Matthew 21:1-11

Year A -Palm Sunday or False Dawn Sunday

April 13, 2014

Matthew+21:1-11

The thrill of victory without the agony of defeat gives an unbalanced view of the week ahead, whether your ordinary week or this one set apart by the church as having some additional value labeled holy.

With this truism out of the way, our preferred way of treating this Sunday is through the eyes of anticipated victory. Surely it won’t be that way but it is more reflective of the vision of the disciples and those who have some sense of the Church Triumphant with privilege over all other aspects of life.

Jesus was probably tired of the disciple’s denial of his understanding of the Jerusalem part of his journey and gave them some busy work. “Go get me a donkey. Oh, and a colt also.”

As is Matthew’s wont, he sees in this prophecy revealed. When we have our eye on interpreting everything as though it were applicable to right now we lose track of how funny life can be. Did you catch the humor in the NRSV use of antecedent in verse 6? “...they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. Admittedly I don’t know know how antecedents really work as I am constantly mixing them up in the midst of conversation and quite unintentionally derailing the seeming intent of others with my confused reply. Nonetheless, chuckle where you can.

The crowds ahead of Jesus riding on the disciples (chuckle), and those behind, shouted loudly while Jesus is recorded as not saying a mumbling word. Everyone is projecting on Jesus. We are still projecting.

Question for the day: Who are you listening to these days to whom you ascribe prophetic tendencies in their arena of activity? Is simply a recognition of this enough? Or, are you working to bring their vision of a better world into reality through your public and private lives? We are called to not only walk our talk, but to walk the talk of those who are prophetic for us.