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.
