Our neighbor George recently commented on the importance of the events of Holy Week leading up to Easter. At the same time, he raised the question that maybe not enough emphasis/importance has been placed on Palm Sunday.
Good point, George.
In the events leading up to the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, the Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus made a personal decision that his ministry was over with the words "he set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51 NRSV).
Late in his ministry, Jesus began to teach that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering; be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes; be killed; and after three days, rise again (Mark 8:31). Apparently, his disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying and were afraid to ask. On the other hand, the disciple Thomas said to his fellow followers, "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16).
For some, there is an interpretation based on selected Christian biblical thought that an atoning blood sacrifice was necessary because of the sins of humankind. They would add that sin separates us from God; therefore, Jesus had to die for this to be accomplished. In this view, Jesus knew from the moment he set his foot on the earth that it was his Father's will that he must die. His mission or destiny on earth was to lay down his life as a perfect, spotless and eternal sacrifice once and for all. The popular hymn "How Great Thou Art" contains the verse "and when I think that God his Son not sparing sent him to die, I scarce can take it in." I have a problem with that verse because God did not send his Son to die but rather to be obedient, and there is a difference.
Apparently, Jesus knew that once he entered the city of Jerusalem, he would never get out alive. Since Jesus did not have a death wish nor was he suicidal, why did he enter the city?
Jesus planned his entrance very carefully. He chose Passover when thousands of religious Jews would be in the city. He also carefully selected the donkey to ride on because based on an Eastern tradition, it was an animal of peace rather than a horse, which was an animal of war.
He made his decision based both on his own free will (John 10:18) and on obedience to God. Jesus was free to choose between life and death. He chose obedience. His prayer "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" sets the tone.
Coming into the city as a Messiah figure, Jesus challenged not only the religious leaders but also those in power and the people themselves. His challenge is that love, not hate; love, not division; love, not separation; love, not war, is the will of God. He came into the city as the promised Messiah king, but a radically different type of Messiah than they had expected. He was offering liberation and freedom based on obedience to God. In that sense, it was a revolutionary and radical offer, and it was misunderstood by those who cheered him and those who hated him. It is still a revolutionary and radical offer today.
If that obedience was an "obedience unto death" (Philippians 2:8), then so let it be. I believe the Apostle Paul touches on this theme when he writes "for just as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19).
As the Easter people, like Jesus, we are called to obedience. Obedience can be a scary thing, but it is our calling. We are called to celebrate the victory of Jesus over sin, death and darkness. We are called at the same time to open our hearts and lives to the new life offered in his resurrection and to change our lives.
Let the dialogue continue. I simply ask that you think on these things.
