Luke 19:28 – 40
Its time for the Passover feast. The
population of Jerusalem will go from about 50,000 to more than
200,000, as Jews from all over the world come to celebrate their
liberation from slavery in Egypt. It's a time of great joy, but the
Jewish authorities worry about too much celebration or even
rebellion. The Jews may have gotten away from Egypt, but the
Pilate's soldiers would think nothing of putting down a rebellion
against Roman rule. As the eight day feast begins, Pilate will march
into the city on a majestic horse followed by charioteers and foot
soldiers. It will be a reminder to the Jews about who really rules;
a reminder that even while they celebrate their deliverance from
Egypt they are slaves to Rome.
Jesus deliberately acts out a
prophecy. Zechariah said, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout,
Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and
victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a
donkey”. Jesus' followers place him on the animal and welcome him
into the city. They recognize what is happening and call him king
and throw down their garments for him to ride over, because that's
how you treat a king. At last it seems that Jesus is going to
establish the kingdom his followers have expected; at last this
messenger of God will drive out the Romans and Israel will regain its
independence. The Messiah of God and some ragged followers will take
on Pilate and his trained army – and they will win.
The gospel we read at the beginning of
the liturgy describes that moment of expectation, of triumph. The
people were shouting “Hosanna!” the other gospel writers tell us.
This is not a cry of triumph or praise; it means “Save us, Lord”.
Have you ever cried out “save us
Lord” or something like that? I think we all have. Take away my
cancer! Bring my child back to the Church! Keep me from losing my
job!. Because you are, after all, the savior, Jesus!
My kind of savior comes in triumph,
makes things right, lifts up the lowly, pulls down the high and
mighty. In fact, my kind of savior is exactly like the one the
Blessed Mother expected when she sang her Magnificat; it was the kind
of savior for which all Israel waited. I know the kind of savior I
need, one who repairs things, who intervenes with power, who I always
know is present, the one who is my sword and my shield.
But that's not the kind of savior
Jesus is. God rides on a donkey; Jesus dies in order to live; he is
a suffering king. He comes into his kingdom with nothing but love,
humility and sacrifice. We live in a world of pain, suffering and
contradiction. We can accept the world as it is in the humility that
we don't understand God's plans for the world or for us; Jesus The
kingdom Jesus brings is a kingdom of peace; a kingdom of slow,
self-emptying love; a kingdom of patience, a kingdom that demands
from us a degree of trust, vulnerability, and courage. It's a kingdom
that Pilate and Herod and you and I can hardly imagine; but that's
what our king shows us and our Blessed Mother learned at the foot of
the cross.. But we are obsessed with certainty, with ease, with
safety, with prosperity. It's hard for us to follow a king like
Jesus.
Palm Sunday starts with triumph in the
gospel we read in the back of the church when the palms were blessed.
The readings end with the king we follow dying on the cross and us
hiding in a locked room. And the question we should ask on Palm
Sunday is what kind of king do we follow? Do we trust him to be our
shepherd and stay with him even when our world seems to be crashing
down? Or do we cling to safety and certainty and not rocking the
boat, hoping for a king that doesn't exist?
