Lent Week 6: Palm Sunday

Scripture

Luke 19:29-40 Common English Bible

As Jesus came to Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he gave two disciples a task. He said, “Go into the village over there. When you enter it, you will find tied up there a colt that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘Its master needs it.’” Those who had been sent found it exactly as he had said.

As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

They replied, “Its master needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their clothes on the colt, and lifted Jesus onto it. As Jesus rode along, they spread their clothes on the road.

As Jesus approached the road leading down from the Mount of Olives, the whole throng of his disciples began rejoicing. They praised God with a loud voice because of all the mighty things they had seen. They said,

“Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens.”

Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, scold your disciples! Tell them to stop!”

He answered, “I tell you, if they were silent, the stones would shout.”

Reflection

Jesus rides in on a borrowed mama donkey and a mama donkey’s baby humbly and courageously mocking of the powers of the world- the powers that depend on violence and oppression. 

Alexander the Great had his horse Bucephalus go down in history as a legend of war. Napoleon had Marengo, Simon Bolivar had Palomo, Robert E Lee had traveller.

This however, was different.

While other leaders stir up fear, hatred, and anger. Jesus is stirring up the “thing with feathers / that perches in the soul / and sings the tune without the words / and never stops - at all.” Hope. Stirring up a hope that is unending. 

Here Luke seems acutely focused on the kingship of Jesus giving us just the facts and the pageantry turns political, as any witnessing it would have realized. 

Jesus doesn’t instigate his own parade. Instead, just his quiet presence alone inspires the multitude to shout out and praise God. When the religious leaders try to silence the crowd, Jesus tells them that the noise level isn’t the point—even the stones would cry out if they were silent. 

We might imagine Jesus embodies divine silence as he rides the colt through the cloaks and crowds. This event marks a pivotal turning point; Jesus enters the holy in-between of his final days before he departs from this world. His entry marks the beginning of the end. Maybe his silence helped steady and prepare him for what was to come. Divine silence, or silence has a way of restoring us in some way. Maybe the praise from the disciples gave him strength. What a sight it must've been to see all the praise an adulation going towards someone with such humility. What an embarrassment to those who take pride in their power and privilege.

If you were to press your ear up close to this story, you might begin to hear the shouting—from the disciples, crowds, and even the stones. You might hear the singing, the shuffling of feet, the gentle landing of cloaks on the ground. You might hear some of the Pharisees yelling, begging Jesus to silence the uproar. Amidst all the noise, Jesus remains mostly silent and calm. He states that even the stones will not be silenced, which dampens the Pharisees’ complaints. Jesus knows that hope, that love, that truth will prevail.

Questions

On a borrowed donkey from a gracious neighbor, on crowd-sourced paths accompanied by loud rejoicing, Jesus wept on arrival, knowing full well what we humans are capable of doing to each other. He rode right into what stones have seen: criminalization and death-dealing decisions, dehumanization and denial of dignity, disregard for expansive beauty. What would stones shout? What do you shout? What do you silence?

How would you describe the type of kingship Jesus embodies? Is this discordant with what people might have expected?

As Jesus descends from the Mount of Olives, “the whole multitude” of the disciples begin praising God. When have you lifted your voice in exultant praise? Have you ever joined in shouting and singing with a crowd during a political march or rally? What do you remember about those experiences? What did you feel in your body?

Some of the Pharisees plead for Jesus to silence the crowds. Why do the Pharisees want the disciples and crowds to be silenced? What do they fear?