“Who To Release”
Matthew 21:1-11 (Palms Text)
Isaiah 50:4-9a (Old Testament Reading)
Matthew 27:11-22 (Message Text)
On Palm Sunday April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, General of the Union Army, at the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. This surrender ended the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. State against state—brother against brother; it was a conflict that literally tore our nation apart.
Five days later, Good Friday, April 14, 1865, America’s most revered President, Abraham Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theatre.
It was Lincoln who wrote the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery in the U.S. forever. It was Lincoln who wrote and gave the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln hated war, but he was drawn into this one because he believed it was the only way to save the nation. On Palm Sunday the war ended—triumph. On Good Friday, Abraham Lincoln became the first U.S. President to be assassinated—tragedy!
Welcome to Holy Week. Welcome to the triumph and the tragedy of the six days preceding Easter. That’s the kind of world we live in—the triumphant end to a terrible war on Sunday and the tragic slaying of the great leader who brought us through that war on Friday. One moment we are on top of the world, believing that nothing can go wrong. And then suddenly—literally—all hell breaks out. That,
as they say, is life.
Our service started this morning with the reading of what is termed the “Palm Reading.” It’s also referred to as “The Triumphal Entry,” a parade if you will as Jesus entered Jerusalem for Holy Week. This story appears in all four of the Gospels. It was Sunday morning and Jesus and His disciples started out from Bethany, which was located on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives. Their destination was Jerusalem. Doubtless, the disciples had no comprehension of what the coming week would bring, despite Jesus’ efforts to warn them. They will be surprised by the reception they will receive in the Holy City, the adoration aimed at their Master, the subsequent rejection, the persecution, the mockery of a trial to which their Master would be subjected, the crucifixion and His subsequent resurrection. It was truly the week that changed history. Yet it started out so routinely.
Picture it if you can. A beautiful spring morning, the sun coming up over the temple, the birds singing, the children and the people clamoring and craving their necks to see whom they thought was the leader of a new religious movement. Some were thinking He was the long-awaited Messiah. Some amazing stories had been circulating about this man feeding thousands of people with just two small fish and five loaves of bread—about His ability to heal—and even about Him raising Lazarus from the dead. Could this be, they wondered hopefully, the One they had long been awaiting?
Jesus’ mode of transportation that morning fulfilled prophesy: “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” [Zecharia 9:9]. Riding on a donkey. Have you ever been up close and personal with a donkey. They aren’t much to behold. Their eyes are kind of set on each side of their face and their ears, well, you probably know about their ears. But I will say this, they have a broad back, which might have made for a comfortable ride into town for our Savior.
There was another parade that came into Jerusalem that morning on the other side of town. This, the parade of Pilate, as he came to town for his annual visit of the Passover proceedings. While Jesus rode in on a donkey Pilate came in on his stallion with his troops all dressed in their armor either riding beside him or marching along in front and behind. Their armor is clanging and glittering in the sunshine. When I was growing up our town had, for us, a fairly large Memorial Day Parade. Part of that lineup was our local National Guard Installment. They would be marching along to their cadence, which I loved to witness. I can imagine Pilate’s soldiers marching on that morning to their cadence.
Now, I’ve always known that there were two parades that occurred that morning, but there was another one that I forget about—the parade of the sacrificial lambs. You see, Jerusalem was a very crowded city surrounded by a wall and didn’t have any room to raise those spotless sacrificial lambs. So, they were raised in Bethlehem—a short distance away—the same village where our own Sacrificial Lamb was born. As the people traveled to Jerusalem for Passover and the Holy Week they would stop and purchase their lamb—and on Palm Sunday the shepherds would bring the lambs to Jerusalem. There are some who think that the reason for the Palm Branches was to cover up what the sheep would have left behind. Either way—the lambs purchased for sacrifice on Passover preceded the Sacrificial Lamb who gave His life for our sins.
Just a few days later, Jesus washes His disciples’ feet in the Upper Room and then is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. From there He is marched to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the Sanhedrin was also gathered. The Sanhedrin normally met during the day in the Temple courts, and not during religious festivals. The fact that they were gathering in the high priest’s palace, at night, during the feast of the unleavened bread points to both the unusual nature of their meeting and the urgency and secrecy they felt necessary in dealing with Jesus.
The Church of St. Peter is built over what are said to be the ruins of the high priest’s house. Descending a staircase to the lower level, one enters a chapel; and in the center of this chapel there’s an opening in the floor that leads to a pit—a dungeon. It is thought that Jesus was lowered into this pit by ropes and was kept there until very early in the morning, when He was drawn back out of this dark place and brought before the council on charges of blasphemy. Some suggest that He may have prayed the words of Psalm 88 while in this dungeon.
The next morning, Judas tried to undo what he had already done. When the chief priests and elders refused, he threw their money on the floor, went away and hanged himself.
Meanwhile, as the sun was once again rising over Jerusalem, like it did on Palm Sunday, Jesus was led through the streets to Pilate’s fortress, just a quarter mile away. As He had done earlier at the trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus remained virtually silent before Pilate. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).
Pilate ruled as governor of Judea from 26 AD to 36 AD. The correct Latin title for Pilate was “procurator.” He was said to be cruel, corrupt, and violent. One thing he did learn in his conversation with Jesus was that he was a political ruler while Jesus, with His kingdom not of this world, was a spiritual ruler.
As a tradition, Pilate gave the crowd the choice of which prisoner to release. In some translations Matthew notes that Barabbas’ name was actually Jesus Barabbas. The name Jesus means “savior” or “God saves.” Barabbas means “son of the Father.” So, you could say that Pilate gave the people a choice between two saviors. Jesus Barabbas, who sought to lead a rebellion against Rome using violence and terror to rid the land of Romans, or Jesus, who sought to lead people to “seek first the kingdom of God.” As we know, the crowd chose Barabbas.
The New Testament doesn’t give us the name of Pilate’s wife, though the traditions of the third century church call her Procula (and much later she is identified by the name of Claudia or Claudia Procula). Procula didn’t know the identity of Jesus but had been troubled in a dream about Him and sent word to her husband to have “nothing to do with that innocent man.” Pilot refused to heed the words of his wife, and he will be forever remembered for the resulting action. Early tradition pictures Procula eventually becoming a Christian.
Though Pilate could have freed Jesus he chose to satisfy the crowd, washed his hands of the matter and sent Jesus to be crucified. Pilate’s washing his hands before the crowd is recorded only in Matthew. It did not cleanse his conscience, nor did it remove his guilt. Six years later he was summoned to Rome by the emperor to answer charges of misrule. Banished to Gaul, he is said to have committed suicide.
Judas and Pilate both committed suicide for their roles in Jesus’ crucifixion. I must wonder: Did Jesus give them back their life, eternal life, for doing something that needed to be done so we can celebrate the Cross and the Empty Tomb every year at this time?
Pilate gave the people a choice. They chose Barabbas. Then he asked, “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” They, probably many of whom just days before were shouting Hosanna, Hosanna; they said, “Crucify him!”
What are we to do with Him? Fall at His feet—follow Him—believe in Him—listen to Him—love him—be like him—sow his seeds [His Word] in our souls.
Finally, Jesus came to usher in a new kingdom of love. Jesus turned the world on its head: a king who comes in humility, a king who does not ask others to sacrifice for Him but offers Himself as a sacrifice for all. A king who builds the foundation of His kingdom not on the power of the sword, but on the power of love.
We are told that over the entrance to the Upper Room in Jerusalem is carved a pelican. Replicas of a pelican were also found on the shields of the crusaders. Why the pelican? There existed in those days a tradition that when the mother pelican could find no food for her young, she would tear out her heart as food for them.
Humanity had never been exposed before to a God who would go to a cross. Humanity had never been exposed to a God who loves like that, who would tear out His own heart for His people. And yet, here is the hope of all who are in pain and call upon the name of God. In Jesus Christ, God has been where we are. In Jesus Christ, God has experienced what we experience.
Jesus Christ used a donkey as a vehicle for His Gospel; He used the politician Pilate to spread His Gospel; and He used an old wooden cross to complete His Gospel. How will He use you?
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
the emblem of suffering and shame;
and I love that old cross where the dearest and best
for a world of lost sinner was slain.
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.
Eastman First Methodist Church 