MT 21: 1-13
Matthew in the Margins…Palm Sunday Liturgy…Revised 2020
The point the procession makes is the kind of rule Jesus comes to bring, & the kind of religion! The procession may end at v. 11, but we need Jesus to reach the Temple in v.12, & throw down the gauntlet in v.13 for it all to come together.
Clive Sansom (‘The Witnesses’) contrasts Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey with Pilate ‘bouncing the same road on that horse of his…armour shining…half Rome trotting behind him’. Jesus is acting out Zechariah’s prophecy, deliberately & provocatively! He’s driving what’s going on! Not simply letting Himself be carried away by an event set in motion by others. Not yet!
W.H. Vanstone1 argues a case for Jesus being the 'subject' of the situation until he becomes the 'object' by allowing himself to be handed over to His enemies in the garden. I wonder, though, if Jesus isn’t setting in motion this ‘letting Himself be handed over’ process earlier still; on Palm Sunday. Or, has it started even sooner, with His raising Lazarus? His secrecy in borrowing a donkey today strongly suggests He’s not going to prejudice His calling the shots without interference until it’s time to let go & let God. Who’s calling the shots in our Palm Sunday celebrations with Corona Virus in our midst?
The introduction of a colt into the story as well as the donkey simply reflects the parallelism of the Hebrew poetry of ZECH [9:9]. There is no second donkey! But it’s an example of how things creep into our stories. What incidents, do we embroider, allow to take on new life in re-telling, face to face, or, say, on Twitter, or Facebook? Would we lend Jesus our donkey - or anything else - on the strength of what sounds an embroidered story of His being Messiah?
MT wants us to see people who follow Jesus as able to recognise a true king, of a new & different kind, when they see one. Liturgy puts those words of recognition on our own lips with its: ‘Blessed is he……' But are we prepared to go further than just cheering Jesus’ procession on? Will we go on to enter the city with Him, & do what needs to be done there? Till we reach that ‘green hill far away outside a city wall’? Are we up for what that may entail these days, inside or outside our own city walls?
Brian
Afterthought: Words from a hymn by John Bell & Graham Maule2 sum up the Jesus who declares his hand on Palm Sunday: ‘Praise the Son who feeds the hungry, frees the captive, finds the lost, heals the sick, upsets religion, fearless both of fate and cost’. Well may we say, or, preferably, sing: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” And mean it with every fibre of our being!
1 The Stature of Waiting’, DLT, ’82 2 Wild Goose Songs 1, Wild Goose Publications
