Jesus' procession deliberately countered what was happening on the other side of the city. Pilate's procession embodied the power, glory, and violence of the empire that ruled the world. Jesus' procession embodied an alternative vision, the kingdom of God. This...
Mark depicts an entry which is triumphal only for Jesus' followers who have not yet understood his destiny as Son of Man. For Jesus, it is an entry into suffering and death. He enters Jerusalem as a pilgrim, and as more than a pilgrim. He makes no response to a royal...
In Jesus’ triumphal entry, the adoring crowd makes up the ragtag procession: the lame, the blind, the children, the peasants from Galilee and Bethany. When the officer looks for the object of their attention he spies a forlorn figure, weeping, riding…on the back of a...
Jesus himself had mixed feelings during the clamorous parade. Luke reports that as he approached the city he began to weep. He knew how easily a mob could turn. Voices who shout “Hosanna!” one week can shriek “Crucify Him!” the next. from The Jesus I Never...
The story is about Jesus but is also about each of us. Palm Sunday asks what Jerusalem is for you and me. What in your life and mine is the walled city where we must ultimately go if we are to find life? What is the Jerusalem that awaits our arrival, where we will...