Palm Sunday: The Entrance into the Story of Jesus the King

We pay a lot of attention to our leaders, especially our political leaders. We pay attention to what they say, but also how they conduct themselves. As we should. 

In Jesus’ time, kings and rulers didn’t just carry out or enforce the law. They were law. We don’t have that today. Today we say that no one is above the law -- no leader, ruler, or politician. We can’t fathom that a ruler or leader might be not merely above the law, but that the ruler is the law. What this meant in Jesus' time was not as it seems, though. It wasn’t supposed to be license to do whatever you want (though many rulers did). It had to do more with the idea that kings were the representation of the power and will of their God(s). The king’s conduct and character would either display the will and character of their God(s) to the people, and so shape the way of life of the kingdom, or it would miss the mark and everyone would be the target of judgment of said God(s) What way of being human does a ruler embody, and thus how does the ruler shape the lives of his people?

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On Palm Sunday, Christians remember how Jesus entered Jerusalem, for the last time. As he entered into the city, people were treating him like a king, like a national hero or a military champion. He was getting the royal treatment… people waving palm branches and laying their coats and palm branches in front of him. Think of the reception for a sports team after they win a title game and their home city welcomes them with a massive street party and parade. You get the idea.

There's a problem, though. This wasn’t quite your normal hero welcoming. Jesus came riding on a donkey, not a powerful war horse. He was headed not to a castle, but to a cross. Something didn’t quite fit. 

But this should not surprise. Nothing Jesus ever did in his entire life quite “fit.” Consider these points:

He was the Son of God, but he was born as a homeless wanderer. 

He embodied God’s will for humanity, yet he broke the “official religious rules.”

He was God’s presence on earth, but he spent much of his time with those who disregarded God.

He was the world’s king, but he didn’t fight for any territory or conquer any human enemies.

He’d heal someone, and then demand that they don’t tell anyone. 

He risked being unnoticed, even though he was the remedy to the human problem.

He cared more for one person’s concerns than with reaching the masses.

Far from being a “victory lap,” from outward appearances Jesus' entry was a sad attempt to try to be like other worldly kings. And this was just the beginning. Jesus' final week in Jerusalem took him from relative obscurity to publicity, all for watching eyes to witness his demise. In a few days, he’d allow unjust leaders and their posse spit on his face; they’d mock him; they’d assault him and ravage his friends and family. Not so kingly anymore. Not quite the leader image most people wanted. More like a social media moment most people would rather avoid.

Yet, he didn’t run from what was ahead of him; he walked into it. On purpose. This was the public display of our king. If kings are the law, then Jesus as king has a different law, a different way of modeling life in his kingdom. The alternative would be that maybe he’s just not a king after all.

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As he entered the city, the crowds proclaimed, as we often do on Palm Sunday, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The word “Hosanna” means, “Save!” It is both a plea and a proclamation of salvation. The king has arrived! The gospel stories don’t dispute this.

We, like those crowds, still cry out for it, and we still announce it. The salvation we want is right here in Jesus. But do we get it? Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem turned into something that was not what the people had hoped for, not what would be expected of a "real" king. It ended not in conquering, but in death. 

Yes, we know the end, that holy week leads to resurrection on Easter -- a wonderful celebration indeed. But, to get ahead of myself, what if the resurrection is not "victory" but "confirmation"? What if it is confirmation of Jesus as king? And what if as the story goes, to get to Easter you must begin with Palm Sunday? You must go into Jerusalem, through the turmoil and suffering, the struggle, the humility, and the death first. Yes, in Jesus God is making all things new, moving us to fullness, to a new existence where according to Revelation 21 there is no death, mourning, crying, or pain. But Jesus’ story moves us first into full humanity -- suffering, hate, power, pride, struggle, and, yes, death. 

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What’s interesting is that the crowds who cheer “Hosanna!” are the same people who yell “Crucify him!” by Friday. We think we’re not like them. But things with Jesus are usually more complicated than we admit. We are more complicated in our sincere but sometimes misguided “faith” than we’d like to admit. Even in our good intentions, we are often implicated in the world’s systems and patterns that put Jesus to death. It’s bigger than just our individual sinfulness. 

The crowd crying "Hosanna" were filled with expectation, expectation that Jesus would change things. Expectation that their lives would be better. As the week unfolded, they moved on to looking for a different king, a different savior that “fit” what they thought a hero king should be.

We, like the crowd, often have expectations. And sometimes we’re like the crowd -- guilty of fitting Jesus into our expectations. We acclaim Jesus, but often, like the crowd, fall to our expectations and reject who Jesus actually is as king. I’m reminded of the Metallica song, “Hero of the Day.” They’re off to find the hero of the day; but what if they should fall by someone’s wicked way? In looking for our hero of the day, do we fall into certain expectations and miss the hero we need?

When we move too quickly from “Hosanna” on Palm Sunday of Holy Week to “Alleluia” on the Resurrection Sunday, we risk not following the story. We jump to the good part, and we implicitly suggest that it’s the risen, victorious, Son of God who conquered death and gives us the hope of eternal life! Fits our cultural narrative pretty well. We want winning, happiness, joy, triumph, without all of the drama, setbacks, struggle, patience, suffering. We don’t want the bad days. Just the good ones. We don’t want a hero who struggles. We want the leader who “wins,” the hero who conquers.

Palm Sunday says, “Not so fast.” We still don’t understand. We wouldn’t have understood then. Isn’t God supposed to be more in control? Shouldn’t Jesus be more powerful, or look the part of the hero? I mean, if Jesus is the Son of God, then what’s going on? First the donkey and the meek king. Show a little more pizzaz, Jesus. But this is where the story takes us. How God works, how God shows up, we often don’t understand. Even now. We want to escape our human dilemma. We want all the God stuff to be happy, strong, bright, “winning.” 

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But we need to follow the story. We must follow the story and let it expose our own misunderstandings of Jesus and ideas of salvation. The journey to understanding Jesus and our salvation and our own humanity must begin here: Palm Sunday. And it must follow the story.

The palm branches of Palm Sunday represent both a correct proclamation and misunderstanding. The branches were symbols of kingship, victory, and praise. Rightly so. This is Jesus, the king, the Son of God. We are right to proclaim who he is as God among us to save us. Say it from the rooftops!

But the palm branches also show misunderstanding: the victory and praise comes not through the sort of “winning” that we typically acclaim. Remember, rulers and kings were the law. Their lives modeled the best life. So it is with Jesus. 

Jesus’ way, beginning with Palm Sunday, is not the way of victory of “overcoming adversity” or suffering. Yes, it’s good when this happens. But this is not the way. Jesus is not “Rudy”; his story is not that of Conquering the Giants. Jesus as king subverts our cultural stories and narratives. Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem is the entrance into a new way that leads to life. 

Palm Sunday and the story of Jesus give us this: Christian spirituality -- not just faith in Jesus, but a life that follows after him -- is not avoidance or escapism or “winning.” We know we’ve traded Jesus for a different hero expectation when life is not as we’d like, and we question God’s presence. Or we think that we must always have a “winning” and strong faith. That we can’t admit defeat. Or if we admit defeat we’re letting God down or our faith isn’t “good enough.” 

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The true way to life, as Jesus shows us, embraces our human reality on purpose. If your life is not “winning” -- Jesus the king says you’re not a loser. If your life is full of struggle, you’re not down and out. And you don’t need to ignore or otherwise hide from or keep your struggle and humility to yourself. Jesus the king says “bring it out!” And you don’t have to be an “overcomer.” Rather than overcome, Jesus flips our whole mentality on its head and says, “Let me put a crown on your suffering.”

Like Paul says in 2 Corinthians: we are pressured on every side, but we are not crushed; we are in confusion, but not in despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are beat down, but not destroyed...we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed every day. 

As we celebrate Palm Sunday, we enter into the story of Holy Week. Like the crowds, we cry out for salvation. We are people struggling, hurting, waiting for salvation in a very real way. As important as they are, it is vital to remember that our salvation is NOT in the hands of the CDC, the WHO, the President, or the congress. It’s not in the results of the next election cycle. 

In whom do we put our hope? Will we lay ourselves to Jesus, God’s salvation? Or will we, like many around Jerusalem when Jesus entered, lay our hopes on other ideas of salvation that are not Jesus’ ideas? Begin this week, not just looking ahead to Easter and the resurrection. Follow the story, and lay yourself and your family upon the way of life, the way of Jesus, who willingly walks into the depths of our worst days to find us there and crown our suffering humanity with his kingship.