The Text: Matthew 21:1-11
“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding
on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem marks the beginning of Holy week
and the impending climax to the ministry of Jesus. Jesus had come to speak
God’s truth to the world and to enact God’s truth in the world.
We find ourselves in an environment that makes it tricky to speak of a truth
such as this. Who is to say that the Christian version of truth is better than any
other truth going around? We live in an age where truth is what you make it.
What one person determines to be truth is probably not what the person next
them determines to be truth!
Truth can be such a subjective thing, where it comes down to your own
opinions and belief system. Can there be any absolute truth under those
circumstances? Is objective truth simply what can be proven mathematically
(for example, 1 + 1 = 2) or something that can only be verified experimentally
in a laboratory? Is truth imposed by a dictator in some circumstances and
determined by the popular democratic vote in others? Does the opinion of
the majority become the truth?
This is not just a 21st century dilemma. Determining the difference between
truth which is relative (that is, a truth that varies from individual to individual)
and truth which is absolute (that is, a truth that is universally applicable to all
people irrespective of whether they believe in it or not), has never been easy.
Jesus didn’t seem to share that dilemma. He said: “I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
That sounds like a pretty absolute approach to truth, doesn’t it! I’m not sure
how he would fare in our politically sensitive environment, where tolerance is
expected. Actually, he would fare pretty much the same as he did back
then.
It is not a popular stand point to have such an uncompromising version of the
truth – unless of course you can convince enough people to share that truth
or be in a position to exercise enough power to impose that truth.
Jesus certainly had the power. He had taught with authority, he had healed
the sick and raised the dead and calmed the storm. Before our Lenten
journey began we heard how he had been transfigured before a few of his
disciples in all his glory. So yes, he could enforce his truth. He could enforce it
on Jerusalem, on the world and on you and me; if he so chose. But he chose
not to do it that way.
So then it comes down to convincing enough people to share his truth. He
certainly had a committed core of disciples to get the momentum going on
that front. That momentum seemed promising upon his entry into Jerusalem.
As we heard in Matthew’s account of the event:
“A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut
branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went
ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of
David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the
highest heaven!’”
It sounds like the crowd has found its voice and that Jesus has the popular
vote. He could ride this wave of popularity and usher in his truth through sheer
weight of numbers if he so chose. But he chose not to.
The truth desired by the crowd was different to the truth Jesus had come to
enact. Who knows what they expected of him, but it is pretty clear that he
didn’t live up to those expectations. By the end of the week the crowd would
be baying for his blood with shouts of ‘crucify him!’, ‘crucify him!’ (Matthew
27:22-23) – not exactly a resounding endorsement for this king and his version
of the truth.
So if his truth was not going to be imposed with force or ushered in with a
decision of the majority then how would it come about?
It would come about through the actions of Jesus and through them alone.
His truth was not dependent on getting others to submit to it or on getting
enough numbers behind it. It was dependent on Jesus completing the task
set before him. It was just as well he wasn’t reliant on others to do it because
when Jesus entered Jerusalem, we are told that “the whole city was stirred
and asked, ‘Who is this?’”
‘Who is this?’ If you were campaigning for the truth in a particular electorate
you wouldn’t want the voting public to be uncertain of your identity. And the
reply that was given to this question wasn’t exactly flattering. “The crowds
answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee’”. He is not
referred to as the coming king in the line of David, but as a prophet from the
backblocks of Nazareth.
The crowds were passing ‘unheeding by’, oblivious to the truth that was right
before their eyes: ‘See your king comes to you’!
But they couldn’t see, even though they were unknowingly bearing witness to
the truth of what was happening with their own words.
They were shouting words from Psalm 118, one of the Psalms that was sung at
special festivals. It was used to give thanks to God for the way he had
rescued his people in the past. They had shouted and sung the words of this
Psalm over the years at every Passover festival and they were doing it again
now.
The cry ‘Hosanna’ is not originally a word for praise, like ‘Hallelujah’. It is a
prayer, it is a plea for God to come and save his people. So as Jesus came
into town they were actually shouting: ‘Save us, Son of David’! ‘Save us in the
highest heaven!’
Were they really asking for him to do that or expecting him to do that? Some
were maybe. His closest followers were probably. But I don’t imagine the
majority connected these words to the man they saw coming in to town on a
donkey.
But their ignorance would not prevent Jesus from doing what he came to do.
He had come to save them and all people. It was not up to the disciples or
the crowds or the religious leaders or the Roman authorities to help Jesus
bring about his truth.
It was up to him and that is why he entered Jerusalem the way he did. He
didn’t come to enforce obedience. He didn’t come demanding that people
get behind him. He came ‘gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the
foal of a donkey.’
Jesus rode into Jerusalem as king that day, even though the majority were not
asking for it to happen or looking for it to happen. But regardless of whether
they knew it or not, wanted it or not, believed it or not; the truth was that their
king had come to them. The truth was that their king had come to die for
them.
Do we want a king to come to us in our day? I’m not convinced the majority
do, though we do appear to be crying out for strong leaders to emerge.
The political landscape in our world is often a shambles. It would be refreshing
to see someone stand up and take charge and provide solutions to the
problems we face. When it happens we often applaud it and welcome it.
So maybe we would like someone to come and fix certain things, to be some
sort of 21st century Messiah who fulfils our expectations. But it could be that we
still only want a leader to enact our version of the truth, to do it on our terms.
We aren’t necessarily asking for a king to rule over us in his way and on his
terms.
But does that stop Jesus from coming? It didn’t then, so why should it now?
Jesus does not hold back from coming when we are not ready for him or
expecting him or completely obedient to him. He does not hold back from
coming to us because we are struggling to believe in him or struggling to see
him for who he is. It is for these reasons and many more that we need him to
come. And so he does.
In the Lord’s Prayer we pray: ‘your kingdom come’. When Martin Luther
explained that petition he said: “God comes to rule as king even if we don’t
ask for this to happen. But in this prayer we are asking: ‘Father, come and rule
over us’”.
The prayer is that we would welcome Jesus as our King, that we would
welcome his truth in our lives. To this day Jesus comes in the same way he
came to Jerusalem that Palm Sunday – humbly and gently. He doesn’t
impose his truth on us and it won’t always be a truth that matches popular
opinion. Nevertheless, our King still comes to us with his truth. He comes to
save us and set us free. Amen.