A PALM SUNDAY JUXTAPOSITION

“Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As He approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” say, “The Lord needs it.”’… They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.”  (Luke 19:28-35 NIV)

After the donkey is delivered, we have a clash of two processionals happening in the city of Jerusalem at the same time. Passover is going on. The city swells by several times its population. And coming in from the west we have (drumroll)…  Pontius Pilot, riding in on a stallion, a war horse. Behind him would be all the Roman army in their regalia -- with all their armor, their shields, their swords, and their spears. They would be marching in step into Jerusalem from the west, because this was Pilot’s time to shine and exhibit power. It’s called the Roman Peace – the Pax Romana. You know how peace came? Peace came from fear. You’d better be afraid of the Roman Empire. And they were in town to make sure this crowd wasn’t going to get too rowdy.

Meanwhile from the east, down from the Mount of Olives comes Jesus -- the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But He’s riding on a donkey? What’s up with that? Where are His soldiers; where’s His army? Imagine, His followers were a bunch of rejected tax collectors, prostitutes, fisherman, a bunch of misfits, a bunch of people nobody wants or sees, coming into town shouting, “Hosanna.”

What’s going on with this? Well, Jesus is offering a different kind of kingdom and a different kind of peace. Jesus’s peace comes, not through military power, but through the power of love. And He is setting up this conflict, this clash, which starts off as a celebration. “When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’” (Luke 19:37-38 NIV)

Royalty was riding in. The problem is it’s coming in from the wrong direction, in the wrong way. The roman leader comes in from the west; Jesus comes in from the east. The east is where the sun rose, and a new kingdom was dawning in Jerusalem that day. They just didn’t know it. 

-- Pastor Wes Olds, from a sermon entitled “The Triumphal Entry,” part of a series called “Passion: Journey to the Cross” at Grace Church Cape Coral, Florida

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