Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Matthew 21:1-11, “This passage describes what has traditionally been called Palm Sunday. The implication, of course, is that we have entered the last week of Jesus’ life. …Jesus entered Jerusalem along with crowds of other pilgrims streaming into the city for the observance of Passover. ..In their superb book The Last Week, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan have a wonderful description of the two processions entering Jerusalem that day. The first, a peasant procession led by Jesus, the other an imperial procession led by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. It is a contrast in types of power. Jesus came riding a donkey, and people threw their cloaks on the ground for him to walk over and waved branches torn from trees. It seems a conscious enactment of a prophecy right from the pages of Zechariah, which Matthew naturally quotes. Here was one whose power resided completely in the faith and devotion of the people. Across town, Pilate’s procession was just as deliberate. He rode on a charger with the imperial banners of the Roman Empire at the head of a column of cavalry and a sizable contingent of Roman soldiers. It was his deliberate intent to flaunt the military force that would ruthlessly keep the peace. It was also a reminder that they were under the power of the empire. The week begins with a clear contrast of two types of power. They will clash before the week is out. One will win, and one will lose. But, just as Jesus tried to tell us, the loser is the one who ultimately prevails, as we can see 2,000 years later. What we can’t seem to see is that we keep joining the wrong procession.”
Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Matthew 21:1-11, “This passage describes what has traditionally been called Palm Sunday. The implication, of course, is that we have entered the last week of Jesus’ life. …Jesus entered Jerusalem along with crowds of other pilgrims streaming into the city for the observance of Passover. ..In their superb book The Last Week, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan have a wonderful description of the two processions entering Jerusalem that day. The first, a peasant procession led by Jesus, the other an imperial procession led by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. It is a contrast in types of power. Jesus came riding a donkey, and people threw their cloaks on the ground for him to walk over and waved branches torn from trees. It seems a conscious enactment of a prophecy right from the pages of Zechariah, which Matthew naturally quotes. Here was one whose power resided completely in the faith and devotion of the people. Across town, Pilate’s procession was just as deliberate. He rode on a charger with the imperial banners of the Roman Empire at the head of a column of cavalry and a sizable contingent of Roman soldiers. It was his deliberate intent to flaunt the military force that would ruthlessly keep the peace. It was also a reminder that they were under the power of the empire. The week begins with a clear contrast of two types of power. They will clash before the week is out. One will win, and one will lose. But, just as Jesus tried to tell us, the loser is the one who ultimately prevails, as we can see 2,000 years later. What we can’t seem to see is that we keep joining the wrong procession.”
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