Jesus' Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem - a sermon for Passion Sunday

Jewish history is filled with conquest and political upheaval, but many of those victories belong to other nations, other kingdoms, not to the Jews themselves.  The ancient Hebrews were slaves to the Egyptians and the Babylonians.  By the end of the period of history during which the Old Testament was written, the Persians had become the dominant power in the Middle East.

At this time, the Jews had begun to rebuild their shattered temple, and to return to their ancestral lands, but all that began to change, as another government came to power.  In the 330’s B.C., Alexander the Great swept through the entire region with his army, replacing Persian rule with Greek.  The Jews simply shifted allegiances at first because, well, what else could they do at that point, but the Greeks’ intent was to spread Hellenization throughout their world.  Hellenization is a term that refers to their culture and language - a specifically Greek culture that has little room for other traditions.  

Alexander the Great wished to see the whole world educated in Greek fashion, holding to Greek values, speaking Greek, and, in fact, our education system to this day is leftover from the days of the Greeks.  

So the Jews didn’t get much of the return to independence that they longed for while under Greek influence.  They were dispersed even further throughout the region, so that sizable Jewish communities grew up in Egypt, which is quite likely the place to which Jesus’ own family fled when he was born, if you remember that story.  

The Egyptian Ptolemaic Empire took over control of their little corner of the world following the death of Alexander the Great.  They were replaced by the Seleucid Empire in about 198 B.C.  Both of these dynasties were Hellenistic, they continued to spread Greek culture and philosophy, and slowly, more traditional cultures began to disappear.  The Jews were forbidden to practice their religion and cultural traditions on pain of death, and the Temple in Jerusalem was turned into a pagan shrine.

Then, in about 164 B.C., a group of Jewish rebels led a revolt against the Seleucids, and gained independence for the Jews.  The temple was cleansed and the religious traditions were reinstated.  The people began to be Hebrew again.  There is still a commemoration of that time in Judaism with the Festival of Lights, or Hannukah.

This period of Jewish history is known as the Maccabean Period, or the Hasmonean Dynasty.  It lasted for about a hundred years until, wouldn’t you know it, the Romans marched in and seized control.  The governmental structure had begun to break down, and the Maccabean rulers began to be more and more dictatorial and corrupt, so Jewish leaders actually asked Roman general Pompey to come and restore order.  

He did, but it wasn’t the sort of order that the Jews would have wanted.  Roman conquest was much like Greek rule.  They believed so much in their own greatness, that there was no doubt that they would not relinquish control once they had their claws in the Jews.  

The Romans remained in power until 153 A.D., long after Jesus completed his earthly ministry.  He lived and died in occupied territory, and even today the Israeli’s continue seeking to “purify” their land.  Everyone dreamed of the day when a king would return, much like the Maccabees, to drive out the Romans and restore the Temple and its practices.  To return the land to the Lord and to glory.

I’d be willing to bet that someone suggested something like that to Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor of Judea during the time of Christ’s later ministry.  “Just don’t turn your back on them,” they probably said to him.  

So during the Passover each year, Pilate would fill Jerusalem with Imperial troops to “ensure” that the people didn’t get out of hand.  Passover, of course, is a festival commemorating and re-enacting the time of the Exodus, the time when the Hebrews escaped from slavery to the Egyptians.  It is a time when national pride runs especially high among the Jews, and while they always felt oppressed, the tendency to act out against Roman authority was a more bold at the time of Passover.

From Pilate’s point of view, the stories of the Maccabean revolt was probably foremost in his thoughts.  

So when Jesus was riding into town on a donkey, Pilate was also coming into the city with his army.  But while Pilate came riding a war horse, or maybe in a chariot, Jesus came on a donkey, in fulfillment of one of the Prophecies of Zechariah (9:9), “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Kings in those days in Palestine only rode horses into battle.  During times of peace, they would ride donkeys.  So while Pilate rode into the city with a display of force, as a king bent on conquest and domination, Jesus came in peace, also as a king.  This itself was a tremendous act of defiance, as there was probably a price on his head, but more than that, the people looked for a king like David, a mighty prophet of God like Moses, and a powerful revolution like the Maccabeans, to catch the Romans by surprise.

That’s not who Jesus is.  That’s not what Jesus does.  But he did ride into Jerusalem in triumph that day, because his victory was at hand.  He also rode into Jerusalem that day to disappoint a lot of people, because of the manner in which he would be victorious.  

He wasn’t going there to take up the sword, he was going there to take up the cross, and even when his own disciple Peter took a sword to attack those who came after them, Jesus rebuked him and said to him that this is not our way.  

Vengeance and resentment has a way of burning in our hearts and in our memories.  We want to lash out at those who have been unfair to us, we want to make them pay for what they did!!  How often do we reprimand our children because they did something mean to a brother or a sister and then complain when we scold them saying, “Well he started it,” but then we ourselves lash out in anger and spite against those whom we once called ‘friend’ because they were mean to us?  

Jesus did something that was unparalleled in all of history.  He allowed himself to be led to the Cross, and although He understood what was at stake - our immortal souls - he not only had to bear the pain of knowing the torture that He would have to endure, He also knew how disappointed people would be.  Wasn’t he supposed to be the Messiah?  He can’t even save himself, how is he supposed to save anyone else?  

Can you imagine doing something so selfless, something that you know is what’s best for another, but by doing it, you’re almost certain that they won’t get it, they won’t appreciate it, they will, in fact, be disappointed in you?  And disappointment is perhaps the hardest shame to for anyone to have to bear.  

But without shame, Jesus went to Jerusalem that day.  Without shame, he faced his enemies and sacrificed himself for a people who wouldn’t understand.  Amen.