When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday he must have
been in great suspense. Would he be recognized in his true colors?
Jesus came as king, but not the kind of king the people expected.
Would the real meaning of his entrance into the city be recognized
or would he again be misunderstood as he had been so often before,
even by his closest friends?
The crucial question was one of recognition. Would the real meaning
be seen, would the signs be read aright.
That is why Jesus spoke with such concern about signs and the way
they should be read. "Now learn a parable of the fig tree," he said,
"when his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves you know
that summer is nigh." Signs like that in nature are unmistakable.
But when it comes to sizing up a man and his meaning they are far
more complex. Then real perception must be used, "for there shall
arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs
and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive
the very elect." How many of us spoke enthusiastically of Mussolini
because Italian trains began running on time and beggars disappeared
from the steps of cathedrals? How many good people were duped by
Franco merely because he proclaimed allegiance to the church and
Christianity? How many well meaning people are fooled by the devil
in all his guises?
And the reverse side of the picture has its equally discouraging
aspects. Great men live and die, unrecognized and misunderstood.
Men of good will are persecuted and put to death. The greatest and
best of all men rode into Jerusalem and in less than a week he
was hanging from a cross. The perversity of the human race seems
equalled only by its foolishness.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem could at least plead ignorance. The
signs of the meaning of Jesus were not obvious. True, the prophet
had written before in the Book of Zechariah to be on the watch
for such an event. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout O
daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just
and having salvation; lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt
the foal of an ass."
Jesus acquiesced in this prophetic symbolism and some did recognize
him for what he was--the spiritual King, the Messiah of God. A few
but only a few saw the meaning of the signs.
But since that time how can man plead ignorance? The gospel has
been preached in every nation of the world and has been written in
a thousand languages. Basilicas, cathedrals, and monasteries have
glorified him in wood and stone. The greatest artists have painted
him, the greatest authors have written about him. And yet if Christ
came again to one of the modern Jerusalems would the effects be much
different even though we have had two thousand years to learn of
him and know his ways? We have proclaimed the magnificence of our
reception but have we ever really received him? Could he not say
the same thing in truth as he beheld the city and wept over it: "if
thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things
which belong unto thy peace." He would stand about the same chance
of recognition as King today as he did then, for we too are looking
in the wrong direction. They looked for a mighty man at the head
of an army or a political party. We look for a Christ in pomp and
circumstance in power and great glory. Perhaps then on this Palm
Sunday we should try looking in the place where he was found before,
and will always be found. Quietly waiting outside the city of our
hearts, waiting for our recognition and acceptance. "Behold, thy
king cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation; lowly and
riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."