Palm Sunday commemorates our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem for the last time before he was arrested, falsely tried and crucified. Almost everyone who was there with Jesus on his last descent from the Mount of Olives into the holy city anticipated a glorious entrance in what many hoped would be the prelude to Christ’s inauguration of his kingdom. Although Jesus had already announced the arrival of his kingdom, it wasn’t what the crowd wanted that day, not even his disciples. Jesus had said that in its present manifestation, the kingdom was not as yet visible, but it had certainly been launched because it truly existed in those who lived a repentant life. Not long before Jesus had arrived on the outskirts of the city, Jesus had made it clear that: “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, here it is or there it is, because the Kingdom of God is within you.” (See Luke 17:20.21) In the final analysis this kind of kingdom had no appeal to the crowd that rolled out the welcome mat to Jesus on that day since remembered as Palm Sunday.
This welcoming committee was caught up in the pageantry that preceded the celebration of Passover and they clung to their hopes for political liberation even as they ignored Jesus’ urgent call for repentance. They hoped for freedom and peace, but not in harmony with Jesus. Jesus understood this and mourned over their hardness of heart that was the root of their spiritual blindness. He wept for a people who he genuinely loved and for whom he would soon pour out his life. He did, however, accept their short lived acclamation as flawed as it was because he did wish to affirm his kingship even if they failed to really see it. Again, they so longed for peace but they had rejected the only Way to peace. So when Jesus reached that point in his descent from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, he wept; while others were overjoyed at the panoramic view of their city of cities and their magnificent temple. They rejoiced, Jesus wept. He could see that the “faithful” were irreversibly headed for a fate that defied the imagination (try reading Josephus’ gory account of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70). While they were yelling their shallow Hosannas, Jesus tearfully addressed his beloved city with these somber words: “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, BECAUSE YOU DID NOT RECOGNIZE THE TIME OF GOD’S COMING TO YOU (the KJV says they did not recognize the time of their visitation). (See Luke 19:41-44)
They never saw it coming. As we approach this very holy season remembering our Lord’s passion and then his resurrection, we should take quality time to reflect on our own walk with the Lord. On that first Palm Sunday, the people were keeping up with him step by step and yet almost all of them were headed in a different direction. Brethren, which way are we going? I pray that Jesus is not weeping over us.
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