Sunday: The Non-Triumphal Entry of Christ

This is part of a series of blogs entitled: “The FinalCountdown” based on a sermon series we are actually doing at church. This will take some differing views on the last week of Jesus.

Commissioner Gordon says of Batman in the Dark Knight, “…he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.” I imagine some people thought something similarly about Jesus in the week before his crucifixion and resurrection. Many people’s expectations of what was to happen were much different than what did happen. Our ability to know what the end result is sometimes blurs what is actually happening.

So let’s start from the top:

On Sunday, Jesus looks at his disciples and says to them, “you guys go grab me a donkey,” and to some others, “go let everyone know that the King of Zion is coming.” So this happens, and Jesus mounts the donkey with his disciples’ cloaks on it as a makeshift saddle. He then makes way to Jerusalem.

The people along the way are shouting and cheering on Jesus on his trip into Jerusalem. They are shouting for the rescue and salvation that he is bringing. Which is exactly what he brought. But these people weren’t looking to be freed from the oppression of sin but rather to be freed from the oppression of the Roman Empire. This was not the cheering for the Son of God comes to save mankind, but for Israel’s King to replace the leadership above them. The expectation of Jesus’ entry was a new reign of earthly kingdom, and looking at that there is something to be said.

Jesus’ triumphal entry was anything but triumphal. A king on a donkey, walking with a party of tax collectors, being praised by people hoping for rebellion. The triumphal entry was only triumphant because of the end result one week later.

He rides in on a donkey, not a horse like a true earthly king would. These people cheering for him are praising his salvation from their government and not what salvation he actually came to bring. Then, to add to all of this, He is riding in with a party of people that would be considered the lowest people of society that he has been walking around talking with.

Now it was triumphal because even though he is arrested and crucified in just a few days, thus ending his chances to be the savior they all wanted, He rose again to be the Savior of the world. This is the Christian story.

Often we believe that Jesus is the hero that we deserve but not the one we need right now. This couldn’t be further from the truth, when all is said and done, we don’t deserve a hero at all, we deserve death of two types: physical and spiritual. But through Jesus, the hero we need right now, we can defeat spiritual death and live beyond our physical bodies. Jesus’ death and resurrection can do to our lives what it did to Palm Sunday. It can take something that is looked down upon at the time and elevate it to something that has a place in eternity.

In Christ,

BGann