Palm Sunday A

Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon

Musician - Red Molly, “Homeward Bound” from the album The Red Album. Redmolly.com, @redmollyband, Facebook

Matthew 21:1-17

Initial Thoughts

  • How does Jesus ride two donkeys?

    • Biblical Literalism at its best

  • Clear political statement - should it include 12-17?

    • Warren Carter names this section of his commentary “Making an Ass out of Rome”

Bible Study

  • Wild horse - uncastrated, never ridden. Colt or donkey? 

  • “A Donkey and a Side-car” (Mark Davis, Left Behind and Loving It)

    • “One thing that I found interesting as I read about this controversy, was that there was a long discussion throughout Israel’s history whether or not they should use horses as instruments of war. Horses were long associated with Egypt and seemed to represent an escalation of a country’s warfare from being primarily defensive to being offensive in purpose. Even in the Zechariah text one can see how cutting off the “war horse” and the chariot was part of the road to peace.”

  • Quoted passage

  • proof texting or capturing the messianic fervor?

  • Not two donkeys

  • Isaiah 62:11b

  • Zechariah 9:9

    • Messianic age of peace

    • God will overthrow the oppressive nations

    • All will dwell in peace

  • Never ridden - typical for sacred events.

  • Colt is a name for a young donkey or a young horse. Matthew says it is a donkey and a horse, but John points back to Zechariah 9:9 which tells of a king coming "humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." 

  • Jesus behaving like a King

    • The Colt that “no one has ridden” is a Kingly prerogative. 

    • Disciples are to go and “obtain” a horse. They follow without question.

    • If they are pressed, they are to exercise his authority.

    • Disciples are asked to make a great act of faith on behalf of Jesus’ authority.

  • Mike Baughman has another interesting take on the “colt that no one has ridden”

    • An unridden colt would be unneutered and untrained. Riding and unbroken colt would be a dangerous task, and the exact opposite of what a conqueror would ride - a trained and seasoned war horse.

    • Jesus coming to Jerusalem in a new way - with a new ride. He is bringing in an untamed, unknown way of doing things.

  • “Moses rides a donkey as he returns to Egypt to lead the people from slavery (Exodus 4:19-20)” (Carter). 

  • There seems to be some foreknowledge. 

    • Did Jesus set it up beforehand? 

    • Did a disciple own the horse?

    • Divine foreknowledge?

    • This has been dismissed as Jesus having made “the necessary arrangements. This probably misses the point of the story, which is precisely to indicate that the events about to take place in Jerusalem are not the result of change but are part of a larger and mysterious plan...He is a strange king who conquers by means of suffering and apparent defeat” Justo Gonzalez, Luke, p. 225

  • Zechariah 9

    • Messianic age of peace

    • God will overthrow the oppressive nations

    • All will dwell in peace

    • eschatological proclamation which “breaks” the militarism of human nations and will “speak peace to the nations”

    • Not a foretelling the coming of Jesus but the coming of a divine kingdom (on earth as it is in Heaven) ruled by God not by human interests

      • Mighty will be brought low and the low will be exalted- for the purpose of liberation and peace

      • What does God want? Zech. 8:16-17 “Speak the truth to each other; make truthful, just, and peaceable decisions within your gates.Don't plan evil for each other. Don't adore swearing falsely

  • Hosanna

  • literally means, “Save us”

  • Saved from what?

  • Saved for what?

  • We must be able to answer these questions or at least explore them if we hope to speak about Jesus

  • Was it wrong for the people to want to be saved from Roman oppression?

    • don’t we hope to be saved from oppression- economic, political, social, etc.

    • Does Jesus care about Rome or about each person in community?

  • We join the crowds shouting, “Save us” but do we want to be saved from without (from poverty, oppression, etc) or saved from within (self delusion, jealousy, greed, victimhood, power and control seeking, fear)?

  • Procession

  • Warren Carter: “Entrances, like triumphs, expressed the imperial mindset… But Jesus conceived of human greatness in terms of service. His entry into Jerusalem, the center of power, is a prophetic sign action, ‘choreographed street theater.’ He adopts some trappings from a Greco-Roman entrance procession, but reframes them in a different context for a different goal (to serve not dominate).” (Matthew and the Margins, p. 413)

    • Features of Entrance Processions: 

      • Appearance of the rule/general with troops (and prisoners) - 21:1, 7

      • A procession into the city - 21:9, 10

      • Welcoming and celebrating crowds, 21:8-9

      • Hymnic acclamation - 21:9

      • Speeches from local elite, to gain favor of the newcomer - no parallel

      • Cultic act or sacrifice in the local temple, and the new ruler takes possession of the city - 12:12-17

  • Parody of a conqueror entering the city in a display of power

    • Roman generals returning from victories would be celebrated with a triumphus, a grand procession in which the victor, crowned with laurels, would ride a chariot pulled by white horses and go to the temple to offer sacrifices. The spoils from his victory would be displayed in the procession and along the way the crowds would sing hymns and shout acclamations to the victor.

    • This practice even redacted Rome, when Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem, entered in triumph and offered sacrifices at the Temple.

    • The parodies are clear - he is riding a donkey, not a chariot. He will be crowned with thorns, not laurels, he will weep over Jerusalem (in Luke), not celebrate it, and he will drive out the oppressive sacrificial system in the temple, not participate in it.

  • How does Jesus show his power? (James O’Duke,  Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide.)

    • “Lordship, indeed even messianic lordship, is here defined in terms of servanthood. Gentleness, humility, peaceableness, mercy, and self-giving acts of generosity and compassion are marks of God's domain.”

    • Jesus is not aligned with any political party- then or NOW

      • Jesus is not a republican or a democrat (or an American for that matter)

      • Jesus is challenging the political and social state of the world

  • Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week

    • Two Processions: Pilate from Jaffa Gate and Jesus from Galilee

    • Kingdom of God vs Empire of Rome

    • The stage is set for the week

  • Crowds

    • Palm Sunday is often focused only on Jesus, but it is a very communal event

    • Disciples get the donkey

    • Donkey is donated

    • Crowds chant and gather

    • Crowds proclaim who Jesus is...kind of

      • prophet from Nazareth in Galilee (not the Son of God)

    • “For peace and reconciliation become possible when common folk with uncommon courage oppose exclusionary practices and policies and together stand with "the one who comes in the name of the Lord" (v. 9). History is replete with the stories of common folk who have recognized that we are able to accomplish more together than we can alone; stories that we might reclaim and rehearse as we continue our Lenten journey. They include the women and men who provided safe passage on the Underground Railroad for persons seeking freedom from chattel slavery in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. Remember also Dietrich Bonhoeffer and others in the Confessing Church in the 1930s, who took a definitive stance that their loyalty was to Jesus as Lord, not to Hitler and the Nazis. Youths in South Africa stood against apartheid and formed the African National Congress Youth League in 1944 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, envisioning a world in which racial domination would no longer exist.” Veronice Miles, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide

    • “Acting on  behalf of freedom is a dangerous undertaking. The more visible Martin Luther King Jr. became, the more crowds he attracted. The more the crowds lauded him, the more the enemy pursued him”...(other examples include Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela)...”Fighting for freedom is a dangerous endeavor. These men realized it. Jesus realized it. Nonetheless, the fight for freedom must continue despite its cost. That is the message behind Luke’s portrayal of Jesus’ ministry.” Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder, True to Our Native Land, p.179

  • The whole city is “stirred up”

    • Different Greek word, but similar meaning to being shaken or disturbed as with King Herod in Mt. 2:3

    • Same word used in the death of Jesus (27:51) and the resurrection (28:4)

  • Systematic theology explosion

    • Soteriology - save us!

    • Christology - the power(less) of Jesus

    • Eschatology - the beginning of the end

      • v.10 the whole city is in turmoil (or trembling) similar to the earthquakes at Jesus’ death - pre-tremors or what is to come

    • Ecclesiology? - the crowds?

  • Cleansing the Temple

    • ANGRY Jesus

      • Acknowledge the awkwardness of an ANGRY Jesus

      • Righteous anger- at this of all things is uncomfortable- not directed at the pharisees or sadducees or Romans, but those profiting from people encountering God

    • Why is Jesus mad?

      • Exploitation - the cost of the sacrificial doves and animals was too high and exploited those seeking grace.

      • Barrier - an unnecessary barrier that kept people from worshiping God - This seems especially true in Matthew in light of v. 14 when the blind and lame come to Jesus in the temple. (in direct contrast to 2 Samuel 5:8)

      • Profiting materially from faith and people’s desire to be in relationship with God - are we that much different?

      • “Then my Lord God will come and all the Holy Ones with him...And there shall no longer be traders in the House of the Lord of hosts on that day.” - Zech 14:15, 

        • “That day” of the Lord’s coming is here and Jesus’ driving out the traders indicates that God has come to the temple incarnate in Jesus

      • “Jesus orders that his Father’s house not be made a marketplace. Yet, for the temple system to survive, the ordered transactions of a marketplace were essential… Jesus is not quibbling about maleficence or mismanagement but calls for a complete dismantling of the entire system. Underneath this critique lies also the intimation that the temple itself is not necessary. At the center of such theological statements is the fundamental question of God’s location.” (Karoline Lewis, Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries: John, p. 42).

    • Religious Marketplace - are we that much better?

      • Beware using this as a soapbox to condemn external injustices - Jesus is bringing it home to the doors of your church. Is your church a marketplace or a house of prayer?

        • Explicit charging - building use, weddings, funerals, etc

        • Implicit charging - what people wear, how they smell, how they look, are they able to get into your church

      • “...both the prophetic impulse and institutions are essential. The same preachers who are deeply responsible for the health of the institutional church are also called urgently to respond to the prophetic impulse, summoning both church and world to do better than we currently do. This inescapably creates ongoing tension, for the church without the prophetic impulse quickly devolves into mirroring the values of the prevailing powers, while the prophetic impulse that does not develop and sustain enduring institutions is quickly pushed to the margins, ignored and forgotten, or worse, co-opted to serve the very powers it originally bore witness against.” Shupe, P. C. (2008). Pastoral Perspective on John 2:13–22. Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B (Vol. 2, p. 94).

    • The objections of the chief priest and scribes echo the complaints in Luke

      • “The contrasting responses of the praising marginal children and the angry priests and scribes are developed as the religious elite confront Jesus, “Do you hear what these are saying? Their antipathy to the title son of David expresses a refusal to recognize Jesus as commissioned by God to manifest God’s merciful reign as a king…. The children’s confession is dangerous and threatening” (Carter, p. 420)

      • Jesus quotes Psalm 8:1-2 celebrating the glory of God in creation - not that different from the stones crying out

  • “While not supporting the Zealots, they valued the measure of religious and political freedom Israel had, and sought to prevent anything that could arouse the ire of Rome.” Justo Gonzalez, Luke, p.227

  • They fear reprisal.

    • Selfish - because they fear greater wrath will come down, possibly even unsettling their position.

    • Care for Jesus - misunderstand his mission, and wish only for him to play it safe and survive.

  • “That stones would shout is, of course, a figure of speech, but the expression does remind us that in biblical understanding, the creation is involved in events that we tend to think affect humans alone” (Craddock, p. 228)

Thoughts and Questions

  • Who is this? - perhaps the most important question of our faith

  • We must be able to answer these questions or at least explore them if we hope to speak about Jesus

  • Was it wrong for the people to want to be saved from Roman oppression?

    • don’t we hope to be saved from oppression- economic, political, social, etc.

    • Does Jesus care about Rome or about each person in community?

  • We join the crowds shouting, “Save us” but do we want to be saved from without (from poverty, oppression, etc) or saved from within (self delusion, jealousy, greed, victimhood, power and control seeking, fear)?

  • Jesus did not align himself with any religious or political party or group...would Jesus align himself with the church?

Psalm 118

Initial thoughts

  • Psalm Song - "Into Your Hands" by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan

  • Lectionary selection for both Palm Sunday and Easter for all three years, though the selected verses overlap.

    • Both weeks read the intro v 1-2: “Give thanks to the LORD because he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever. Let Israel say it: "God's faithful love lasts forever!" (CEB)

    • v 24-29 overlap

      • “This is the day the LORD acted; we will rejoice and celebrate in it! LORD, please save us! LORD, please let us succeed! The one who enters in the LORD's name is blessed; we bless all of you from the LORD's house. The LORD is God! He has shined a light on us! So lead the festival offering with ropes all the way to the horns of the altar. You are my God—I will give thanks to you! You are my God—I will lift you up high! Give thanks to the LORD b ecause he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever.”

Bible Study

  • Psalm 118’s place in Ancient Hebrew worship is debated. One theory is that this was a Psalm that “celebrated the reenthronement of the Davidic monarch” (James Newsome on p 232 of Texts for Preaching, Year A).

    • Fits Palm Sunday as an enthronement psalm, when Jesus is acting as a new kind of King in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

  • End of what Clint McCann calls the Hallel collection (113-118) which came to be used at Passover.

    • Can also be seen in context of Israel’s return from exile. It’s use is versatile, as thanksgiving, victory.

  • Tone and emotions of the Psalm are all over the place. Lots of praise, also distress, so the lection tries to cut it up to make it fit Palm Sunday and Easter.

  • “A psalm of thanksgiving sung by one who has been to the edge of the abyss and who has been delivered by God” (James Newsome on p 231 of Texts for Preaching, Year A).

  • Non Palm Sunday section

    • v 1-4 Call to Worship - Let all say “God’s steadfast love endures forever”

    • v 5-13 I was in distress, but God saved.

    • v 14-18 God is victorious

      • salvation, victory, valiant, strength

  • v 19-24 Procession

    • In midst of procession is reminder of the failure that preceded this celebration

      • v. 22 - The stone that was rejected has become the cornerstone.

    • The people have come to celebrate, but it is the Lord that is taking action

      • v. 24 This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

      • This is the proper order - Acknowledge God’s action, then rejoice.

  • v 25-29 Call for salvation and thanksgiving

    • Ending verse mirrors the opening

      • 118:29 “Give thanks to the LORD because he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever”

Preaching Thoughts and Questions

  • Pattern of praise and petition affirm God’s sovereignty. More realistic as a whole psalm, instead of chopping it up. Isn’t most of life full of both praise and petition?

  • Powerful as communal prayer and individual promise. Martin Luther called it “My own beloved psalm.” (Clint McCann, New Interpreter’s Bible, v. IV, p. 1156).

Holy Week Thoughts

See more Holy Week Resources Here!

  • Go with Lectionary or stick to one Gospel per year?

  • Lectionary is John every year

    • Thur - John 13:1-17, 31b-35

    • Fri - John 18:1-19:42

  • Since it is “Matthew Year”

    • Thur - Matthew 26:1-75

      • Judas betrays Jesus

      • Woman anoints Jesus (all the disciples in denial, this woman gets it)

      • Last Supper - with Judas in attendance

      • Prediction and Denial from Peter

        • Peter cursed Jesus

      • Jesus in prayer

      • Arrest at night

        • Jesus claims he could bring 12 Legions (while Pilate probable had 1 at his disposal) but doesn’t

      • Jesus before council

    • Fri - Matthew 27:1-61

      • Trial before Pilate

        • Choosing of Jesus Barabbas over Jesus the Christ

        • Reluctant Pilate (and historical trouble this caused)

      • Mocking of Jesus

      • Crucifixion (with more insults)

      • Death

        • “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”

        • Women at the cross

      • Burial

Maundy Thursday

Good Friday

  • In one tweet answer: “What is good about it?”

  • Tell the story - Don’t Gloss it over

  • Crucifixion - historical

    • Cross probably not more than ten feet high

    • Jesus completely naked, exposed along a busy road

    • Feet probably not together on the bottom of the cross, but spread on each side.

    • Resource about crucifixions in history: Stuff You Missed in History Podcast

    • Leave it uncomfortable and open ended

  • Crucifixion – part of life, not a historical execution

    • We experience crucifixion, pain, death, agony

  • Earthquake- recalls “Jerusalem in Turmoil” from Palm Sunday

  • Seven Last Words

    • Luke 23:34:      Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

    • Luke 23:43:      Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

    • John 19:26-27: Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother.

    • Matthew 27:46:   My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

    • John 19:28:       I am thirsty.

    • Luke 23:46:      Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

    • John 19:30:       It is... finished.

  • Jesus Barabbas or Jesus Christ.

    • Do we want Jesus, son of the father, a more human and perhaps understandable Jesus or Jesus the Christ the Messiah, the Savior - which says that we need to be saved.

    • Jesus the Messiah is not an ethical teacher, but a savior from God

  • Liturgy

  • https://www.illustratedchildrensministry.com/

 

Thank you listeners and get in touch:

Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com,@pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Sunday Morning”,"Real Ride"and“Summertime”) and The Steel Wheels for our transition music(“Nola’s First Dance” from their album Lay Down, Lay Low) and Paul and Storm for our closing music (“Oh No”).

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