At first glance Palm Sunday appears to be a very confused day. It moves very rapidly from the grand procession singing “All glory, laud, and honor to you redeemer King,” to a 15 minute reading of Christ’s passion from Matthew. The two elements seemingly stand in stark contrast to one another. In order to make sense of all this we mustn't see these two events in isolation, but both within the context of Holy Week. Jesus did indeed enter with a grand procession and singing, as a King, One who rides on in majesty to defeat an enemy. He does come as King, with pomp and show, but the grand purpose of His entrance was to die. Jesus rides on in majesty to die.
Jesus’ entrance on Palm Sunday is majestic and beautiful. “Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”” The crowds cry out with an excited fervor that Jesus, the Son of David, the Messiah would save them! Their hope was that He would rule over them as their King. So they welcomed Him as their King, with branches and cloaks spread across the road, rolling out the red carpet for their Savior.
He rode in on a donkey. “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” The donkey brings to mind Samson, who with but the jawbone of a donkey slew 1,000 Philistines. Jesus is one like Samson who comes with great supernatural strength, strength which belongs only to the Lord. So Jesus, like Samson, comes to defeat our enemies with His great might.
And like Samson fighting with the jawbone of a dead donkey or with his eyes gouged out and chained to the columns in the Philistine temple of Dagon collapsing the temple upon the Philistines, Jesus conquers our great enemies with death, His death. “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” The very reason Jesus entered into Jerusalem was that He may be arrested, sentenced to death, be crucified, and buried. For by His death, the King releases His subjects from death to life.
It’s no coincidence that all of this took place the same time as the Passover. At the same time the Israelites were gathered in Jerusalem remembering how God had spared them from death by the sacrificial death of a lamb, because the lamb’s blood covered them, now the true Lamb of God came to spare His people from eternal death by covering them with His own blood. Jesus came as the fulfillment of the greater Passover.
So Jesus replaced the memorial Passover meal with the sacramental meal consisting of His body and blood. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus’ blood covered the people, replacing the blood of the lamb which was sprinkled on the people. “All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!””
Jesus, as King of the Jews, and King of all, replaced the lesser memorials of the Old Testament with the real salvific thing. Instead of the empty pomp and show of an ordinary inauguration, Jesus received an inauguration of blood. “They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!””
Unbeknownst to the Jews who crucified Jesus, His death was the very victory He came to accomplish. He laid down His own life to be the sacrifice for sin, so that His subjects would be freed from death’s reign of terror over them. “Behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”” By Jesus’ death, He forgave sins, broke open the graves, and thus conquered the Devil. For those who witnessed these events in person, they couldn’t help but confess the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Glory.
As we reflect upon this Holy Week, we join with the crowds who plead God for forgiveness and salvation from our sin and death. On Thursday we partake of the meal of Christ’s own sacrificial body and blood. We demand that Jesus’ blood be upon us and our Children. On Friday we behold the cross and confess that Jesus is the Son of God, our King who comes to save us. On Saturday we gather in vigil with the apostles and women to greet our risen Savior, who has conquered our foes and rides on in majesty.
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