Palm Sunday. We celebrate the beginning of this Holy Week with children waving palm branches and singing, "Hosanna! Hosanna in the Highest!" And yet... I think for a lot of us... what we think we are celebrating is not as closely related to that moment in the gospels as we may think. What the Jewish people were singing and seeing was not what we are singing and seeing.
Mark 11:1 starts the account by telling us that Jesus was at Bethany and Bethpage on the Mount of Olives. We breeze by that as a simple geographical fact, but there is more to it. The Mount of Olives looks over the temple. Everyone stops on the Mount of Olives to look at Jerusalem (whether coming or going). But even more than that... standing on the Mount of Olives would invoke for the Jews the book of Zechariah. Zechariah 14:1-5; 9 describes deliverance: Yahweh coming to establish His Kingdom — standing on the Mount of Olives which splits under His feet, giving escape. It paints a violent picture:
Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake a in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.....
The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.
The Lord will stand on the Mount of Olives and on that day save His people. That's what they hear and remember as they see Jesus standing on the Mount which overlooks the temple.
Mark then tells us that Jesus sent His disciples to get a donkey. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that the reason He does this is to fulfill the words of the prophets. The kings of Israel had ridden colts of donkeys in the past. It's a sign of royalty and kingdom. But the quote given by Matthew focuses on Zechariah 9. While he only quotes a portion, the Jews would have quickly known the full context:
Again, the violence of the scene; the total overthrowing of their enemies would have immediately come to mind. Zechariah 14 was the backdrop for the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 9 was the backdrop for the riding of the donkey. Both emphasize the key point: the Kingdom is being established.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.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.
Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.
I will bend Judah as I bend my bow
and fill it with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece,
and make you like a warrior’s sword.
Then the Lord will appear over them;
his arrow will flash like lightning.
The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet;
he will march in the storms of the south,
and the Lord Almighty will shield them.
They will destroy
and overcome with slingstones.
They will drink and roar as with wine;
they will be full like a bowl
used for sprinkling the corners of the altar.
The Lord their God will save his people on that day
as a shepherd saves his flock. (Zechariah 9:9-16)
Mark then tells us in Mark 11:8 that they spread their cloaks on the ground for Jesus to ride over. Laying your cloak on the road is what you do for a king (see 2nd Kings 9:11-13). They are not missing the imagery developing with the donkey and the Mount of Olives. And let's not forget that this is the time of Passover. They are primed and ready for deliverance -- just like in the days of Moses. The time is now. This is the king! Laying down of their cloaks isn't just a sign of respect; it doesn't just give Him honor. It is a pledge of allegiance; an act of devotion (and in some sense, an act of war).
At this point in the story, all these points -- the location and description of the Mount of Olives, (Zech 14); the donkey (Zech 9); the laying down of their cloaks (2nd Kings 9); and the waving of the palm branches (2nd Maccabees 10) -- are all developing into a politically explosive moment in which the king has finally arrived in Jerusalem and they are looking for the kingdom to be established. They are expecting deliverance; new exodus; overthrowing kingdoms of the world; exultation of exiles, etc. That's the backdrop.
And then comes the song:
"Hosanna!”“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
”Hosanna" Hosanna is not a simple praise like we sing it. It actually means "Oh Save." It's a cry of desperation with political undertones; a pleading term, asking God to move (See 2nd Samuel 14:4 & 2nd Kings 6:26). We sing hosanna like a praise. It was really a desperate plea -- a shout of "Save us!" A call for action. But they were not begging for spiritual salvation. They wanted to wage a war.
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” They now make explicit what everything implicit has been leading us to — the kingdom has come; David will now reign; our king will now take his throne.Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;his love endures forever.Let Israel say:“His love endures forever.”Let the house of Aaron say:“His love endures forever.”Let those who fear the Lord say:“His love endures forever.”When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;he brought me into a spacious place.The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.What can mere mortals do to me?The Lord is with me; he is my helper.I look in triumph on my enemies.It is better to take refuge in the Lordthan to trust in humans.It is better to take refuge in the Lordthan to trust in princes.All the nations surrounded me,but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.They surrounded me on every side,but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.They swarmed around me like bees,but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;in the name of the Lord I cut them down.I was pushed back and about to fall,but the Lord helped me.The Lord is my strength and my defense a ;he has become my salvation.Shouts of joy and victoryresound in the tents of the righteous:“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”I will not die but live,and will proclaim what the Lord has done.The Lord has chastened me severely,but he has not given me over to death.Open for me the gates of the righteous;I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.This is the gate of the Lordthrough which the righteous may enter.I will give you thanks, for you answered me;you have become my salvation.The stone the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone;the Lord has done this,and it is marvelous in our eyes.The Lord has done it this very day;let us rejoice today and be glad.Lord, save us!Lord, grant us success!Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.From the house of the Lord we bless you.The Lord is God,and he has made his light shine on us.With boughs in hand, join in the festal processionup to the horns of the altar.You are my God, and I will praise you;you are my God, and I will exalt you.Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;his love endures forever.
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!” This is a quote from Psalm148. By shouting this phrase, the crowd was invoking heaven’s blessing on them and the salvation they believed the Messiah was bringing. Psalm 148 calls all of creation to worship Yahweh because He is victorious. He is the king of all creation and He will reign.
Putting all together:
- They are asking Yahweh to liberate them through a political liberator.
- Then they start to sing Psalm 118 — a battle cry for all those who laid down their cloaks to not just lay down their cloaks, but their lives.
- It ends with Psalm 148 — a pronouncement of assured victory.
==> They are now primed and ready for a war!
The Jews weren't necessarily recognizing Jesus as Deity, or even the Son of Yahweh, their God. They saw the messiah as someone God would move through to put their enemies in place. Someone not unlike Judas Maccabeus. They were begging Jesus to step forward as messiah -- to lead them in a revolt to overthrow their enemies. They weren't shouting praise for their Savior as we see Him. They were lifting up a battlecry. A battlecry they expected to be the beginning of a bloody, violent overthrow of their oppressors.
And that... is how the crowd shifted to shouting "Crucify him!" within a week of what we call Palm Sunday. Jesus didn't meet the expectations they had held of their messiah. For hundreds of years, they had expected a violent overthrowing of their enemies. Instead, Jesus told them to love their enemies. He spoke harshly to them for their actions against gentiles... even against women and children. It flew in the face of everything they knew; everything they had been taught. By the end of the week, they were convinced they were mistaken. They'd been primed and ready for a war that wasn't happening. Jesus wasn't doing what they thought He would. He wasn't who they thought He was. He couldn't be the messiah. Barabbas, on the other hand... there was a guy willing to take on the Roman government. He was an insurrectionist who had far more resemblance to the expected messiah than Jesus.
Their expectations of who the messiah was supposed to be -- and what He was supposed to do -- kept them from seeing the Messiah that was in their midst.
Do our expectations of who we think He is and what we think He should do make it difficult to trust in those situations? Do we turn our backs on Him -- sure that a God of love could never allow the circumstances around us? Or do we try to "make it right" on our own -- waging our own war against our perceived oppressors?
