Matthew 21:1-11
A. INTRODUCTION
1. The Royals
A major feature of the news headlines over a number of years, has been the marriages of the royal family, their royal visits (official and unofficial), the birth of their children, and the dysfunction particular within the British royal family. Now not that there’s anything new about that. Indeed, the history of royals everywhere is littered with a number of intrigues.
But one of the features of the royals today, has been the inclusion, and acceptance, of spouses outside of the royal family. People who have previously been divorced, and people who have lived lives away from the scrutiny of being a royal. In other words, people who have gone from relative obscurity to nationwide fame, and in a very short period of time.
2. Jesus the King
And the reason I mention that at all is because in many ways what is happening today is simply a story of history repeating itself.
Because one of the most encouraging and uplifting stories in the bible would have to be the story of the events of Palm Sunday. The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, with all the colour and all the excitement of a royal visit. And yet Jesus too was noted at the time, by many, as being a nobody. He was brought up amongst the common people, and yet on Palm Sunday he was treated as if he were a king.
Now we may not have photographs or souvenirs of the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem, but we do have the story. And I thought it would be appropriate if we revisited the events of that day.
B. PALM SUNDAY
1. The Preparation
And the events of that day all began, not innocently with a quiet visit to Jerusalem, but with Jesus planning and setting up a royal style of visit—a statement of who he was to the people in Jerusalem (who had come far and wide for the following weekend’s Passover Festival). Indeed, Jesus deliberately went out of his way to make the grand entrance of a king.
And, as a consequence, when Jesus and the disciples reached the Mount of Olives, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus sent two disciples ahead to go into the village of Bethpage to get two donkeys, and to return them to him in order that he could sit on them and make his royal entrance.
And the disciples did exactly what he asked. The two disciples collected the donkeys, as they’d been told. Then the disciples put their cloaks on them, Jesus sat on them, and the royal journey into Jerusalem then began.
2. The Reaction
Now, the reaction of the crowd was immediate. Large crowds started to gather from the surrounding countryside, before they even got near the gates of Jerusalem. And the large crowds became so excited that not only did they spread their cloaks on the road, but they cut down tree branches for the donkeys to walk on too. The large crowd was excited about their king coming to Jerusalem. And, for once (despite the Roman occupation) they weren’t afraid to let everyone know.
Indeed, ‘They cried out saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”’ (Matthew 21:9b).
Of course, by the time the royal procession got to Jerusalem, the city was in turmoil. Some in the city weren’t sure what the fuss was about—and in one sense you could understand that. People had gathered from all parts of the world for the Passover celebrations, so there were bound to be people who had little idea of who Jesus was. But the crowd that had followed Jesus on the donkeys put them right. “This is the prophet, Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee” (Matthew 21:11).
3. Comment
It must have been quite a spectacle—just as any modern royal visit. Certain preparations had taken place in terms of where Jesus was going, what he was trying to do, and the method of transport he was going to take. But what was out of Jesus’s hands, though, was the size and reaction of the crowds.
And the response to Jesus’s grand entrance was overwhelming. Jesus may have had a very ordinary upbringing, but, on Palm Sunday, he was received by the people of Jerusalem (and the surrounding towns) with a tremendously warm welcome indeed.
But then, Jesus had been constantly in people’s minds in the previous two to three years. He’d challenged the authorities and sided with the poor. He’d told people all about God—and with an authority that people hadn’t heard before. He’d healed the sick and performed some wonderful miracles. As a consequence, on Palm Sunday, it could be said that he had earned the right to be treated like a king, whether his upbringing was lowly or not.
4. The Later Response
It is very puzzling, then that, a little over four days later, Jesus was arrested, abandoned even by his disciples, and then executed. And where were the crowds? Where were the people who had thrown down their cloaks, singing his praises? Where were the people who had welcomed him into Jerusalem? Well, in a little over four days they had dispersed and wanted nothing to do with their king.
And there was a series of incidents – that turned things sour.
There was a confrontation with the religious leaders in the Temple later that same Palm Sunday. The next day there were more problems with the leaders in the Temple. Later on in the week, people came trying to trick Jesus—trying to give cause which could legitimately lead to Jesus’s execution. And by Thursday night, a plot had been hatched to dispose of Jesus, to get him out of the way for good. So, come Thursday night, and when Judas led the officials and the large crowd to arrest him, even his closest disciples finally fled, leaving Jesus all alone. And that was in sharp contrast to the glorious royal procession only four days before.
Now obviously other things may have happened in those four days besides. But come early Friday morning when the Jerusalem crowd were given a choice of Jesus or Barabbas—one to be crucified and the other to be freed—it was Jesus who got the thumbs down from the crowd. In just over four days, then, the singing and the praising had gone, the triumphal entry had been forgotten, and even the most convinced believer had deserted him.
5. Comment
Of course the motivation for abandoning Jesus would have been varied. For example, Judas was probably disappointed that Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah he was looking for. The disciples were probably in fear of their lives, thinking that if they hung around, they might be crucified too. And the crowd? Well who knows what they thought. Maybe a bit of group pressure to conform? We’ll probably never know the details. But what we do know is that four days was all it took for people to turn from being followers of their king, to totally abandoning the one man who could give them real hope. And that is a real tragedy indeed.
C. IMPLICATIONS
And as I thought about the events of Palm Sunday, and the reactions of the various people over the following four days, I couldn’t help thinking of the depth of faith of the three different groups as they relate to the story. And how that depth relates to where the church is today.
1. The Religious Leaders
And the first group, I want to look at, is the religious leaders.
Now, Jesus’s actions on Palm Sunday in many ways were very provocative. He’d already got the religious leaders offside—particularly because he had pointed to their love of tradition and honour. A love that was reflected in their lack of true faith, and their lack of true caring for the people. As a consequence, when the events of Palm Sunday occurred, they were already looking for a way to dispose of him. And it would have been amazing if that crowd of enthusiastic welcomers had not included some representatives going through the motions of cheering, but really looking for the opportunity to strike.
Now, sadly, twenty centuries later, very little has changed. Because the reality is, that even in today’s church the issues of tradition and honour keep raising their ugly heads. Some people want to hold on to the positions they hold, because it gives them power and honour. And some people are prepared to hold on to the traditions they love, despite the fact that those traditions get in the way of their faith—and create obstacles from others having faith too.
The people who were responsible for plotting the death of Jesus were generally more interested in maintaining the things that they loved, rather than opening up the ways to include other people. The people who were responsible for plotting against Jesus were generally more concerned with maintaining their own positions of authority and power, rather than caring and sharing with those who were less off. And with people with that kind of commitment to tradition, honour, and power, it can be a real problem for a modern church which wants to outreach to the community and wants to show that it cares.
The events that followed as a direct result of Palm Sunday, then, warn us that the pursuit of tradition and honour—where it replaces faith and care—have no position in the church today. Because to pursue tradition and honour and power today—to the loss of faith and care—will not only effectively crucify Jesus a second time, but it will end up totally destroying the church as well.
2. The Crowd
The second group of people was the crowd.
Now, despite the fact that Jesus’s actions were highly provocative, the size of the crowd suggests that, even if there were a few people of dubious motives in the crowd, the majority would have been there for other reasons.
Some would have been curious. Some would have heard great things about Jesus. Some would have been genuinely convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, whatever that might mean to them. Some may have actually witnessed Jesus in action, teaching, showing compassion, or doing some great miracle or other. And many of those who weren’t totally convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, would have probably been drawn in to the enthusiasm and excitement of the crowd—the excitement of the moment. And that kind of mixture—that kind of variety of response—is a feature of the variety of responses that we can expect today too.
In churches today are not just believers, but enquirers, people who love tradition, people who are looking for comfort and hope, and people who have just always come to church.
Now on that basis is it any wonder that the crowd’s enthusiasm quickly waned after Palm Sunday. After all, there was no real depth of faith amongst the majority who were there.
As a consequence, in our churches today, if we have people like that, yes we may see bursts of enthusiasm—enthusiasm for the gospel, what it means, and the urgency in the need to share it. But those same people bit by bit will lose their enthusiasm and fade away.
3. The Disciples
Of course, only the third group, the disciples, were in any real position to appreciate what the triumphal entry into Jerusalem really meant. They were the ones who had witnessed more about Jesus than any other person or group. They were the ones who had heard his teaching, they’d seen the miracles, and they’d witnessed his compassion first hand on numerous occasions. And when Jesus hadn’t been speaking publicly, they were the ones to whom Jesus had made that special effort to teach them the things that no-one else was ready to hear.
And in our churches, there are people like the early disciples too. People who are prepared to leave everything behind, including family and home, to follow him. People who are willing to be faithful, no matter what. And people who are constantly out to learn, to encourage, to care and to share. People who are prepared to face ridicule, and pressures to conform, and even risk life itself, to remain faithful to their Lord and God.
4. The Hitch
Now obviously in the groups present on Palm Sunday, and in the groups which are present in most churches today, only one these types of groups reflect where the church should really be—and that group are the true disciples. The problem is that even in the story of Palm Sunday, even the disciples lasted only a further four days and then they fell apart. Put under pressure, they didn’t last long at all.
And this rather poses a challenge for us all. Because if we all like to think that we fit in to the category of faithful followers, if push comes to shove and we are placed in similar positions where our faith is challenged and even our lives are threatened—in the ways that the disciples’ lives were at risk—would we buckle under like they did or would we stand firm? And that I believe is the real challenge of Palm Sunday.
D. CONCLUSION
Now, as I said at the beginning, there has been a lot of publicity in recent years about the royal family—and not all of it good.
But one of the features of the royals today, has been the inclusion, and acceptance, of spouses outside of the royal family. People who have lived normal lives away from the scrutiny of being a royal. People who have gone from relative obscurity to nationwide fame, and in a very short period of time.
And in this passage from Matthew’s gospel, we have another royal visit to consider. Jesus’s visit—his final one—to the people of Jerusalem. Jesus . . . Someone who had moved from total obscurity to someone who had really made a name for himself.
In the crowd that greeted him there were the disciples, there would have been people with different levels of interest in what he stood for, and there would have been some who were looking for a way to maintain their own interests. And those three groups of people are still represented in our churches today.
And that means, as we consider this passage from the Bible today, there are two questions we need to ask ourselves: The first is, ‘To which group do we belong? Which of the three groups fits us best?’ (And that is a question we all need to answer).
And the second question (directed only to those who consider themselves to be true believers) is, ‘How seriously do we take our faith? Because given similar circumstances to the disciples would our faith survive intact for more than just four days?
Posted: 12th February 2023
© 2023, Brian A Curtis
www.brianacurtis.com.au
