Palm Sunday thoughts

Today is Palm Sunday, and I thought I’d just take a few minutes to reflect on the prophecy Jesus fulfilled when he rode into Jerusalem, setting into motion the events of Holy Week.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
     Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
     righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
     on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)

He comes.

Woody Allen once said that 80 percent of success in life is just showing up.

My five-year-old grandson just finished up his first season of recreation league basketball. At this level, it’s just taking turns running the ball up the court to take a shot at a six-foot high basket. Every player did the same thing after they took a shot. They looked and smiled at mom and dad in the stands. It didn’t matter whether they made the shot or missed completely, the most important thing was the presence of their parents.

While I was a pastor, I did my best to see anyone in the congregation before their surgery. That meant a lot of early morning drives to hospitals. The twenty-second prayer before prep was important. But so was being there.

One amazing thing about our God is that he shows up. He’s walking in the garden when Adam and Eve are hiding in the bushes. He wrestles with Jacob. He talks to Moses from a burning bush.

And he shows up in Jerusalem just as the prophet said he would. He comes “righteous and having salvation,” that is, he’s here to rescue us. To save the day. To be our hero. To score the winning goal in overtime. Go with whatever image works for you.

Jesus knows that showing up like this will stir up the opposition that will lead to his betrayal, arrest, denial, conviction, and execution. But that’s why he shows up. He comes to give his life as a ransom for many. He shows up to save.

He comes as king.

No one has to tell the Palm Sunday crowd what is going on here. They’ve been waiting for over four hundred years for the words of Zechariah to come to life. When they see Jesus riding into town they shout, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9; Mark 11:10; Luke 19:38)

For the people, it’s as much politics as it is religion. Roman rule will end once their rightful king assumes the throne. God promised that a descendant of David would be that rightful king. It looks like that moment has come!

Kings capture our imagination. The lion is the king of the jungle. Roger Miller sings about being “King of the Road.” The cowardly lion dreams about being king of the forest. Godzilla is king of the monsters. King Kong Bundy was a four-hundred fifty pound professional wrestler. Kids wrestle around to see who is “king of the hill.”

But I think we have a hard time thinking of Jesus as our king. We like to vote for our leaders. We like a government with checks and balances. We like term limits. We like the possibility of growing up to be king someday.

Sorry, you don’t get any of those things with a king. You don’t get any of that with Jesus. In fact, you don’t get much at all when Jesus rides into Jerusalem.

He comes with humility.

Rather than enjoying all the trappings of divinity, Jesus empties himself. He becomes a servant. He humbles himself and becomes obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:6-8).

When Jesus pulls up to the gates of Jerusalem, he’s not flexing his muscles. And if anyone has impressive guns, it’s Jesus. He shushes the storm, parts the seas, and walks on the water. But today, he rides on a donkey. He’s undefeated against every challenger, from demons to disease and even death. But now he will submit to the spiritual powers of evil in the world.

Sometimes we think of Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem as a biblical ticker-tape parade. But such parades follow victories and championships. This procession is a prelude to being despised and rejected, pierced and crushed, wounded and slaughtered (Isaiah 53:3-7).

It’s kind of like watching a movie in which the good guy doesn’t realize there’s a explosives or kryptonite or spiders behind a door. We want to yell, “Don’t go in there! It’s a trap!” But of course, they can’t hear us.

I know the story really well. Judas is going to sell you out, Jesus. The religious leaders want to kill you. The crowd is going to choose Barabbas. The disciples are all going to run away. They are going to treat you like a criminal.

Jesus knows the story, too. In fact, you could say he is the story, from beginning to end. But it’s not all about him. He makes it about us. He comes to be one of us, so we’ll never have to be away from him.