March 29, 2015, Palm Sunday: John 12:12-16
Palm Sunday is a story of disappointed expectations, of what happens when someone you admire refuses to be who you think they should be.
Chronologically, last week’s passage from John comes after this week’s. Assigning the stories out of order is a clever way the lectionary makes us listen differently. We need this, since we may think we really know this story: the palms, the donkey, the shouting. Those of us who have spent at least a year in church know well how this story goes—and the harsh turn it takes shortly after.
John’s version of the triumphal entry is a tad crisper than Mark’s, which the lectionary also lists for this week. There’s no intricate plot to “borrow” a donkey, and the people don’t lay their cloaks on the ground. But they do quote the scriptures, including Psalm 118, also assigned for Palm Sunday: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” They want Jesus to be the Messiah. They believe that he is.
This is a story of disappointed expectations, of what happens when someone you admire refuses to be who you think they should be. The people want a hero. The poor are suffering under Roman oppression. Even the well-off are living a circumscribed life, allowed to succeed and flourish only within the confines of a foreign culture and its values. There is no room to be the chosen people of God they know they are. They are sure of what kind of change they need.
