A few weeks ago when Peter asked if I would preach on Palm Sunday he said, “You remember that story right?”
I smiled and said, “Isn’t that the one where they broke out some leaf and Jesus almost got stoned off his ass?”
Now, I can imagine there’s a lot of confusion in the room right now.
Some of you get the joke and are laughing. Others get the joke and aren’t sure if it’s ok to laugh or not. Still more missed the joke entirely. Then there are some who are questioning Peter’s judgement given that I’m still up here preaching today.
I open with that line because what made it funny for some of you, helps us make sense of what we’re going to do as we explore Matthew’s account of Palm Sunday.
What Do Words Mean?
So why did some of you laugh?
It all comes down to understanding what words signify.
Does, “broke out some leaf,” mean that they rolled a joint, or does it mean that they broke off palm leaves and placed them on the road to celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem?
Does, “Jesus almost got stoned off his ass,” refer to Jesus’ cognitive state after enjoying said joint? Or does it mean his opposition was on the verge of throwing rocks at him and knocking him off his donkey?
We could even map it all out on a gird and have it look something like this:
The point is, words can have different meanings, and understanding their intended usage is key to correct understanding, and in this case, it’s the key to getting the joke.
That same concept is true of Jesus’ actions.
What Do Jesus’ Actions Mean?
What does Jesus intend to convey as he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey just a few days before the Passover Feast?
Why, after telling people not to make a big deal about his healing ministry or identity on no less than four occasions, is he suddenly ok with the crowds laying down palm branches and crying out, “Save us!”?
If you’ve spent some time in the church you’ve most likely heard something about the crowd misinterpreting Jesus’ actions. You heard that they expected Jesus to become an earthly king but Jesus’ focused on an eternal kingdom that comes after we die. And there is good reason for both of those interpretations but neither of them really gets it right, we can easily misunderstand all of Holy Week which is why I’ve titled this message, the greatest story never told.
So this morning, I want to work through that story with you. I want to move through story as it shows up in Matthew, add some historical context, and set us up so, when we walk back out into the world, we’re ready to step into the depth of all this week offers, from Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem, to his teachings throughout the week, to the Last Supper, and ultimately the crucifixion and resurrection.
And that’s going to mean understanding how the different groups understand different components of the story.
To do that, we going to need to understand the thinking of Rome, the crowds in Matthew, what we’ve picked up from popular Christianity, and, ultimately, Jesus.
The Greatest Story’s Historical Context
With that in mind, let’s start with some context and add in some pieces the Bible doesn’t mention, but the first readers would have known through experience.
What we today call Palm Sunday happens just a few days before the start of Passover.
The Passover Feast
Passover is one of three Jewish feasts that requires the people to travel to Jerusalem, which meant in the days surrounding Passover, the population of the city could more than triple.
Now each Jewish feast focuses on telling some part of the people’s history. Passover is about the last of the ten plagues that God brought down on Egypt and prompted the Pharaoh to free slaves that the Egyptians had ruled over for 400 years.
Those slaves, descendants of Abraham through the line of Isaac and then Jacob, ultimately formed the people of Israel who, centuries later, become known as the Jewish people.
So, Passover is a massive gathering where the Jewish people celebrate freedom from oppression.
Passover In Jesus’ Day
And yet, in Jesus’ day, the Jewish people weren’t free. They were occupied by Rome, the largest empire the western world had ever known.
But they weren’t just occupied, they were also oppressed, because Rome, like all of history’s empires, operated in a domination system. Now, domination systems have three key characteristics.
Characteristics of Domination Systems
First, there is political oppression where the few rule the many. It could be a plutocracy where it’s just the wealthy who rule, or an oligarchy where a few people with an immense amount of social capital, including the wealthy, rule. But either way the voice of the masses rarely matters.
The second characteristic of a domination system is economic exploitation where those who control capitol build their wealth based on the value generated by labor. So the people work, and often struggle to survive, but those at the top continue to get more and more wealthy.
Finally, domination systems involve religious legitimization, where those who rule do so because god established their rule. So what they do while in power doesn’t matter, because god put them in that position.
So the Jewish people lived under the Roman domination system. And before that, they lived under the Greek domination system. In fact, the last time they were actually able to consider themselves free, was a seven year span almost 200 years earlier when the people, led by Simon Maccabeaus, recaptured Jerusalem from their then Greek occupiers. As an interesting bit of information to hold onto for later, the people celebrated Simon’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, with palm branches.
Rome’s Response to Passover
Now, if you are an empire like Rome, a domination system that establishes and maintains peace through strength, how would you respond to some of your subjects swarming in droves to their historic capital city in order to celebrate a feast that remembers how their God once brought one of the greatest nations of the day to its knees?
Rome would do what all military powers would do. They would flood the city with troops to remind everyone who was in charge and that the only reason the Jews could celebrate Passover was because Rome allowed it.
So just to make sure we’re all on the same page, Jesus will ride into the capitol city of the Jewish people, days before the whole nation gathers there to celebrate liberation from oppression, even as they are currently oppressed by a Roman Empire determined to crush any potential dissent.
The Greatest Story in Matthew 21:1-3
It’s with this backdrop in mind, that we turn to Matthew 21:
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”
Scholars debate whether it was the Spirit who prompted the owner of the donkey and colt to let his beasts of burden go with the disciples or if Jesus prearranged their usage, but I’m not sure that matters.
Jesus Taking the Long Route
What does matter, is the intentionality of Jesus.
Matthew tells us that Jesus went to Jericho while traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem. This positioned him to approach the city through the Mount of Olives and enter the city from the east side of the Temple. It also required him to take a less direct route to the city. But why?
the Setup for Conflict
The Roman troops would have most likely come up from Caesarea, and like Jesus and the disciples, passed through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem, but they would have gone due south from Samaria so they could enter the city through the Fish Gate near the Antonia Fortress on the west side of the Temple.
This means that Jesus’ less direct route positioned him to enter the city on the opposite side of the temple from the Roman forces, deliberately setting up his procession to stand in opposition to what was happening on the other side of the city.
That Jesus positions himself in present day opposition to Rome is our first sign that Jesus has more in mind than just establishing a kingdom that is beyond this world, that Jesus’ agenda is bigger than getting us to heaven.
Now it’s quite possible that some of those gathered assume this opposition meant Jesus came as a political liberator, so they broke out palm branches just like they had almost 200 years earlier to celebrate Simon Maccabeaus’ victory, palm branches that, ever since, had stood as a symbol of Jewish freedom against foreign oppressors.
But this too seems to misread Jesus’ intent, which is why, in contrast to the Romans who would have made the ground shake as they marched in unison, he road into town on a donkey.
The Greatest Story in Matthew 21:4-5
Matthew continues:
This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
The quote itself comes from Zechariah chapter nine. That said, more often than not, when the Gospel writers quote something from the Hebrew Bible, they assume that the reader recognizes the quote and understands its original context.
So what would come to mind reading this quote from Zechariah?
The Greatest Story From Zechariah
First they would think about the broader context for the prophetic book.
600 years earlier, in 587 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the city of Jerusalem including the temple originally built by King Solomon, and deported a large portion of the population to Babylon. There the people lived for 70 years.
During this time in Exile, Cyrus the King of Persia, conquered the Babylonians and granted the Israel a right of return. A successor of Cyrus, Darius, then helped with the reconstruction of Jerusalem, including the temple and the city walls. Zechariah lived and wrote during this reconstruction.
Zechariah and Renewed Faith
The book focuses on not just on the restoration of the city, but its reconstruction as a sign of a renewed and restored faith.
Zechariah recognizes that the exile in Babylon was God’s discipline because the nation of Israel failed to act like God’s chosen people. Instead of revealing God’s love to the surrounding nations, they were arrogant about God choosing to save them from slavery. Kings focused on using their strategic positioning along trade routes to gain power for themselves while ignoring the plight of the people. They worshipped false gods and grew so distant from their roots that they misplaced parts of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible that reveals their origin story. In other words, Israel became a domination system and Zechariah calls the people back to who God originally called them to be … a nation that stands in opposition to domination, a nation where sacrificial love reigns.
Judgment in Zechariah
Zechariah also highlights God’s judgment on the nations beyond Israel’s boarders, followed by the ultimate peace that God will bring.
An unexpected Messiah brings about this judgement and peace. A Messiah, who his people will reject and pierce will also come with humility. This last point is what Matthew highlights in our story today, although we know that Jesus’ betrayal comes on Thursday, and his piercing will happen on Friday.
Redemption in Zechariah
Finally, the book closes with an unusual ending where all of those nations God judged, come up to Jerusalem year after year to celebrate the Feast of Booths, a time where the people of Israel remember the 40 years they spent in the wilderness after being freed during the first Passover but before they made it to the Promised Land.
This makes God’s judgement of the nations their version of time in the wilderness. In other words, the judgement isn’t destructive. In judgement, God does not operate as a domination system. Rather, judgement is formative and the end result is faith and all of humanity invited to a celebration of divine provision and salvation.
And do you know what they use as part of the celebration at the Feast of Booths? Palm branches.
So if we shift back to our grid, what answers can we add for, “How to Rule.”
What are your thoughts?
Here’s what I came up with.
And while we haven’t actually read that part of the story in Matthew yet, we already have everything we need to know when it comes to the potential meanings of the palm branches?
What would you put?
Here’s what I thought.
The Greatest Story In Matthew 21:6-9
With all that in place, let’s keep working our way through Matthew:
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Just like the quote about a king riding on a donkey invites us to reflect on the entirety of Zechariah, so a reference to David invites us to explore the story behind the shepherd turned king.
The Greatest Story and David
David first appears on the scene around 1000 BCE. God instructed Israel’s prophet, Samuel, to go to the house of Jesse where he would anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king of Israel.
One by one, Jesse brought his sons before Samuel and one by one God told Samuel that he wasn’t the one. God wasn’t interested in the boy’s appearance or height, but was focused on the heart. God wanted a king whose heartbeat was synchronized with the heart of God, a heartbeat driven not by domination, but sacrificial love.
After God passed on the seven boys present, Samuel asked if Jesse had another son. Jesse told him there was an eighth, the youngest, David, who was out in the field tending the sheep.
While watching the sheep was a typical role for the youngest son, there was apparently something about how David approached the task that prompted God to say yes to Jesse’s youngest son. While it would take the better part of fifteen years, ultimately, David was made king of Israel and the first thing he did was reclaim the city of Jerusalem.
David’s Procession Into Jerusalem
In the years that followed, David established himself as Israel’s greatest king, the man who brought the country together and expanded her boarders.
Fast forward 1,000 years and it would be easy to see why the crowds, seeing Jesus as a new David to save them from their oppressors, would cry out, “Hosanna!” which means, “Save us!”
But just as there are multiple interpretations of Jesus positioning himself opposite Rome and the use of Palm branches, there’s a non-military, non-domination interpretation that makes it possible for Jesus to embrace the words, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
The Son of David Without Domination
2 Samual 7 opens:
Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”
Basically, King David told Nathan, God should have a house to dwell in, a temple. This prompts God to come to Nathan with a message for David that instead of David building God a house, God is going to build David an everlasting house, with the offspring of David on the throne forever.
God’s promise includes lines like:
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
Now, it is true that David’s son Solomon built God a house and was also described as a son of God, but that word “forever” tells us that God had something more in mind.
What Does “Forever” Mean?
One option would be for a future king, like Jesus, to reestablish Israel as a nation-state. Another idea, would be to hear kingdom in the popular understanding of heaven, that place in the sky you go when you die. But there’s a third option, one that understands kingdom, not geographically, but as the act of king-ing. This third understanding focuses on the rule of God, or, in the terms we’ve used in this message, any place where sacrificial love reigns.
While I’m guessing we don’t think about it this way, that is what we pray for every time we say The Lord’s Prayer and ask, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
It is a prayer that recognizes before the throne of God, God’s kingdom has in fact come in that God’s will is done. The everyday angels, the seraphim, and all of the other heavenly host have hearts that beat in sync with the heartbeat of God. They are, creatures after God’s own heart.
But the prayer also recognizes that here on earth, our hearts can get out of sync. Be it hearts that are always caught up in domination systems, or hearts like the heart of David, that were in sync at times and out of sync at others.
The prayer never questions the heartbeat of God for us, but does invite us to ask that our hearts would align with God’s.
How Should We Understand, Son of David?
With that in mind, let’s return to our chart.
How would you fill in each of the columns?
Here’s what I’ve put together:
The Greatest Story In Matthew 21:10-11
As you can see we have one more row to fill in, which brings us to the last two verses from Matthew for this morning:
And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
The Story of Nazareth
In many ways, Jesus being from Nazareth echos the humility of riding on a donkey. At the beginning of the First Century, Nazareth had a population between two and four hundred people. It’s obscure enough that it is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, by the historian Josephus, or in the Jewish Talmud.
It is insignificant, overlooked, and marginalized. It is a place of humility and rejection. In a world ruled by domination systems, those from Nazareth are the embodiment of the dominated.
Jesus and Nazareth
And yet, Nazareth is part of Galilee, the region where Jesus both began and concluded his public ministry, suggesting there is a special relationship between Jesus and those who are often forgotten.
Moreover, on this final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem through Jericho, we have teachings of Jesus that include:
- “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
- “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
- “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
- “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The Meaning of Nazareth
So how do all of the major actors in our story interpret Jesus being from Nazareth?
Here’s what I came up with:
The Greatest Story Never Told
So that gives us four different interpretations of Palm Sunday. Which is the story never told? The story of Jesus, the story that matters most. But what does that mean for us today?
First, I don’t think what the crowds thought really holds relevance for us today, so moving forward, I’m going to drop them from the chart.
At the same time, I think what Rome thought does matter. Why? Two years ago on Easter Sunday, Pontius Pilate joined us and compared Rome to, well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out (listen to 7:47):
So if we listen to that preacher, our chart could actually look like this:
American Indoctrination
And whether we realize it or not, America has worked really hard to indoctrinate us and get us to embrace the very ideology that Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem confronts.
Five weeks ago tomorrow I experienced this first hand as we committed my dad’s early remains to their final resting place at Ft. Logan National Cemetary.
Heartfelt words were boldly spoken.
21 shots echoed.
Taps played.
The flag that draped his coffin, soldier meticulously folded it before gifting to my mom on behalf of the President and a grateful nation.
The honor bell rang out seven times.
I couldn’t help but have tears well up in my eyes.
It’s the same reason it’s so easy to get weepy at the playing of the national anthem before sporting events, or why we gravitate towards phrases like:
- The American Dream,
- Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or
- America First
It’s what enable a clip like this to exist (listen to 34:17):
All of that symbolism and that language purposefully stirs an emotional response, it helps make the message feel right, inviting us to support or join the cause.
It is also makes embracing Jesus’ understanding of Palm Sunday, to use the image Peter has offered us the past two weeks, like cutting the umbilical cord.
Jesus On The Rule and Reign of God
Are you not sure if you believe me? Consider these words of Jesus from Matthew, words that help further unpack what the rule and reign of God looks like:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”
What does the nation with a military budget that is more than the combined military budgets of the next nine nations on the military top ten spenders, the only nation to ever drop an atomic bomb, say about what to do with your enemies?
Or:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
How much did we panic the past couple weeks when the stock market crashed?
Or:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Isn’t that one of the passages where we read it and immediately respond, “Yeah, but …”
And if all that doesn’t even touch the Beatitudes, where Jesus tells us we are blessed as we mourn, are meek, and show mercy.
The Greatest Story We Don’t Want to Tell
Verses like these are why Jesus’ understanding of Palm Sunday is the greatest story never told, because it’s not a story we want to tell, let alone one we want to step into. It’s a story that thrusts us into a void of discomfort.
Which very well could explain why, on our chart, America and pop-American Christianity, both lead with domination systems, and why pop-American Christianity conveniently moves the rule and reign of God from something that begins here and now before coming into full fruition at the resurrection, to something that happens after we die.
In other words, pop-American Christianity allows us to live as a part of a domination system now, and, in doing so, it keeps our cultural umbilical cord is safe.
Now, I get if all this talk makes you uncomfortable. Whether it’s cutting the umbilical cord, or exploring the conflict that exists between the way of Jesus and the country you love, or even embracing sacrificial love which almost assures that you’re going to get taken advantage of in a world of domination.
My Discomfort
Honestly, I’m uncomfortable too. As I studied Scripture, this is not what I wanted to be saying, let alone trying to live. And yet, it’s a life I’ve been thrust into.
Two and a half weeks ago, the Xero Shoes CEO told me my job no longer exists. So in five weeks, I lost my dad to cancer and a job with a company that I had poured my heart and soul into.
My umbilical cord doesn’t just feel cut, it feels like Elon Musk took his chainsaw to it. Every I have to decide if and I’m going to move forward with a domination mentality or one of sacrificial love.
Will I hide in the shame that comes with losing a job or maybe attack the foolishness of those who deemed me expendable, or do I see this as a chance for me to step into a new phase of life?
Do I let anxiety reign or rest in a peace that surpasses all understanding?
Will I obsess over political choices that, depending on who you trust is short term pain or a crashing of the global economy, or will I trust that there is a way through this?
So What Do We Do?
So what what do we do? Whether we’re realizing we’re still attached to the umbilical cord, you’ve had yours cut, or you let yours be cut, what do we do?
Do I try and put the umbilical cord back together, or do I listen for the voice and heartbeat of God?
Right now, I want to invite us all to do the second. Close your eyes for a moment and take a deep breath in through your nose. Now release it through your mouth.
Take another breath in. And now release it.
Where In Jerusalem Are You?
Envision yourself in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago.
The west side of the city rumbles as Roman troops march in, fully armed, and ready to crush anyone who might dare to challenge the peace of Rome.
On the east side of the city, there’s a buzz generated by an itinerant preacher whose arrival prompted a mass of peasants to celebrate as if their king had arrived.
Now ask the simple question, “Where am I in this city?” Not where you aspire to be or where you’re supposed to be because you’re at church this morning, but where are you?
And the beautiful thing about being honest with your answer, is that’s where God is looking for you … that’s where you’re found. So in this moment, be there.
Let God Meet You Where You Are
Now imagine God taking your hand and placing it on the divine heart. Feel it beat. Tune in to the rhythm. Allow the rhythm of God’s heart to become the rhythm of your heart.
When the two of you are an sync ask, “Now what?” and listen for the answer.
Today, Jesus rides into Jerusalem. On Thursday he will take the bread and say this is my body, and call the wine his blood. Then he offers them to you, to give you the strength to do what God just invited you to do.
Dark cups are wine, light cups are juice. Both are the gift of God for you, so that the greatest story never told can be told through you.
In Jesus name. Amen.