JESUS’ TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM
(A biblical refection on PALM (PASSION) SUNDAY [YEAR C] – 14 April 2019)
Gospel Reading during Procession: Luke 19:28-40
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalms: Psalm 22:8-9,17-20,23-24; Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11; Gospel Reading: Luke 22:14-23:56 (Luke 23:1-49)
Jesus is coming to the end of a long journey and to the completion of His own mission as He approaches the city of Jerusalem. Luke mentions the beginning of the journey as follows: “When the days drew near for Him to be received up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51 RSV). At that time, as Jesus was about to enter a Samaritan village He sent messengers on ahead of Him to make ready, but “the people would not receive Him, because His face was set towards Jerusalem (Luke 9:53). Now, Jesus sends two of His disciples ahead to another village to prepare for His approach to Jerusalem by borrowing a colt. Jesus’ face is still set towards Jerusalem.
“Jerusalem is the scene where redemptive history is fulfilled. The divine salvation is planted firmly in a definite place in history, which prevents it from evaporating into a timeless idea and preserves the humanity of the divine revelation. For to be man means to be tied to a particular place in history” (Helmut Flender). Certainly, Jesus is tied to Jerusalem – as He has already admitted: “… it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem” (Luke 13:33). That prophecy will be fulfilled, for the death of Jesus and the fate of Jerusalem are inextricably linked.
But before the prophecy is fulfilled, a parade is organized. Jesus deliberately stages His own procession, and although Luke does not actually mention Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the procession leads Jesus closer to the city. Jesus sends two of His own disciples ahead to bring the colt: whether the disciples had already made a prior arrangement with the owner for the loan of the colt, or whether Luke is pointing to Jesus’ prescience as a prophet is unclear. Certainly, it was a custom of the time for animals to be hired to travellers, rather like an early version of car hire. Jesus specifies that it must be an unridden colt, and this requirement underlines the importance Jesus attaches to the procession: “animals for sacred use or those to be ridden by royalty were not used for any other purpose” (J.M. Derrett).
Everything goes as planned, and the disciples bring back the colt and throw garments on its back to make a saddle. They set Jesus on the colt. And so the unusual parade begin. The setting recalls the words of Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout a loud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass on the colt the foal of an ass” (Zechariah 9:9).
If anyone remembered the prophecy of Zechariah, no one shows that she/he remembers the point of it. Christ consciously presents Himself as the Man-of-peace riding on an ass, not as the warrior-king riding a charger in a bid for power. The disciples begin their chants of praise, hailing Christ as the King. According to Luke, the Kingdom has not yet come, though the King is in the midst of His people (Luke 19:11). But He is a King who is rejected by His own people. The disciples proclaim “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest”, recalling the chant of the angels at a more innocent time (Luke 2:14).
Luke mentions a multitude, but he does not say that they join the disciples in their chants of rejoicing. It is the disciples rather than the crowd that the Pharisees complain about, and it is likely that they felt threatened by a demonstration which had such messianic overtones. Not everyone loves a parade, and the clamour of this one leads the Pharisees to ask Jesus to control His disciples. But Jesus is in no mood for controlled enthusiasm; He supports His disciples, for He wants His parade to continue. Jesus does not want His disciples to be petrified; if they were, the very stones would take their place and give Jesus song for His parade.
There is a profoundly ambiguous quality about the whole parade. If it is the coronation procession of a king, does anyone anticipate the kind of crown Jesus will receive in the city? Is Jesus deliberately staging the procession of a Messiah? If so, for whose benefit is it? Is there a peculiar irony about the supportive acclamation of the disciples which is underlined all the more by their silence when the passion gets under way? If the multitude is silent now, they will find voice soon enough when they follow the tune of the priests. Is Jesus dramatizing the predicament of the previous parable – receiving support from His “servants” and being rejected by His own people? The mood of rejoicing is soon to change when Jesus draws near the city: the sight of the place provokes weeping. But, meantime, the parade is still on.
Source: Denis McBride CSsR, The Gospel of Luke – A Reflective Commentary, Dublin, Ireland: Dominican Publications, 1991, pages 250-252).
Prayer: Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the King of Glory may come in! Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts; He is the King of Glory. Amen, amen, amen.