Palm Sunday, 14 April Luke 19:28-48
Written by Dr Graham Leo. ©2019.
There is so much going on in this narrative that we can't do more than just scratch the surface in this short reflection. It’s worth an hour’s lecture, at least. So here’s a very little.
Imagine a city which is always in tension. The Romans know that at any moment, the touchpaper could be lit and the powder keg which was Jewish religious nationalism could be set off. Pontius Pilate knew that every year at Passover time, he needed to keep the lid on these excitable fanatics.
The top religious people, the Sadducees, relied on the Romans to keep them in power and keep their money machine going. So they had a strong vested interest in keeping things quiet, too. Annas, Caiaphas and all the rest of the family and hangers-on knew what they had to do to keep their political careers safe.
So when Jesus comes into town, they all know that trouble is likely. Sure enough, it happens. Jesus doesn't just come in with a handful of ragged followers looking for a shower, a haircut, and a good feed of matzos. He comes in at the head of a wild procession. They even managed to get a donkey from somewhere. (Memo from Annas: send the Temple Secret Police to find who lent that donkey to the rebel. Make him suffer.)
And as if that weren't bad enough, that whole crazy mob of ne’er-do-wells, tax-collectors, prostitutes, beggars and hundreds of the town folk joined him. (Memo from Annas: send the Temple Secret Police to find out who organised this rent-a-crowd. Find out if he’s got a wife and kids. You know what to do.)
Joined him?!? They didn't just join him! They pandered to him! They treated him as if he were a rock star, royalty, a Messiah, even. Who would have known that those stinking common people, who couldn't tell one piece of cutlery from another, and who only washed their clothes every other month, could have known so much scripture!
Because that was what they were doing. There were six Psalms (Ps. 113-118) that were well-known as the Hallel Psalms. Hallel means praise, as in Hallelujah. Praise God. They were recited by heart at major festivals and especially at those times when they were praying for the eventual coming of the Messiah.
It was the last of these, Psalm 118, that was the focus on this day that the mobs ran riot, causing cold shivers to run down the backs of the Romans and the Jewish aristocracy.
The first five verses of Ps. 118 commemorated the laying of the foundation of the new temple after the exiles returned from Babylon. Its echoes are in the book of Ezra. Verses 6-14 describe the difficulties faced in the construction of the temple. Verses 19-29 are a vivid prophecy anticipating the coming of the Messiah:
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord, we bless you. The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. Ps. 118: 26-27.
Now read Luke, vv 36-38. Luke doesn't mention palm branches as Mark and Matthew do, but we can still hear the echoes of Ps 118 in the story that Luke tells. There can be no doubt. The people of Jerusalem are welcoming the one they believe to be their Messiah.
No wonder the Pharisees call out to Jesus and tell him to rebuke the crowd (v39). They knew what it all meant. They knew the Psalm and the prophecies and they were well aware of what the people were expressing. They thought that any sane and good man would rebuke the crowds for naming him as the Messiah. Unless he was the Messiah, of course; and they were certain that Jesus was not. Jesus’ reply is stark (v40).
‘This moment is so pregnant with truth,’ he cries out above the shouting, ‘that if the people stopped praising me and my Father, the very stones would cry out praises to their Maker and their Redeemer. The whole earth has been groaning in anticipation of my coming!’
And there’s the trilemma. This man is a crazy, deluded lunatic; or he is a wicked fraud; or he really is the Messiah he is claiming to be.
He hasn't done anything which looked crazy. When he teaches, he makes perfect sense. He doesn't froth at the mouth or see mad visions. He just gets on well with the ordinary folk. And he hasn't done anything wicked or fraudulent. He heals people. He teaches about Truth, Beauty and Goodness. The only other option is that he is who he says he is.
This is why C. S. Lewis said that the one thing you cannot say about Jesus is that he is just a good teacher, a nice man who gave us some good homely advice, and whom we can take a bit of notice of at Christmas and Easter, ignoring him all the while. He claimed to be God. He claimed to be able to forgive sins. He claimed to be one with the Father himself. If he is not all those things, then he is a liar or a lunatic. Or he is the Lord.
What he cannot be is a nice, gentle teacher whose words are like other famous teachers such as Confucius or the Buddha. Jesus won't give us room to say that. The man who refused to rebuke the crowds when they sang the final Hallel Psalm in his honour does not allow us to sell him so short as just to call him a nice man. If he is a fake, then he is Not Important at all. If he is True, then he is Very Important. The one thing that he cannot be is Moderately Important. He is either mad or bad – or he is God.
It is no wonder at all that the top brass were holding all sorts of clandestine meetings, trying to figure out a way to arrest and kill him (v47). The Romans, meanwhile, were just keeping a close eye out, and had ordered a few extra crosses to be made, just in case.
Memo from Pilate to Annas: You’d better keep your boys cool, Annas, or you know what will happen. If there’s any kind of trouble, I’ll make sure that Caesar knows what you and your cronies have been up to. I’ve got copies of all the Temple account books. That little sneak you sacked last year from the Treasury didn't walk out empty-handed! You’d better sort this out before next weekend. Avé Caesar! PP.
Prayer: Oh, my Jesus! I’d like to think that I’d have been on your side if I’d been there in Jerusalem then. But I know how partial I am to flattery, and how scared I’d be if my family and my job were under serious threat. Forgive me for what I might have done then and there, because what I’ve done here and now in not standing up for you and living for you is written down against me as evidence. I am truly sorry. Thank you for your promise of full and complete forgiveness. Amen.
