I love musicals. Old musicals in particular but I’ll go to them all. I’m one of those strange people who really think life would be better if we had a soundtrack and just spontaneously burst into song. For example, this is the point where the music would swell and I would begin a stirring piece that would tug at your heart strings. Like something from the Sound of Music, “Climb ev’ry mountain…” Or maybe a toe-tapping number like the moment in Guys and Dolls when Nathan sings “The people all said sit down/sit down you’re rockin’ the boat” as his testimony. Well, maybe not that particular song...
I think the reason I like musicals so much is that sometimes the songs convey more emotion and depth than just dialogue. You can see why our text today has been set to music by a variety of composers – even before Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar there was Handel’s Messiah. Do me a favor and close your eyes. Picture the scene – we’re near Jerusalem, on a ridge called the Mount of Olives and the air is dry and hot. The sun’s beating down and there’s a haze around us. We shade our eyes and see a group approaching – shimmering in the mid-day heat. Listen as Matthew tells us the story:
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead 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, just say this, 'The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey." The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."
Do you see what I mean? Can’t you just hear the swell of the strings as Jesus swings himself onto the donkey and begins his triumphal entry as Messiah? Can’t you hear the crowds as a huge choir singing Hosanna/Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord? Can’t you hear the minor chords as the Pharisees slink around in dark passageways, hissing “Who is this?” Or maybe they were more like Harold Hill in the Music Man, working the angles for their con, “Ya’ got trouble right here in River City/Trouble with a capital T.”
What we have here folks...are mixed signals. When I was growing up, Palm Sunday was a celebration that usually entailed an Easter cantata, a processional of children waving palm branches and an emphasis on the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem – the king come to town. The Jesus parade. What I missed was verse 10 – “When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The whole city was in turmoil! Other translations say the city was stirred or shook up. The Greek here is eseisthe which is the word from which we get our word "seismology" –– the study of earthquakes. Paints quite a word picture, don’t you think? The whole city was eseisthe! In complete chaos & turmoil. How did I miss that?
Maybe you never had that problem. Maybe you’ve always been aware that Palm Sunday is the signal that Lent is drawing to a close and Holy Week is beginning. That this picture we see of Jesus as the Messiah, smiling and waving to the adoring crowds, is the beginning of the end. The end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The beginning of his suffering and death.
But we have more mixed signals than just what we find in verse 10. Look at what the crowds were shouting – "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" I know, some of you are looking at me like I’m nuts. “Yeah Christina, they’re praising him…where’s the mixed signal?” See, the issue is with the word hosanna. While most modern dictionaries define it as being praise or adoration, that’s not entirely correct.
The word is of Hebrew origin and means please save or save now. In Jewish liturgy, the word is applied specifically to the Hoshana Service, a cycle of prayers from which a selection is sung each morning during Sukkot, the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles…which was a different observance than Passover, okay? You with me here? As recorded in the Mishnah, part of the people’s worship would include processing to a place below Jerusalem called Motza and pick branches of willows to place around the altar. This historical tidbit gives us a bit more to wrestle with, doesn’t it?
Maybe the crowds weren’t waving palm branches. In fact, in our text today, there’s no mention of palms. Only John says anything about palms…Luke and Mark line up with Matthew here. Only branches. So, they could have been willow branches that people had gathered to celebrate Sukkot. But wait, I thought Jesus and the disciples were coming to Jerusalem to observe Passover? Do you see what I mean? Mixed signals. People shouting hosanna – beseeching Jesus to save them. Placing branches on a dusty road to be trampled by a carpenter riding a donkey instead of around the altar in Jerusalem. No wonder the whole city was eseisthe. That’s…heresy!
And what about when Matthew refers to Jesus fulfilling a prophecy? Did you ever realize that when Matthew quotes from Zechariah, he deliberately omits part of the prophecy that refers to the king coming in triumph and victory? Of course, this is Matthew’s recounting of the events and he’s allowed to tell the story from his point of view…but does that flavor what we believe about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem? That the humble servant we see riding a donkey is fulfilling only part of the prophecy? Or is he just fulfilling it in a different way?
You may be asking yourself, “Just where are you going with all this, Christina?” My goal isn’t to completely unsettle you this morning but to give you pause. Too often we focus on the triumphal entries in the Bible and neglect the paradox that accompanies them. Those mixed signals we tend to ignore because we just don’t know what to do with them. Joy and suffering, tragedy and triumph, cross and resurrection.
So, going back to the whole Jesus parade thing I was talking about…when I was growing up, we would jump from celebrating Palm Sunday (Yay Jesus!) to celebrating Easter. We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about all that led up to the resurrection. I want you to hear part of the scripture that follows Jesus’ triumphal entry. Listen to this mixed signal and tell me what you hear: Matthew 27:11-31:
Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!” Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
The paradox of the Jesus parade and the passion of the Christ…what do you do with paradox in your own life? How do you respond to the mixed signals? A financially prosperous year that is disrupted by a cancer diagnosis? A 16th birthday celebration followed by a devastating car accident? A church filled with people who love God but are burnt out and tired? In his book, Learning to Fall, author Philip Simmons talks about the need for seeing life as a mystery, not a problem to be solved. He claims we can participate in mystery…in life…only by letting go of solutions.
And so I ask you again, what do you do with paradox? What will you do with the Jesus who doesn’t provide answers or solutions? What will you do with the Jesus who rode a donkey into a city in turmoil? What will you do with the Jesus who didn’t answer Pilate? With the Jesus who asked God why he had been forsaken? What will you do with these mixed signals we get from our text today?
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that Jesus’ whole ministry was full of mixed signals. Healing on the Sabbath, spending time with outsiders, praising the good deeds of Samaritans…none of these things made sense to the religious people of his day. In the same way, if we only look at today as the triumphal entry, we miss how it sets the tone for the rest of the passion.
Nothing about the processional is particularly grand or triumphant. And we know this day marks the beginning of the end. We are moving towards suffering and death. But what awaits on the other side of the cross…on the other side of Easter? Our faith is full of mixed signals, isn’t it? Be patient, beloved. Easter is coming.
