Matthew 21:1-11; 26:36-27:66 (Year A, Palm Sunday)
The one where everyone waves palms in different languages
There are two gospel readings for Sunday, April 2nd. The first one is Matthew 21:1-11, and it is read during the Liturgy of the Palms. The second is Matthew (26:36-75) 27:1-54 (55-66), and it is read during the Liturgy of the Word. That means that there are 65 required verses and 52 more optional ones.
This Sunday is Palm Sunday, which is the first day of the sixth and final full week of Lent, also called “Holy Week”. The gospel texts narrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as well as his trial, crucifixion, and burial.
For centuries, Churches have kept Palm Sunday in style. The Pilgrimage of Etheria describes a Palm Sunday rite being celebrated in 4th c. Jerusalem: a family-and-church procession that ends at the Mount of Olives, the site of Jesus’ entry (e.g. Matt 21:1) and ascension (Luke 1:9-12). (Read the paragraph; it’s cool!)
What fascinates me about this ritual tradition is that it recognizes and establishes the link between Jesus’ entry into the earthly Jerusalem, which involved the waving of palm branches, and Jesus’ entry into the heavenly Jerusalem, which also involved the waving of palm branches.
John had created this symbolic, ritual link by placing the palm branches (phoinix) from Jesus’ Triumphal Entry at 12:13 in his description of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into heaven at Rev. 7:9. Look:
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.”
Several ACNA initiatives, including the “Every Tribe and Nation Initiative” and C4SO’s “Revelation 7:9 Task Force,” led by the Rev. Dr. Jin Cho, take Rev. 7:9 as a vision that it is God’s mission, and therefore our mission, to realize. As they do, they (rightly) focus on the ethnic and linguistic aspects of the vision. I would recommend that, as members of a liturgical body which keeps a common calendar, we all identify Palm Sunday as a day to celebrate the ways in which this vision has been and is being fulfilled, and to aspire to fulfill it more fully in the future.
Palm Sunday commemorates both Jesus’ entry into the earthly Jerusalem and his Ascension into the heavenly one. Our Palm Sunday rituals re-enact both of these events, as we rehearse what we are as a church: multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and palm-waving.
I’m picking Matt. 21:1-11 because it has palms in it and because it’s way shorter.
It helps to know
What sending two disciples means. In two words, it’s Scouting and Conquest. Moses had sent a group of men into Canaan, of which only two were faithful (Num. 13), so Joshua sends only two men once he’s in charge (Josh. 2:1). Following Joshua’s pattern, Jesus sends disciples out in twos (e.g. Luke 10:1). Two men means Jesus is taking Jerusalem.
The meaning of the donkey. Per my favorite ever scholarly NT article, “this text,” referring to Zech. 9:9, quoted at Matt. 21:5, “employs an unusual clustering of donkey terms.” The author goes on to list and describe four varieties of donkeys in the Bible. Here is his conclusion: “Zion’s king comes not on the usual royal means of transportation associated with military conquest in Zech 9:10. Rather, Zion’s king comes on a “purebred jackass”, which is a royal mount that is associated with peace (see Zech 9:10: “He will speak shalom to the nations”) rather than elitism or conquest.”
The meaning of the clothes. If the jackass suggests peace, the clothes suggest violence. Matthew says, “Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road” (21:8). The only other time this happens in Scripture, it is done for Jehu: “Then they hurried and each man took his garment and placed them under him on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet, saying ‘Jehu is king’” (2 Kings 9:13). After this, Jehu marches into Samaria, gathers a group of Baal-worshipers into the temple, slaughters them all, and then destroys the temple. Jesus will also enter, upturn, and knock down a temple. Remember that the Prince of Peace says, “I have not come to bring peace” and “Destroy this temple” (Matt. 10:34; 27:63). (Read Peter Leithart on this.) Jesus enters Jerusalem like the peaceful Solomon but also like the warlike Jehu.
Matthew 21:1-11
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”
This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
“Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
What I noticed
There are two sections. Jesus giving instructions and Matthew explaining their significance (vv. 1-5), and then what happens (vv. 6-11).
“They” drew near to Jerusalem (v. 1). Who does “they” include?
Jesus, and enough disciples for Jesus to pick two of them to send. Later, it expands to include “the crowds that went before him and that followed him” (v. 9). As they all draw near to Jerusalem, they do the cloak-spreading and palm-waving (v. 8), the shouting (v. 9) and the explaining (v. 11) while Jesus sits silently (v. 10).
In this text are separate cues for commemoration and for reenactment.
We commemorate Jesus sending his disciples into Jerusalem to prepare things for him. Jesus enters our worship spaces, like Solomon, the Man of Peace, and like Jehu, the Man of War.
But we’re the crowds. Palms, cloaks if we really wanted, shouting, and explaining.
And one reason we process outside our churches is that “the whole city is stirred up” (v. 10)—shaken, moved, agitated, moved to emotion or at least to curiosity. For one day, we take our worship public.
Jesus “sent” disciples (v. 1).
Here is one of many texts that illustrates the Christian impulses toward liturgy and symbolism. We do the Liturgy of the Palms procession because it’s a tradition, but it’s a tradition because Jesus sends people to do concrete things that have meanings. Donkeys, palms, etc.
The Father sends the Son. They send the Spirit. Jesus sends out 72, plus some others. He sends us all in his Great Commission.
Marching with palms demonstrates that we are in the entourage of God.
Jesus sits silently. There seem to be at least two features of his silence.
One, courage. Jesus is unafraid and unembarrassed of being hailed King. The shouting, the palms, the stripped cloaks—he finds all of this reverence and hoopla fitting. He will gladly answer for it when asked.
Two, patience. Jesus will cause a ruckus. He will spew criticism (Matt. 23), prophesy judgment (Matt. 24-25) and get himself tried (Matt. 26) and killed (Matt. 27). That’s why we read Matt. 21 outside the church and Matt. 26-27 once we’re inside.
Palm Sunday is fun, but it’s still Lent: a season focused on repentance and transfiguration. What Jesus strikes down and raises up in Jerusalem he strikes down and raises up within and among us.
We’re the crowd. We shout “Hosanna!” (Matt. 21) at 10:03 am, local time, on Palm Sunday, but we shout “Crucify him!” (Matt. 27) at around 10:14 am, local time, when we’re settled into our seats and reading the day’s texts. There’s a reason this year’s palms become next year’s ashes.
Lectionary Resonances
All the texts are classic ones. And they fit with Matt. 26-27 better than they fit with Matt. 21:1-11. Nevertheless, a few forced connections:
Isaiah says, “He opened not his mouth” (53:7). In our passage, he doesn’t either. In both gospel texts, it’s the crowds who answer the question of the stirred-up city: “Who is this?” (21:10). As Jesus silently obeys the Father, the world is busy wordfully evaluating him.
“Dogs encompass me” (Ps. 22:16). This is one way in which Jesus evaluates the world. Jesus may not always tell us what he sees us doing, but he thinks it. This line is one of his unspoken thoughts.
“He humbled himself” (Phil. 2:8). He comes humbly, yes—mounted on a purebred jackass. While Matthew reports that “most of the crowd spread their cloaks” (Matt. 21:8), Paul foresees that, at Jesus’ exaltation, “every knee will bow” (Phil. 2:10).
Paul’s foreseeing is good news for C4SO’s task force, for the ACNA, and for the whole world. When every knee bows, then every tribe and tongue will worship, waving palm branches (Rev. 7:9). Or maybe it’s that when every tribe and tongue worships, waving palm branches, then every knee will bow (Phil. 2:10).
Either way, palms up, friends.