A Palm Sunday Meditation: The Entry into Jerusalem through the Lens of Zechariah

Today is Palm Sunday. As you know, Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter, and it commemorates the last time that Jesus visited Jerusalem, or "the entry into Jerusalem". Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, a symbolic gesture which expressed the fact that He was the Messiah, the shoot from the trunk of Jesse who would restore the kingdom of David, and perhaps much more. A few days later, He was crucified on a Roman cross. The scene is narrated in all four of the gospels. Here is Luke 19:28-44:

...And when [Jesus] had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near - already on the way down the Mount of Olives - the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

The story may not seem very impressive, but it is actually quite powerful when one reads it through the lens of the Old Testament.

Here is a quick history of the nation of Israel. In about the year 1000 B.C.E., the united kingdom of Israel was formed under King David, who ruled from Jerusalem. In about the year 922, the united kingdom of Israel was divided into two halves: the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah. In 722, the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and deported its inhabitants. The Assyrians also attacked the southern kingdom of Judah, but they did not succeed in capturing Jerusalem. Then, in 597 and 587, the Babylonians attacked Judah. Unlike the Assyrians, the Babylonians managed to capture Jerusalem, and they deported many citizens of Judah - including many of its leading citizens - to Babylon. This was the beginning of the Babylonian exile. In 539, the Persians conquered the Babylonians and freed the Israelites from exile. The next year, King Cyrus of Persia sent the exiled Israelites back to Judah with money to help rebuild the Temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians. When the Israelites returned to Judah, they were shattered: the Temple lay in ruins, and the throne of David had no occupant. The Israelites soon rebuilt the Temple, but the throne of David was never restored, and the Israelites were dominated by successive waves of foreigners. In 63, Pompey captured Jerusalem, and the Romans came to rule over the Israelites. Needless to say, they were harsh masters. The Israelites may have been freed from Babylon, but they still felt like exiles. After all, they were still ruled by cruel foreigners, and the throne of David was still unoccupied.

This is where Jesus comes in. The later prophets of the Old Testament told the Israelites that God would restore the kingdom of David and defeat the foreign powers that oppressed them. They also told them that God would dwell with His people in Jerusalem once He had accomplished these tasks. Prophets like Zechariah described a situation in which God would slay the foreigners in a bloody battle. The battle would be won by God, but the Israelites would fight in the battle too, and they would be led by the Messiah.

Many Jews during Jesus' day expected that God's rescue was immanent. They believed that God would deliver them from the Romans, and they also believed that the Messiah would play an important role in the victory. For these Jews, the Messiah would combine the offices of king and solider, as David had done. When Jesus entered Jerusalem that last time, he was surrounded by Jews who proclaimed that He was the Messiah. Many of these Jews must have believed that Jesus' entry into Jerusalem signaled the end of Roman rule. It did not. Jesus would be brutally murdered by Roman authorities, and the Roman empire would continue for several hundred years. Not only that, but the Romans would destroy the new Temple and massacre tens of thousands of Jews in the late 60's and early 70's. True, Jesus would conquer death on the cross, and He will defeat all the enemies of God when He comes again. But Jesus's entry into Jerusalem in the 30's did not herald the triumphant arrival of an earthly king who would crush God's enemies. Instead, it heralded the humiliation, torture, and death of a Jewish peasant who also happened to be God.

There are several lessons that can be drawn from all this. I want to concentrate on two of them.

First, Christianity is not a religion of pure triumphalism. It teaches that there is one God, that He is perfectly good and loving, that He has conquered sin and death, and that He gives eternal life to all His children. These are beautiful, grace-filled truths, and they are joyous to contemplate. At the same time, Christianity teaches that man is a wretched sinner, that he deserves death, that God was humiliated and brutally murdered for us, and that we too can expect suffering if we are fortunate enough to be called by Him. These are difficult truths, and they are sobering to consider. The church often focuses on the triumph of the cross, and rightly so, for Christ defeated death on the cross and thereby won a people for Himself. But we shouldn't forget the humiliation and the suffering of the cross. God accomplished the forgiveness of our sins, but He did so through torture and death. Furthermore, Jesus promised to send us the Spirit, and so He has. But He also promised that we would suffer if we followed Him. Discipleship is not a picnic - it conforms us to Christ, but it does so partly through suffering.

Zechariah (9:9-10) prophesied that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. This symbolizes the humility of the Messiah. But the Messiah is God, and so it also symbolizes the humility of God. God triumphs, but He triumphs through suffering and death. We have been chosen, and God will save us; but, we too will suffer, and we too will die.

Second, just the like the ancient Israelites, Christians are a people in waiting. The ancient Israelites longed for the arrival of the Messiah. Christians believe that the Messiah has come, but we long for His second arrival. The ancient Israelites were oppressed by foreign enemies, but they were also oppressed by sin and death. Christians believe that Jesus conquered death on the cross, but we are still oppressed by sin, and we will still die. The ancient Israelites knew that true deliverance came through God alone. So do Christians today. The ancient Israelites understood that they were sojourners in this world. Again, so do Christians today. The Messiah has come, and so much has changed. But the people of God still await their final deliverance from the powers of sin and death. In this respect, as in many others, Christians today have much in common with the ancient Israelites.

We should remember these things in the coming week as we prepare to celebrate Easter.