Which Gate…?, Senior Pastor Fred Garcia
As we celebrate Palm Sunday, Pastor Fred reviews how we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and compares it to the second parade that day. How many of you realize there were actually two parades that took place that day?
Pastor Fred looks at some literal meanings or cultural symbolism when it comes to palm and we find one of them in Scripture, Psalm 92, which says the righteous man will flourish like the palm tree. You will grow like the cedar in Lebanon, and so the palm represents. On one hand, the righteous. It also both culturally as well as SCRIPTURALLY represents victory.
Culturally speaking when there was a parade for Roman dignitaries and generals and the emperor, they’re relaying coats in palm trees down as a symbol of a Roman might and power in Victory.
Nearly 2000 years ago we had two triumphal entries into Jerusalem being celebrated, one of which we commemorate today. One of course we celebrate is that of Jesus, but there was also one by Pontius Pilate.
Pilot entered through the main gate on the West and Jesus entered was entering the beautiful gate on the east.
It turns out there’s a book, The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem, by Marcus Borg and John Crossan. They are well known biblical scholars and historians and talks about the events of Holy Week.
You know, we know about Palm Sunday. We know about him processing into Jerusalem, possibly even the same day, and possibly even at the same time. Pilot was coming in the opposite gate.
It just brings chills to think about that. Nobody knows for sure. There’s not an exact record that says as Jesus was coming in here over here on this corner we have Pontius Pilate.
But it’s interesting.
They didn’t have split screen back then. That is true, or announcers that they could go back from one to the other, or back and forth.
Pilot would have entered Jerusalem from his home in Caesarea? His procession would have been complete with all inspiring fear inducing a display of Roman military money. This would have been his parade. Pilate would have been riding a majestic stallion with all the trappings of Roman wealth and perceived. They would have been laying their cloaks and the palms down in front of him, as a symbol of Roman victory. The procession itself being a proclamation of his and Rome’s superiority and a message to the people who had come and gathered for Passover. Keep the peace. We’re going to keep it for them.
The account of Jesus entry into Jerusalem can be found in all four gospels. We are reading the one from Matthew 21:1-14. There’s a lot going on in these two companies.
Right, these palms represent rotting or trampling of righteous the righteous under foot. Right? One way we could look at this, they represent a trotting or trampling of the victory.
But under Jesus feet under his bowl, under this his donkey, the brand is symbolized that the righteous flourished under his rule and reign.
The righteous, when they submit themselves to Jesus, flourish under his rule and reign and again the palm branches being a symbol of victory. Our victory is submitted to his rule and reign. Right?
In both cases, the palms only get there because the because of a voluntary act of submission.
It reminds me that there’s many Christians today. We’re just waiting for Jesus to come and take us all home, right? And then deal with the rest of the world. The expectation is that he would just come back, fix it all, set up as government, and they won’t have to live lift a finger.
But that’s not how the story reads, doesn’t it?
It only comes his rule, his reign, his victory only comes through a voluntary act of worship. It only gets there as we lay it there. We were designed to cooperate with him with his victory with his rule with his reign. The increase of his government and A and a peace as we read in Isaiah:9
The increase of his government and of peace. We read that Scripture may go all the juices would just come back and bring his government institute, his government. It’s the same thing that the people who were laying down the poles. They were kind of excited.
They recognized the similarity on that day because. They’ve been through parades like this, whether by force or by choice. They bend through those parades, laying down those poles because let’s face it even though Rome was ruthless. Rome protected the people. It’s like the world government, even the US government. There are good and bad things about government. We complain about government all the time and yet at the same time we appreciate what government provides.
This procession, this Jesus coming in into the opposite side, and This is why the Pharisees were all up in arms. Oh my gosh, what’s he doing? Pilots supposed to be giving the parade. It’s Pilots victory. Who does he think he is?
You see the enemy is scared. He only wants you to see one parade. He only wants you to lay your palm branches. He would rather that the right is lay under the foot of government. He would rather that victory belongs to the government and the government saved the people. Because then it’s not Jesus. But Jesus. Exclamation point.
