Readings: Matthew 21. 1-11, Philippians 2.5-11
How to read this scene? What we see is Jesus riding on a young donkey, over the Mount of Olives, down across the valley of the Kidron, and up to the walls of Jerusalem to the gate closest to the Temple Mount. He is surrounded by his disciples and the others who sometimes travel with him and others coming up to Jerusalem for the Passover. Not a huge crowd but enough to make a good noise; enough to scatter the road with cloaks and straw and palm branches – the equivalent of a red carpet. And it seems in the mind of his disciples and the rest of the crowd, there echoes the words of the prophet Zechariah; Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Lo your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey.
Only a king can ride into the holy city everyone else must walk. But this king is a humble king riding not a warhorse but on a humble beast of all work – a donkey.
How to read this scene now? Well think of a famous photograph. It is June 5th 1989. This scene is set on the Chang’an Avenue which runs east west along the southern end of the Forbidden city in Beijing. A column of Type 59 tanks drives slowly down the broad avenue. And then a man steps out from the crowd, carrying a shopping bag in each hand, and goes to stand in front of the leading tank. It tries to go round him, but each time he moves to stand in front of it. Eventually two figures in blue come out of the crowd and lead him away, never to be heard of again. We do not know whether he was punished, whether he escaped, or whether he even knows that what he did produced one of the most iconic images of the twentieth century.
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, as a king on a donkey, he did not of course face tanks but he did face a Roman prefect who had at his disposal 3,000 troops and who if the need arose could call upon the Syrian legate who had 20,000 infantry and 5,00 cavalry. And then there was the high priest, the Sanhedrin and the Temple guards. And lastly there was the crowd of over 300,000 pilgrims in Jerusalem for the feast. Some of them knew and supported Jesus, some of them were in favour of an armed insurrection, and probably most of them wanted a quiet life.
And Jesus enters this city as a king yes – it is a dramatic, symbolic, prophetic gesture – a humble king on a donkey. But it is only a gesture as the man with his two shopping bags in front of a column of tanks was a gesture. And what do gestures count in the face of such overwhelming force – a force which would forty years later destroy Jerusalem and its Temple?
And yet sometimes gestures are all we have; sometimes gestures become iconic; sometimes a gesture can in time become the beginning of an unstoppable movement; and these are the kind of gestures we witness this coming week – holy week – full of simple holy gestures; washing feet, breaking bread, kneeling before a cross, lighting a new candle – iconic gestures which have the power to let the spirit of God loose in the world. Amen.