Gospel Reading:
[Note: The celebrant may select a reading about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem from any one of the four Gospels. Often the celebrant will choose the reading from John’s Gospel because it is the only one that specifically mentions palms.]
Reflections on the Gospel Reading
The procession with palms is the first of four distinctive Holy Week liturgical actions that complement or (on Good Friday) take the place of the primary liturgical action of the Eucharistic Prayer. Holy Thursday has the washing of the feet; Good Friday has the veneration of the glorious cross; and the Easter Vigil and Mass on Easter Day have the rite of Baptism or, at least, the renewal of baptismal promises. Participating in these liturgical actions helps us to enter into the mystery of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection.
The passage from Mark’s Gospel that is read before the procession with palms reflects how Mark’s church (Rome?) understood the meaning of the event of Jesus’ final1 entrance into Jerusalem some forty years after the fact. Eugene LaVerdiere thinks that the gospel account reflects the liturgical celebration of Mark’s church, even more than the historical event, which might have been unremarkable. (1999.2, 144)
Historical vs. Historic
Occasionally, events that raised little notice at the time they occurred turn out to be historic in their consequences. For example, in 1209 a ragtag group of monks arrived in Rome to ask the Pope to approve the rule of their order. As they walked through the city they attracted little attention from the Roman populace who were used to all manner of strange things. In 1927 this visit was memorialized in a heroic sculpture as the beginning of the Franciscan Order. (See: http://wikimapia.org/14151706/St-Francis-monument#/photo/972329 ) This monument does not attempt to depict the scene with historical accuracy. Rather, it brings out the significance of what turned out to be a historic event.
Much the same is true of our gospel passage today. It tells us little about the historical details of this visit to Jerusalem by Jesus and his followers. We don’t know if he actually rode a donkey; we don’t know if his group attracted any particular attention among the crowds that came up to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover; and it seems that elements of the story fit better with the feast of Tabernacles or the feast of the Dedication. (Fuller & Westberg 2006, 257) We do know that in retrospect Mark’s community saw this as the entry of the Messiah and king into his city, Jerusalem, and described it in liturgical terms as the fulfillment of prophecy. Let us examine some of the ways in which Mark does this.
The Donkey
The whole incident is portrayed as the fulfillment of verses from the Prophet Zechariah.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
(Zechariah 9.9-10 NRSV)
Mark describes the donkey as an animal “on which no one has ever sat.” It is similar to the red heifer without blemish or defect on which “no yoke has ever been laid” (Numbers 19.2) or “that has never been put to work as a draft animal under a yoke.” (Deuteronomy 21.3. (See LaVerdiere 1999.2, 145.) “Jesus, then, is seated on and rides a ‘sacred’ animal, untamed and alien to the world of human use, consecrated to the special, extraordinary task of bearing ‘the one who comes in the name of the Lord’ to the very central place consecrated to that Lord.” (Malina & Rohrbaugh 2003, 195)
The Garments and Leafy Branches
This section has Psalm 118 in the background.
Save us [Hebrew: Hoshianna] we beseech you, O Lord!
O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar.
(Psalm 118.25-27 NRSV)
In Mark’s account, the garments on the ground along with the branches make a carpet for Jesus and the donkey “so that the feet of the colt do not even touch the ground or stones on which ordinary people tread.”2 This is the rough equivalent of the red carpet treatment we give to dignitaries. “The extraordinary personage given this sort of welcome is thus marked off as apart from and superior to ordinary affairs and conditions.” (Malina & Rohrbaugh 2003, 195. See also 2 Kings 9.13.)
The Cries of Those Who Accompanied Jesus
The Aramaic word “Hosanna” means “Save us!” “Rescue us!” or “Grant salvation!” Here it seems to be used in general terms as a joyous acclamation, such as “Hurrah,” “Viva,” or “Arriba.” “In the highest” means “O Most High” or “You who dwell in the highest heavens.” (See LaVerdiere 1999.2, 149; Malina & Rohrbaugh 2003, 195; Donahue & Harrington 2002, 323)
“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” also comes from Psalm 118. There it refers to the Son of David who is God’s representative. (Malina & Rohrbaugh 2003, 195) However, in Mark’s Gospel, “the one who comes” (Greek: ho erchómenos) also refers more directly to Jesus, in his role as the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. (See, for example, Mark 13.26 and especially Mark 14.62.)
‘Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come.” is not a Biblical quotation, but it can be taken as an interpretation or commentary on the previous acclamation. (Donahue & Harrington 2002, 323) Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem is “a prophetic announcement and foreshadowing” of the future coming of David’s kingdom that “will coincide perfectly with the kingdom of God” proclaimed by Jesus. (LaVerdiere 1999.2, 149)
Malina and Rohrbaugh sum things up nicely. “To appreciate the scenario here, note how Jesus rides a consecrated animal into the consecrated city that marks [the] center of the house of Israel, while the crowds shout out a plea for divine rescue, acknowledge Jesus as Son of David (Messiah), and welcome him as God’s proxy.” (2003, 195)
A Different Way of Knowing
The procession with the palms points to a way of knowing that is different from detached observation or the kind of “scientific” history based on that kind of perception. Instead, we are involved in a kind of personal knowing that is engaged and committed. Standing within a tradition that goes back to the Hebrew prophets, we celebrate the events of Holy Week by entering into the mystery through ritual and memory, word and song, drama and movement. By participating in the procession with the palms we make present that day long ago when Jesus entered Jerusalem at Passover time, and we recognize (literally: know again) Jesus as Messiah.
In preparing these reflections, in addition to the biblical texts, I consulted the following works:
Borg & Crossan 2006 – Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Acccount of Jesus’s Final Week in Jerusalem (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006)
Donahue & Harrington 2002 – John R. Donahue, S.J. and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., The Gospel of Mark (Collegeville [MN]: Liturgical Press, 2002)
Fuller & Westberg 2006 – Reginald H. Fuller and Daniel Westberg, Preaching the Lectionary: The Word of God for the Church Today, Third Edition (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2006)
LaVerdiere 1999.2 – Eugene LaVerdiere, The Beginning of the Gospel: Introducing the Gospel According to Mark, Vol. 2 (Collegeville [MN]: Liturgical Press, 1999)
Malina & Rohrbaugh 2003 – Bruce J. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, Second Edition (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003)
NRSV = NRSV 1994 – New Revised Standard Version – Bruce M. Metzger and Roland E. Murphy, Editors, The New Oxford Annotated Bible [with the Apocrypha] containing the Old and New Testaments. New Revised Standard Version. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994)
Notes:
- In Mark’s Gospel Jesus makes only one visit to Jerusalem. For literary and dramatic reasons Mark collapses all the Jerusalem events into a single week. John the Evangelist has three visits to Jerusalem. However, John relates the entrance into Jerusalem at the beginning of Jesus’ last visit before his death and resurrection. ↩
- The practice of carrying palm branches, instead of placing them on the ground or stones as a carpet, comes from John’s Gospel where a “great crowd,” recognizing Jesus from previous visits goes out from Jerusalem to meet Jesus carrying branches of palm trees. (See John 12.12-13.) ↩