This Saturday, March 28th, is the third No Kings Day protest and Sunday, March 29th, is Palm Sunday, but here’s what I wonder:
What if Palm Sunday was the original No Kings protest?
What if Jesus, the disciples, and the crowd that follows Jesus are protesting violence, injustice, and imperial power?
Instead of protest songs there were shouts of “Hosanna!”, a cry for deliverance and liberation, a plea for change. Instead of protest signs there were cloaks and palm branches, symbols of joy, peace, submission, and the celebration of a new way.
Power And Authority
And what if Jesus is the model for what power and authority really look like? They look very different from what we are seeing these days in our country and across the world.
- “But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.’” (Matthew 20:25-26)
- “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:14)
- “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13)
At that first No Kings protest Jesus entered Jerusalem from the east, riding a donkey down the Mount of Olives.
Matthew uses words from the prophet Zechariah (9:9) to describe Jesus as a king who is “humble, and mounted on a donkey,” (Matthew 21:1-11) making sure we understand that he is not a king in the usual sense of the word.
Earlier, Jesus refused the people’s attempt to make him a king in the usual understanding. (John 6:15) Instead, he is a king who will cut off the chariot, the war horse, and the battle bow. He is a king who commands peace to the nations (Zechariah 9:9-10). He is a king who loves and serves the people, gives them life, and lays down his life for them.
Two Entries Into Jerusalem
Historians and biblical scholars tell us* that as Jesus was coming from the east Pontius Pilate, the Governor of Judea, would have been coming into Jerusalem from the west, riding a war horse and leading a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. They’re wearing armor and helmets and carrying weapons. Hooves and feet are pounding the earth like a war drum.
It was a standard practice for the Roman governor and his troops to come to Jerusalem for major Jewish feasts like the passover. They’re not there out of respect for the religious practices of the Jews but as a show of force, to maintain the status quo of oppression, and to put down any uprising. It’s a militarized presence, a threat, and an expression of power over the people.
This is a day of protest, confrontation, and choices: a donkey or a war horse, palm branches or weapons, laying down one’s life for another or taking down another for one’s own benefit. This is not just an historical event in Jerusalem. Today we are all Jerusalem. The conflict, confrontation, and choices are before us and within us. And Pilate is as real today as he was the day Jesus entered Jerusalem.
Here’s one way to think about the protest and choices before us. Jesus comes from the east, the direction of the rising sun and the dawn of a new day. He is the one who says, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Pilate, however, comes from the west, the direction of the setting sun and the diminishing light. He is the one who washes his hands of Jesus. (Matthew 27:24)
Palm Sunday-No Kings Day
Palm Sunday, No Kings Day, is a confrontation between east and west, light and darkness, life and death. Now don’t take those literally. They are metaphors about conditions in each of our lives. They describe our ways of being with and toward others and ourselves.
This day is an invitation, a call, to confront the Pilate in our lives and world. I wonder what that means and looks like for you today. What is it offering you and what is it asking of you?
Where do you see Pilate in your life and world today? What is diminishing your light and stealing your life? Who or what is the Pilate you see diminishing the light of others and stealing their life? In what ways is the sun setting on you or another? In what ways are you Pilate in someone else’s life? What are you washing your hands of? What’s the Pilate you need to confront today?
I can’t answer those questions for you but I can tell you that I’m asking myself the same questions.
We all come to Jerusalem. And each of us must choose. Will we come from the east or from the west?
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* The historical information about the two processions is from Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007), 2-5.
Image Credit: Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash.
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