Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries by Major Michael Ramsay on Palm Sunday, 02 April 2023.
Matthew 21:1-3:
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and
at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and
bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them,
and he will send them right away.”
Jesus is making this
journey for Passover. Passover is the greatest annual festival in Jerusalem.
People come to the city from all over to experience it. It would be like Mardi
Gras, Carnival, May Day, Superbowl, the World Cup, or even the Olympics maybe –
people are coming from all over to be a part of it – just to be there! There
would be many, many people making this journey. Jesus and His followers are among
them.
They come to Bethphage
and the Mount of Olives which is Three kilometres from Jerusalem, about a 40
minute walk. It is the same distance from Bethphage to Jerusalem as we are here
from Boomerangs Café. Picture Jesus and his disciples in a crowd lining the
streets near Boomerang’s on their way here. They have been walking for a little
while and they are almost where they are going and this is when Jesus tells
those with him to fetch this donkey and it’s colt and they do.
So again: they, Jesus
and his companions, are almost at their destination. He obviously isn’t sending
them to get these animals because He is tired and can’t walk any more. They are
almost there. They are all excited. There are crowds everywhere. Everyone is
excited – again think of a big parade and everyone here lining the streets and even
walking down the main roads from Boomerangs towards the Army here or City Hall
(which is across the street). So then why does Jesus have his companions pick
up these animals? Verse 4ff:
This took
place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
“Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
This quote is from the
prophet Zechariah, from Zechariah 9:9 in the Bible. Jesus riding on this donkey
is announcing before all of this crowd that he is king. Now Jesus isn’t just
someone no one has ever heard about. More people would know Jesus walking from
Bethpage to Jerusalem than would probably recognize our own Mayor walking the
same distance from Boomerang’s to City Hall. Jesus is a celebrity preacher with
a big following and a lot of them are walking with him now down to Jerusalem.
They are walking with Jesus down to the Capital city; cheering, celebrating,
being excited, and then he gets on a donkey, proclaiming to be king. Can you
imagine if someone did that in Ottawa today? Or Washington? Can you imagine
working security along that route? Verse 6-9a:
The
disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey
and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large
crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees
and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that
followed shouted…(!)
So again – Jesus is
almost at his destination, as are all the people with him. The roads are full.
It is like he is marching with the crowds up Stamp Avenue towards City Hall. He
gets on a donkey, a symbol that he is the rightful mayor, Prime Minister,
President, King! People see this. Many know who Jesus is! Many think and/or
hope that he will be the next leader of their country! Many think and/or hope
that he will defeat the ruling parties! Many think and/or hope that he will
kick the Superpower out of their country! To borrow from Charles Gaulle, ‘Vive
le Port Alberni libre!’ Remember, ‘Vive le Québec libre!’ and the stir that caused?
Can you imagine, ‘Vive le Canada libre’? If Canada tried to break away from the
US: that could be as messy as Ukraine breaking away from Russia! ‘Vive le Jerusalem
libre!’ is in essence what is happening here. Verse 9:
The
crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted….
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
People see Jesus on the
donkey. Some of them are so excited! Their leader is coming! He is here! And
they get to see it! They are running ahead! They are telling everyone!
I watched some of the
parades in Buenos Aries a few months ago. Argentina had just won the World Cup!
Buenos Aries, the capital of Argentina is a city of more than 15 million people
– more than double the population of British Columbia! It seemed like everyone
of them – and more, people from all over Argentina and the world - poured into
the streets to be part of the parade as Lionel Messi and his teammates rode the
bus down the street. Can you imagine how long it would take that bus to make it
the distance from the mill to City Hall here? Can you imagine the excitement of
all the people running ahead and telling everyone they’re coming! The bus is
almost here! The players are almost here! Messi is almost here! The World Cup
is almost here! You can see it! You can be a part of it! Can you imagine, you
see this event that you have hoped for your whole life and your family has
hoped for almost their whole life and almost everyone you know has hoped for
their whole life and it is coming true right before your eyes! You are running
ahead and telling everyone. The bus passes you and you join the throng of
people following it! Again, Verse 9:
The
crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted….
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Can you hear the noise?
People are chanting, singing loudly, shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
What does this mean? What
are people yelling? What does Hosanna mean? Hosanna means ‘salvation’; it means
‘save us!’ What does it mean that they are calling Jesus the ‘Son of David’? It
means that they think He is the rightful king of their country! Judeans believed
that the King of their country must always be a descendant of King David!
Again, imagine what it must be like working security in these crowds – Jesus marching
up to City Hall here and people shouting “Hosanna to the rightful Mayor!” or crowds
descend on Parliament Hill shouting, ‘Save us! So and so is the rightful Prime
Minister’ or Capitol Hill shouting, ‘Save us! So and so is the rightful President!’
This is what it is like for the people in power as Jesus and the crowd are running,
walking, crowding up the street to Jerusalem. Verses 10-11:
When
Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth
in Galilee.”
This is the important
part for us today. We know the story. We know what happened to Jesus. We know
what happened on Palm Sunday. Every year we wave our fern fronds (west coast
palm branches); every year we talk about the parade into Jerusalem and what it
meant to the people in the first century and what it should mean to us. We also
know as, Paul Harvey would say, ‘the rest of the story’ of Holy Week. After Palm
Sunday when everyone runs to Jesus’ waving their branches and shouting ‘save
us’, comes ‘Good Friday’ where everyone runs away from Jesus and hides; even
his disciple disavows knowing who he is. Good Friday is, of course, followed by
the Holiest Day in the calendar, the day we observe Jesus’ resurrection from
the dead. Then in a little while we will celebrate Ascension Day, the day Jesus
ascended to Heaven, promising to come back because He has indeed ‘Hosanna’
saved us.
The question for us, since we do know who Jesus is, as we await Jesus’ return, will we do it in the spirit of fear and hiding that comes with the unknowing of Good Friday or will we do it in the spirit of joyful anticipation that comes with Palm Sunday: running out into the streets, proclaiming to the world where our hope and where our Salvation comes from! It my is hope that we will all choose to live our lives proclaiming this hope! For Jesus has risen from the grave and He is coming back!
Let us
raise our fern fronds and celebrate that today!
Let us pray.
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