Mark 11:7-10
Jerusalem They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
During the
final week of Jesus’ life, he demonstrated how fully present God is in all
human experience. During that week, Jesus experienced betrayal, abandonment,
ridicule, loneliness, excruciating physical pain, and death itself. That week
clearly was important, because the gospel writers devote anywhere from a
quarter to nearly a half of their respective stories to narrating the events of
this one week.
The final week started off on a celebratory
note. Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey, with the crowds
waving palm leaves and shouting “Hosanna,” which means “Save us.” That
impromptu parade was an intentional mockery of a Roman triumph, which was a
victory parade that a great general or emperor would receive after a major
victory. The parody no doubt was noticed by the Romans. It also upset the
religious authorities, who thought that Jesus’ stunt would invite the Romans to
retaliate toward the entire population.
Jesus further provoked those in
power when he drove out the moneychangers from the Temple courts (Matthew
21:12-13), saying they had turned the place from a “house of prayer” into a
“den of thieves”—not exactly the way to endear yourself to people who have
friends in high places.
The week was a flurry of activity,
with Jesus telling parables, engaging in heated exchanges with religious
leaders, and making cryptic predictions of events to come. Passover week
culminated in the Seder meal, which Jesus celebrated with his disciples,
including Judas, who would hand him over to the authorities a few hours later.
The Passover meal was already loaded with spiritual significance, as Jews
remembered how God delivered their ancestors from slavery in Egypt; Jesus added
a new layer of meaning by telling his disciples that from now on the meal would
be a remembrance of how God delivered us from slavery to sin and death itself.
Ever since, Christians have celebrated this meal and called it Holy Communion.
One difficult issue the early
Christians had to confront was that most people found the idea of a crucified
messiah nonsensical at best, and offensive at worst. Why would God let his chosen
one suffer such a fate? Over the years, the church has come up with many
different ways to frame the death of Jesus in terms of God’s work in redeeming
creation. Some Christians talk about it in terms of a grand victory over the
forces of evil and death, since in the Resurrection, Jesus breaks the ultimate
power of death. Others frame it in light of the sacrificial system practiced at
the Temple, where a pure, sinless offering was given to atone for people’s
sins. Still others explain it in terms of the example Jesus set for us in his unlimited
and sacrificial love. There are many other ways of understanding the
significance of Jesus’ death and Resurrection, but whichever metaphor we
prefer, they all point to this theme that runs throughout the gospels: Jesus
stands in our shoes, experiences everything we experience, and demonstrates
that a better way is not only possible but has already begun.Matthew Kelley-The Way Worship Package
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