Terry Paul Choyce
Palm Sunday, March 16, 2008, Brunswick Street United Church
Our reading from Zechariah today (9:9-12) was written about 500 years before Jesus was born. Verse 9 says:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
As we know, Jesus did triumphantly enter Jerusalem on a young donkey, and later the disciples remembered this scripture prediction. Did Jesus ask for the donkey because he knew about this prediction by Zechariah, or was this purely a coincidence, or a fulfilment of prophesy? There is no way we will ever know the answer to this, but it is thought that Jesus was a biblical scholar, and so he was purposefully fulfilling the prophecy by asking for a young donkey.
Luke 19:29-30 says :
As Jesus came near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead with these instructions: "Go to the village there ahead of you; as you go in, you will find a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here."
I don't know how he knew about the location of the donkey. There is much mystery associated with the whole life of Christ.
Our church celebrates Jesus's entry into Jerusalem as one of the glorious moments in the life of Jesus. But I think Jesus's joy was mixed with sorrow as he entered the city. He knew that he was coming to be crucified. He knew his friend and follower Judas would betray him, and that his disciple Peter would deny knowing him. He knew the pain and grief that those who loved him would soon be experiencing. And I think this knowing affected what he did the day after he came triumphantly to Jerusalem.
The next morning Jesus passed a fig tree, and he went to see if it had any figs. Now this was the wrong time of the year for there to be figs, so he found none. In frustration he said "no one shall ever eat figs from you again." (Mark 11:14) The following morning when they walked by the tree, it was dead. Jesus's curse had killed it.
Then Jesus went to the Temple, the most sacred place in Israel. Jesus angrily began turning over tables and prevented people from carrying anything through the courtyards. He said "My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations. But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves." (Mark 11:17) Jesus was upset with what the Jewish leaders had been doing in the Temple, and he physically destroyed things in his rage. I am sure this greatly angered the rabbis, who that week plotted to have Jesus killed. Was this all part of Jesus's plan for self-sacrifice?
Holy week is the time when we go through many emotions. We are joyful at the excitement people felt when Jesus entered Jerusalem. We feel sorry for Jesus at the anger he feels with the Temple. We feel the love that Jesus showed to his friends at the last supper, when he washed their feet and shared his last meal with them (John 13). We are sad that Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemany. We are disappointed in the disciples who fall asleep when Jesus is praying, and with Peter who denies even knowing his best friend. We are angry at the rabbis, Judas, the Roman leaders and the soldiers who murdered Jesus. We agonise with Jesus as he is beaten, and then dies on the cross. We grieve with the women and disciples who loved Jesus. And we rejoice when Jesus defeats death, and comes to life again. It is interesting that we begin and end the week with joy.
One of the lessons of Holy week is the importance of emotional expression. In our own lives we will feel love, anger, joy, frustration, fear, and peace. Jesus demonstrated that we need to express these emotions when they happen, not hide them and deny them. We are emotional beings, which is one of the reasons I think we are so special to God. We have been given the gifts of our senses, with which to experience pleasure. We have keen minds which help us to create beauty and joy and goodness. But it is these same senses and same minds which give expression to pain, violence, injustice, and ugliness. As Christians we need to use our negative emotions as tools to make life better for others, and ourselves. And we need to appreciate and relish our positive emotions, and thank God for them.
This Holy week let us really feel our feelings. Let's find lots of things which will make us happy. Let us praise the Lord. Let's take time to think about, and pray for, people and situations which are unhealthy and are in pain. Let us remember the inner turmoil and the rage and the love and the agony that Jesus experienced on his last week as a mortal man. Let us feel the depth of his love and sacrifice. And let us rejoice in his rebirth, which is similar to the rebirth that is possible to all of us, who have our lives transformed by faith and love. The power of God is beyond our understanding. The love of God should fill our hearts with joy.
©Terry Paul Choyce. Used with permission from the author.
