OPENING THE GOSPELS: Palm Sunday

PALM SUNDAY

Click on the links for an introduction to the series, and the techniques of reading with your head, heart and hands.

Luke 19.28-40 (Isaiah 50.4-9a or Philippians2.5-11, Luke 22.14-23)

28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” ’ 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ 34They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ 35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38saying,

‘Blessed is the king

   who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven,

   and glory in the highest heaven!’

39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ 40He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’

HEAD QUESTIONS

WHO?

Jesus: What does this passage tell us about Jesus? What image do we get of him from this?

Two disciples: The disciples aren’t named, but are probably part of Jesus’ inner circle.

A colt: Jesus is deliberately acting out a prophecy associated with the Messiah from the Old Testament book of Zechariah (9.9), which talks about the new leader God will send coming to Jerusalem “humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey”. Matthew’s version (Mt 21.2) has Jesus riding – rather improbably – on both a donkey and a colt at the same time!  Whose colt does Jesus borrow? Does the owner know it was going to be borrowed? Who is the owner? Did they get it back afterwards? Luke doesn’t tell us the answers to these questions because they aren’t relevant to his story, and we have to be careful not to get distracted by them – they are our questions, not Luke’s! The colt is important – see below - but the details of how it comes to be made available aren’t.  

The questioners: The questioners who ask the disciples why they are taking the colt (as you might expect someone to) are a way for Luke to underline the symbolic importance of this action. The disciples’ answer seems to satisfy them. 

“The whole multitude of disciples”: Matthew, Mark and John describe very large crowds acclaiming Jesus when he rides into Jerusalem, by implication people who just happen to be there – ordinary men, women and children. Luke, in contrast, says they were Jesus’ disciples, probably a larger group than the 12 closest disciples, but people who already supported Jesus and knew something about his teaching and wanted others to know who he was.

Pharisees: We aren’t told why the Pharisees want to shut up the disciples. It might just be that they disagreed about Jesus being the Messiah, but they are also likely to be aware of the potential for their Roman overlords to crack down on the whole population if it looked as if unrest was brewing. It wasn’t uncommon for people to claim to be the Messiah, and it usually ended badly for them, and those who were caught up in the backlash.

WHERE?

The Mount of Olives: The approach to Jerusalem from the east led down the steep slopes of the Mount of Olives into a deep valley and then up the other side of the hill on which the city stands. Ancient prophecies of the Messiah’s coming said that he would come from the east – the place of the rising sun. No one could have missed the significance of Jesus coming in this way. It is still a wonderful viewpoint, preserved in many tourist photos, of the old city. It still has many olive trees growing on its steep sides. 

WHEN?

“After Jesus had said this”: Jesus has just been telling a very pointed parable – Luke’s version of the parable of the Talents – about a nobleman who went away “to get royal power for himself”, leaving ten pounds for his slaves to invest. When he comes back, two of the slaves have put his money to work for him and made a profit, but one, who was afraid of losing it, has wrapped it in a cloth, where it was safe, but did nothing. His pound is taken away and given to the others, and those who did not want him to be king are slaughtered. Whatever we think of its brutality (and we should remember that parables are stories to engage our imagination, not descriptions of how God acts!), it carries an uncomfortable and pointed message. A time is coming when the decisions people have made about who to support will lead to real world consequences. What have they done with the treasures of faith they have been given? Will they recognise “the king who comes in the name of the Lord” or not?

WHAT?

As I have said above, Jesus is very deliberately acting out a prophecy from the Hebrew Scriptures (Zechariah 9.9), written many centuries earlier during another time of national crisis – occupation and oppression was the norm rather than the exception in Israel’s story. The Jewish people were longing for God to send them a leader to defeat their enemies. Zechariah’s prophecy said that this leader would come “humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey”. It’s an image that was as strange in Zechariah’s time as it was in Luke’s, and as it is in ours.  Jesus deliberately acts out the prophecy, and those around him – rejoicing disciples and wary Pharisees – know exactly what he is saying, that he is God’s promised Messiah. It is a deeply subversive political gesture. At almost the same moment Jesus enters Jerusalem on a colt, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor would have been coming into the other side of the city, at the head of a grand procession with heavily armed, mounted troops, from his base on the coast for the feast of the Passover, a time of heightened nationalistic tension, to discourage any thoughts of rebellion. The contrast between the two processions would have been stark, but which leader would God bless and use – the carpenter on the colt, or the Roman military leader on his war horse? 

HEART QUESTIONS

• What do you feel as you read this passage?

• If you could step into this story, as part of the crowds around Jesus, where would you be and what would you do?

• Have you been part of any large demonstrations? If so, how did it feel? If not, why is this something you have chosen not to do? How do you show your support  for causes you think are important? 

• Do you think the Pharisees have a point? Is it fair for Jesus and his disciples to risk causing the wrath of Rome to fall on the whole nation?

HANDS QUESTIONS

• What do you feel prompted to do in response to this Gospel story?

READINGS FOR HOLY WEEK

Why not read Luke’s account of Jesus arrest, trial and crucifixion through this week. You can find it in Luke 22 and 23. You know the “Head, heart, hands” drill now, so feel free to use it as you read!