"As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to the Daughter of Zion,

‘See, your king comes to you,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest!”

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”"

-Matthew 21:1-11

Today is Palm Sunday, the day on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey. Christians have described this day for generations as the "triumphal entry into Jerusalem." But, have you ever asked yourself, "If this was a triumphal entry, then why did they crucify Jesus at the end of the week?"

Jesus will find himself betrayed by one of his disciples, arrested by the high priest's guard, accused by a coalition of religious leaders, tried by the Roman governor, and sentenced to die the death of a common criminal—death by crucifixion. All following this purported moment of "triumph." What changed?

Expectations are a tricky thing. To get rid of them altogether is to remove living standards, but to enforce them overtly is to risk unmitigated disappointment. But a large part of what created the circumstances for Good Friday had to deal with poor expectations.

Both Matthew and Mark record Jesus's own words as he instructs his disciples to go into the city and find a donkey tied up. They are to ask the owner if they may use the donkey, and they are to say that "the Lord needs them." And Jesus quotes from Zechariah 9:

"See, your king comes to you,

gentle and riding on a donkey"

There is more to this passage than just a description of Jesus' means of transportation for that day. In that particular chapter of scripture, the prophet Zechariah was speaking to the nation. In Zechariah 9, the prophet reassures the people of Judea on the New Testament that God has not forgotten them:

"But I will defend my house

against marauding forces.

Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,

for now I am keeping watch.

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!

Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and having salvation,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

and the war-horses from Jerusalem,

and the battle bow will be broken.

He will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea

and from the River to the ends of the earth."

-Zechariah 9

Jesus' quote from the prophet Zechariah reminded those who heard him of the entire passage they'd likely heard most of their lives. And the message they heard was, "God will deliver the nation from the oppressor." And, as with many of us today, they took the image of the oppressor to be the one they already made up in their minds— Rome. Their expectations dictated that Jesus would overturn Rome. But their expectations certainly didn't match the man who rode into Jerusalem that day.

Imagine you're a king coming to overturn the powers that be. Rulers have built every great kingdom from the wreckage of violent beginnings; blood builds earthly kingdoms' foundation. If you're a king looking to build an empire, drumming up support from the masses, what do you do? You enter with pomp and ceremony! Roll out the red carpet and blow the confetti! We're going to war! And as such, you'd ride in on a steed of war, surrounded by a procession or fierce armed men.

But, the king, the crowd, receives comes to them humbly, not on a steed of war, but on a slow-moving donkey, the symbol of a king who comes in peace. Other great kings would ride in grand ceremonies to assert their empire's power and might, which crush all who oppose it. Astride on a young donkey, Jesus embodies peace and tranquility, the shalom that God brings to his people. The crowds that gathered that day, and us today, are faced with a choice. We will either serve the ways of this world, might, and power, or we will choose to serve the king of a very different kind of kingdom, the kingdom of God.

Interestingly enough, Christ's followers and others who get caught up in his entry into Jerusalem think they have already chosen to follow Jesus. Course, by the end of the week, Jesus will have disappointed them, and they will turn. Even those closest to Jesus, the 12 disciples, will betray him outright or abandon him in confusion and fear. And again, all because of sinful desires manifesting unmet expectations.

The crowd on that Sunday proclaimed, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" In other words, they were placing their faith in Jesus that he would restore the glory of the nation to its splendor when David and his son, Solomon, ruled a united kingdom. That's what they wanted. To be governed by a man like David, a man so committed to God that the Old Testament prophets had proclaimed that the coming Messiah would sit on the throne of David. The Messiah would bring back the glory of Israel, would rid the nation of oppressors, rule benevolently, and would be kind to the common people. And Christ would do this, but not the way they expected.

Significantly, Jesus had challenged the rulers of Judea already. Just not the Roman rulers, but the local rulers. He had said to them that the temple was not the only way to find God's forgiveness; and further that the temple would be destroyed, with not one stone left on another. This declaration upset those who made their living from the temple, like the scribes, chief priests, the Sanhedrin council, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. All these parties would all lose their power and prestige if there were no temple.

So, when Jesus miraculously saved the lame man, saying, "Your sins are forgiven," and then healed him, he challenged the authority of the temple system. And when Jesus drove the money-changers from the temple, Jesus exposed the corruption of the temple. This and other such acts led to Jesus disappointing and alienating influential people.

A contrast between kings and kingdoms was on display that day in Rome. Many of the common people thought they sided with Jesus, but they did so for the same reasons the Pharisees and others sided with Rome. They thought Jesus could do for them what Rome had done for their rulers—make their lives better, deliver them from the oppressive system under which they lived and worked, and turn the tables on the Romans.

That's why the crowd turns on Jesus by the end of the week. They realize he's going to do any of those things. Additionally, Jesus is going to make life worse for them, not better. Their religious leaders, all of them, who never agree on anything, agree that Jesus is going to attract the attention of the Roman empire, especially during Passover, and Rome will come down fast and hard on the entire nation:

"Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many signs.

If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation."

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."

-John 11:46-50

They accuse Jesus, and he is brought by Pilate before an angry mob, as they want to be rid of him. Jesus never did what they expected him to do. He didn't defeat the Romans, didn't dissolve the unfair tax system, didn't put common people in charge of the government, and he never would.

To appease the crowds that swelled the city of Jerusalem, Pilate had a custom of releasing prisoners, many of whom were political prisoners. And in this last week in the life of Jesus, Pilate offers the crowd a choice between Barabbas, a known revolutionary, and Jesus, an innocent man. The mob cries for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus's execution instead. And not just by any means; they want to "Crucify him." Because crucifixion was the one form of capital punishment that would show Rome the Jews were utterly loyal and would humiliate Jesus, even in death. They expected revolution, that Christ would make bloody war with their enemies and rule as a king of men. And when Jesus didn't meet their expectations, they turned savagely on him.

Christ would bring revolution and would bathe in blood. But the revolution would be of heaven's mercy, not man's sinful desires. And blood he'd soak in would not be the blood of his enemies, but the blood shed for his enemies.

What do we expect? Those expectations drive how we perceive Christ. That is the choice we make each day. To choose power and might over love. To choose "the way things are done" over "the way God intends them to be." Which would you choose? What kind of king do you expect?

In Christ,

RJ