind of Conquering King you want to rule over you? Or did you – do you – sometimes feel as if he is a letdown? Did you have higher hopes that he’d address and fix more of your first-world problems? Do you find yourself too busy for him because he doesn’t seem to be doing too much for you in the way of helping you become more successful in your work or relationships? Does the commitment of adoring this King in worship take you away from too many other far more “important” activities going on in your preoccupied life?
That’s OK. He came anyway. Your Conquering King Arrived, not because he knew he’d find such a welcome place in your heart, but because he knew everything that was wrong with your heart, and mine, and everyone else’s.
So he came anyway. He came to do something about it. He came to allow his own heart to give out in death so that he could give us new hearts filled with life through his forgiveness and salvation. On Palm Sunday, the crowds shouted their hosannas and Jesus answered – he saved. Them. And you. And me. From hell.
May the Lord renew our appreciation this week of why our Conquering King Arrived: to meet our greatest need. He came to save us.