One of my mentors as I was preparing to be a pastor was Rev. Steve Eason at Myers Park Presbyterian Church.  As part of my duties at that church, I participated in worship on Palm Sunday my first year there.  Rev. Eason was a gifted preacher and I was excited to hear the Word he would share with us that day.  Amazingly, he stepped up to the pulpit and announced he’d be giving the exact same sermon he’d delivered the year before.  He went on to say that it was the exact same sermon he’d preached every Palm Sunday for the last 15 years.  At first, I was a bit apprehensive.  I thought, “C’mon, he’s phoning it in on one of the most significant Sundays of the year.”  But then I heard the sermon.  He said all he was going to do was recount the events in Jesus’ life during this week so many years ago.  As I listened to the narrative of Holy Week, I realized it was something FAR MORE than a sermon.  Truth be told, with all the work I ‘d been doing for the church at the time, had it NOT been for that retelling, I might never have taken the time to hear the entire drama of Holy Week.  And I wonder, how many of us might normally miss hearing the story this year?  We’re such busy people, aren’t we? 

  So today I continue my own tradition of simply telling the story of Christ’s final week, Holy Week, on Palm Sunday.  I am thankful to Rev. Eason for the idea and hope to retell the events half as well as he. Our Gospel passage from Matthew shows that Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem on a Sunday.  Great thought was given towards this entry.  He sends two of His disciples ahead of Him with specific instructions.  And that’s just it you see.  He knew what He was doing.   Always did.  Always will.

  And now, the time spoken of in prophecy arrives.  In order to fulfill His divine purpose, Christ begins His trek to Jerusalem.  Luke’s Gospel records it this way – “Then the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  And so the Passion begins. 

  On Sunday, Jesus follows the typical path taken by pilgrims coming towards Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover; but His entrance is anything BUT routine.  He descends from the Mount of Olives into the city.  Notice the crowds putting down their palm leaves.  Keep in mind, this wasn’t done for every pilgrim making their way towards the Temple for Passover.  These palm leaves were strewn because they were expecting a deliverer.  As they laid their branches in His path, these people had an expectation of what Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would do.  They wanted Him to free them from their Roman oppressors.  But Christ comes into the city not so much to upset the Roman empire as to do something far, far greater.    

  It’s ironic that as the people lift up the words “Hosanna” “God save us” they’re saying the right thing but their understanding of what they cry out for is woefully incomplete.  How often do we do that, I wonder?  You see, Jesus is acting to save them, to save us, but not from the Romans.  He’s here to save them, to save us, from something far worse.  2023 years later, the mighty Roman Empire is nothing, relics gathering dust in museums.  But our salvation from sin and death is everlasting.  Hosanna indeed!

  But then Jesus leaves Jerusalem as quickly as He’s entered it.  Jesus comes into the Temple, looks around and departs.  Without so much as a triumphal speech, Christ returns to Bethany to spend the night.  I wonder if that’s when the murmuring started.  I wonder if that’s when the people who cried out Hosanna began to be suspicious about this Jesus.  After all, this rapid departure wouldn’t have been what they wanted.  A coward turning tail and leaving?  They’ll turn on Him…we know it.  The very same people who laud Jesus Christ as He enters to fulfill THEIR expectations, scream out against Him when He instead fulfills God’s plan, not theirs.   Don’t we ALL do that sometimes?   

  On Monday morning, Jesus comes back into the city, returning from Bethany.  It’s Monday, according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, that Jesus Christ upends the money changers in the Temple, taking aim at a corrupt practice and a hard-hearted people.  “What kind of Messiah is this?” they must’ve wondered.  Here Jesus is going after them and NOT the Romans.  He’s messing up their economic system.  He’s messing up the status quo.  He isn’t touching a single hair on the head of a Roman centurion.  Needless to say, the people don’t like it. They don’t like Jesus’ behavior.  He’s messing with the WAY THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DONE, after all.  And, as we all know from experience, so few of us like it when the boat gets rocked, even for the right reasons.

  So, it’s on a Monday that the chief priests and scribes begin plotting to kill Jesus Christ.  But even with all that anger aimed right at Him, Jesus doesn’t back down.  In fact, scriptures show Him continuing to teach openly in the Temple.  You see, Jesus had something to do.  He’d known His duty since the foundations of the earth.  Now, as His time drew to a close, He wasn’t going to let a little resistance get in His way.  So, He keeps teaching, even as the specter of His own death looms over Him like a dark cloud. 

  Perhaps tired from the day’s events, Christ returns Monday night and sleeps again in Bethany.  He doesn’t rest long.  On Tuesday, Christ begins anew and returns to Jerusalem.  But this time, traps lie in wait for Him.  The people He’s angered through His words and actions have crafted some questions.  Questions designed to snare Him in heresy.  The chief priests and scribes ask Him about taxes, wondering if it is lawful to pay money to the emperor.  It sounds innocent, but at its core lies a desire to incriminate Jesus.  But Jesus knows of their ruse.  He’s known about it for generations.  He slips by their trap.