Palm Sunday parade

The Entry

                And so a procession was created with Jesus' followers who were with him and no doubt other pilgrims and locals who chose to join in. John even says that a crowd of people from the city went out to greet him (12: 18). In modern parlance, they rolled out the red carpet for this special dignitary.

                Thus Palm Sunday was born. But this title did not arise from Mark's writing (“leafy branches which they had cut from the fields”), nor Matthew's (“others cut branches from the trees”), nor Luke who has no mention of any kind of vegetation. Only in John's Gospel do we read about palm branches.

All cut and ready for Palm Sunday.

Laying down one's garments as an act of high honour towards some royal person has precedent in the Old Testament. In 2 Kings 9: 13 for example, when Jehu is anointed King of Israel the historian tells us, “Then in haste every man of them took his garment, and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet, and proclaimed, 'Jehu is king!'.” 

                It is really hard to gauge how large a crowd really did accompany Jesus. The phrase “those who went before and those who followed” would seem to indicate a considerable number. Luke writes about “the whole multitude of the disciples”. John's report also indicates a large number, for he writes about a great crowd of pilgrims who were in the city for Passover hearing about what was happening and going out to meet the procession. Estimates put the number of pilgrims who would come to the Holy City for the Passover at between one hundred and two hundred thousand. If this was the case the crowd with Jesus could have been quite large.

                And in their religious fervour they began dancing and singing. The words they were chanting were mainly snatches from the Hallel psalms. These were the psalms (in our version of the Bible,113 – 118) which were used in the liturgy of the feasts of the Tabernacles and Passover.

                Hosanna is a transliteration of the Hebrew word hosa – na (save please) where in psalm 118:25 the RSV reads “Save us, we beseech thee O Lord!”

                “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” is a direct quotation of Psalm 118:26 and was the usual greeting given to pilgrims coming to Jerusalem for festivals, particularly when entering the temple area. These words then seem to be a religious welcome given to Jesus.

                The next words, “Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming” is not a direct biblical quote. It does echo the previous “blessed” statement but with definite messianic overtones. Do the people here see in Jesus that Messiah in the style of King David that would free Israel from her present domination by foreign powers and bring back the “good old times” of the King David era?

                Mark records that just previously in Jericho the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, had hailed Jesus with the words, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” During those politically unstable, religiously fervent times the general populace was longing for the appearance of a messiah to free them from Roman political enslavement. Many were anticipating a new Davidic kingdom. Was this it? Was Jesus the man?

                The nature of Jesus' entry however did not point to a military hero who would rescue them.

Nevertheless their cry goes out to their God who dwells in the highest heavens. “Hosanna in the highest!” This is a phrase which was made at a time when there appeared to be a three tiered understanding of reality – people here on earth, hell down below and God dwelling beyond the skies.

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights” (Psalm 148: 1).

“Even now, behold my witness is in heaven and he that vouches for me is on high” (Job 16: 19).

                I suppose that even today when asked where they think heaven is most would say, “up there somewhere”. So what the people were really chanting was, “Grant salvation (i.e. freedom from our Roman bondage) O Lord who lives in the highest heavens”.

                Jesus is recognised as king by the people while he is outside Jerusalem. On entering the city he enters the realm of Roman domination and the religious dictatorship of the religious leaders. Here he will be rejected and ultimately crucified.

Plenty of palm trees throughout Israel, but I didn't see many on the Mount of Olives; certainly not like this beauty on Mt Carmen with the Bab Shrine and Haifa below.

Imagine you were there !

I walked down this Palm Sunday Road. It was full of people dodging the cars which were moving up and down. One's mind was mainly on keeping life and limb safe and following the leader's Australian flag which was moving relentlessly down the hill. Thoughts however did cross my path.

Imagine you were there when Jesus made his symbolic entry. But go there not as a twenty first century Christian but as a Jew at that time.

What would you be thinking?

Why are you cheering him on?

Whom do you think he is? Jesus from Nazareth. Yes, but what does he represent? You would not see him as the founder of a new religion. He is not a god. Heaven forbid! There is only ONE God. You have learnt that from a child. 

No, you would probably see him as the awaited Messiah. The Messiah as understood by the people at that time, not as we understand the term today.

Would you see a different person if you laid aside all the Christian understandings that have developed since then? Can we really know what the people at that time were thinking? Were they welcoming the same Jesus whom we know today?

                Every year we hear a Palm Sunday sermon based on one of the Gospel writer's account of the event. Pope Benedict's sermon on Palm Sunday, 2012 concluded as follows:

"As we conclude, let us listen once again to the words of one of these early fathers, Saint Andrew, Bishop of Crete. 'It is ourselves that we must spread under Christ's feet, not coats or lifeless branches or shoots of trees, matter which wastes away and delights the eye only for a few brief hours. But we have clothed ourselves with Christ's grace, with the whole Christ - "for as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ" - so let us spread ourselves like coats under his feet. Let us offer not palm branches but the prizes of victory to the conqueror of death. Today let us too give voice with the children to that sacred chant, as we wave the spiritual branches of our soul: 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.' "