Introduction

This talk was given at St. Peter’s Church on 13 April 2025. Revd. Mark Fletcher explores the Palm Sunday king narrative, examining how Jesus entered Jerusalem rejecting the crowd’s expectations of a warrior messiah. The challenge remains: in a world where truth is under threat, who will we choose to trust?

It has been said that in any conflict, the first casualty is truth. And this is a story about truth and about power, two things which have always had an uncomfortable relationship. But I think it’s a story which couldn’t be more pertinent than in these days. How do we know what to believe?

How do we know who we can trust? And as we’ve said, we are here at the beginning of Holy Week and we are remembering the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. You will remember if you’ve been with us through Matthew’s gospel, that Jesus has spent most of his ministry in Galilee and in the north of the country.

He has visited Jerusalem from time to time, but never publicly. But now he approaches Jerusalem for the main event. And as he arrives here, the city is full of people visiting for the Passover festival. And you will know, I’m sure that Passover is the festival of freedom. It is the remembrance of God rescuing his people from slavery in Egypt. And every Passover there is this sense, this hope, that God will do that again.

There’s a lovely detail, I love a geographical detail. So did you spot Jesus approaches Jerusalem from the East. He reaches the Mount of Olives out of the wilderness of Judea. And the Mount of Olives is famous not only for its olive trees, which are incredibly long lived, but also for its cemetery. It’s where those who had died in the faith had been buried. And if that wasn’t enough of an indication they also pass close by to Bethany, which is the village that Lazarus came from.

And you remember what happened to Lazarus. All of this symbolism, all of these Easter themes start to reverberate. The sun is rising in the East. And so on their way, Jesus sends two disciples ahead of them to find a donkey. Clearly this has been long in preparation, and they find the donkey and they put their cloaks upon its back and they bring it to Jesus, and Jesus rides down the Mount of Olives towards Jerusalem and towards the gate in the east of the city, which is appropriately called the Mercy Gate. Can you imagine the scene, a beautiful, warm spring day? The golden stones of that magnificent city are radiant. And this great crowd gathers and spreads their cloaks on the road and cuts palm branches and waves them and sings Hosanna to the son of David.

Blessed is the one who came in the name of the Lord. It’s a majestic, wonderful and joyful scene. Where did the crowd come from? Where did they appear from? My suggestion would be that it’s Passover time and the whole nation would’ve been traveling up to Jerusalem for the festival. And so the crowd is likely made up of pilgrims and visitors traveling to Jerusalem.

In fact, the image we often see of Palm Sunday is of Jesus traveling through a crowd. But I think if you look more closely at the text, you realize that the crowd is actually walking with Jesus ahead and behind of him and singing on the way. And many amongst that crowd would I’m sure have been those who had come from Galilee, who had perhaps heard rumours of Jesus on the way and maybe even heard him speak over the previous three years.

And What does it all mean? Well, the word hosanna simply means save us. It means God save us. It was a sort of familiar Hebrew piece of liturgy, part of their regular worship, which hoped for a God who would save them, for a God to come and rescue them. Perhaps the great indication though of what they’re so excited about is in the phrase, son of David. Hosanna to the son of David. Because what the crowd are really hoping for is for Jesus to come and rescue them like Great King David had done. To lead them in conquest over their enemies. To liberate them from oppressive Roman rule.

And though Jesus is of course a descendant of David in one important way, he isn’t like David at all. Because you will remember that David was a warrior king. He defeated Goliath and he led the people in battle many times over. And he did bring peace to the nation, but he did so through conquest and through war.

And I don’t know if you remember this interesting detail that David had so much blood on his hands that God said to him, David, you cannot build my temple. You’re going to have to ask your son to do it for me. And so God’s way of peace, true peace is not through violence or through conquest, but is a better way.

And that of course, is why Jesus rides the donkey. As Matthew explains it’s fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy from Zechariah, which we’ve already heard, which says, say to daughter Zion, see your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey. In contrast to the kings of old who came on war horses wearing armour and carrying weapons, Jesus is a king who comes in peace to end violence.

That quote from Zechariah goes on to say, I will take away the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken and I will proclaim peace to the nations. So you see that the crowd wants to declare Jesus as king. But Jesus rejects the kind of kingship that they want. This is one of those incredibly revolutionary acts of Jesus expressed beautifully with the help of the person who I think is the star of the story.

Who is the donkey? This wonderful, gentle, humble, servant-hearted animal Jesus rides. To make this statement that the kingdom of God is a peaceable kingdom. As Martin Luther King Jr. puts it so wonderfully. Peace is not simply a distant goal that we seek, but the means by which we arrive at that goal and the way of Christ is profoundly a way of nonviolence.

And Jesus comes riding on a donkey to express that truth, that peace is not just the goal but the means of arriving at that goal. So you see the response of the crowd full of excitement, and yet the way that Jesus rejects their expectations of the kind of king that he will be. But there is in the story another response to Jesus, and that is in verse 10.

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was disturbed asking, who is this? This ancient city is thinking, what on earth is going on? Who is this that’s arriving? What’s all the noise? But the thing that strikes me is do they not know? Have they not heard? How has the life of the city gone on so regardless of everything that’s been happening. And then it strikes me that there were plenty of people in the city who knew exactly what was going on. And the best example of that might well be Caiaphas, the high priest.

Who do you remember famously said, is it not better that one man die for the people than the whole nation perish. And whether that was Caiaphas or the political or the religious leaders, there was this kind of conspiracy of silence around Jesus. They had made such an accommodation with Rome that they really didn’t want a Messiah, and all of the stories of Jesus were quietly put aside.

And so the life of the city had gone on regardless with its busyness and self-importance. And they would say things like, can anything good come from Nazareth? And if God was going to act, surely he would act here. Wouldn’t we be the first to know about it? But now the king is at the gates, and so the question for them is, who will they choose to trust?

And the question for us on Palm Sunday is, who will we choose to trust? Never be naive about the self-interest and dismissiveness of this world towards Jesus. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that it can’t be important because important people don’t take it seriously. Don’t be naive about the vested interests of people.

Truth is true regardless of whether the powerful believe it or not. But also, don’t be naive about the crowd. Don’t be naive about the human condition. That, that very same crowd come Good Friday, will have turned on Jesus and will shout crucify him. Crowds are fickle and self-interested. They wanted a king who would give them what they wanted, but they were not willing to follow where that king would lead if that meant choosing the way of humility and peace.

So how do we know who we can trust? How do we discern truth in the midst of all of the lies? We live in a world where truth is under threat and we need to discern wisely. Power will always seek to control the truth. And can I suggest that the way you learn to discern is by looking at people’s character?

You look at people’s motives and at their hearts and who they are, and there is no one who you can trust in the way that you can trust Jesus. Look how he holds the power that he has with gentleness and with humility. Look how he is willing to speak the truth no matter the cost. Look at the exercise of his power as he seeks to bring justice through service and sacrifice.

You must choose this day who you will serve. Who is your king? Choose this day who you will trust. And so this Palm Sunday, as we celebrate the start of Holy Week and the arrival of this remarkable, unlikely king, take your palm crosses and take them as a sign of the kind of king that we serve and sing hosanna to the only one who is worthy of our trust, the only one who can save us. And the one who can bring us peace. Amen.