Palm Sunday and Holy Week

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Yesterday was Palm Sunday - the start of what is often called Holy Week. In the morning services, we remembered Jesus entering Jerusalem as king.

Not as a king coming for war, but as the king coming in peace and riding on a donkey, as Solomon had done (1 KIngs 1:38-40) and as Jacob had predicted over 1000 years before for the king that would come from Judah (Gen 49:10-11) and Zechariah had famously predicted in Zech 9.

In Mark the account starts in Jericho with blind Bartimaeus calling out "Son of David, have mercy on me!". Son of David was a title for the coming king the Jews had been hoping for - the Messiah. Before Mark 11, Jesus has been keeping his Messiahship a secret. When he went to festivals, he did so in secret (e.g. John 7) so that there wouldn't be too much fuss around him. But now he casts all that aside. He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey (pilgrims were meant to walk!) as a king, with people throwing their cloaks in front of him. There is a festival atmosphere as it builds up to the great celebration of Passover, where the Israelites remember God rescuing them from slavery. Jesus will come to bring a much greater rescue from that.

Jesus comes as king, but not the king the people expect. He doesn't attack the Romans (who had a big fortress in Jerusalem just next to the temple). He isn't a king who worries too much about external political realities,but cares about people's relationship with God, as we see with the cleansing of the temple (Monday) and the question of paying taxes to Caesar (Tuesday).

Jesus comes as king, but a king who wants us to be in a right relationship with him. And ultimately, that will take him to the cross (Friday).

So as we remember Jesus, as we remember the events that led him to the cross and empty tomb this holy week, let's remember that it was done for us; that this week we see Jesus being rejected by men so that we can be accepted by God, we see that the way to the glory follows the road of the cross and that we need to surrender to the one who becomes the victim of the crowd.

All the best,

John


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