Palm Sunday brings a whole lot of options to the Biblical scholar. One of those is the political dimension: the people of Jerusalem and environs had been subjugated by the Romans for the last century and a half, and they had had it. They were ready to welcome ANYone who looked like the Messiah of Davidic times. Palm branches had significance for those who remembered Maccabean days: the palm and its branches were talismen of the “new” kingdom which put aside the Syrians and tried to restore the relative calmness of the Greeks. (Coins of the Maccabean period often featured palm branches.)
Psalm 118:19-29 is a psalm of ascents, to be sung/recited on the way up Mt. Zion to the Temple: “Bind the festal procession with branches…” Back in The Day (of David?) it was necessary to negate the laments of every day with shouts of hope and praise. “O give thanks to the Lord, for (God) is good, for (God’s) steadfast love endures forever.” As the worshiper approaches the altar, he/she is recognized as One Who Comes in the name of the Lord, blessed in intent and profession.
LUKE 19:28-40 is one retelling of the Triumphant Entry; notice that no palms or branches are mentioned here. The writer evidently sees this parade as a contrast to business-as-usual, more than a statement of Messiahship (see Matthew’s account). Here is the humble Jesus, riding a farm animal against the military pomp and strength of Rome. We who see this story in retrospect can claim it as God’s use of the alternative; those of the early Church were called to either embrace or deny the Lordship of Jesus as here presented. Those who sit in the pews this year are urged to choose this leader against the System of having/owning which so dominates our politics of today.
The message of Palm Sunday is this: that God’s way endures, be it ever so simple. No matter what idiot is in the White House, no matter who rattles rockets at us, no matter that we’re being told every day that my Social Security will be chopped off–God’s way endures. Thanks be to God!
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
Come join us every Tuesday as we together unpack scripture lessons assigned by the Common Lectionary to the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com
My Blog 
Leave a comment