Lectionary Reflection: Palm Sunday - 2013

Lectionary Readings for Palm/Passion Sunday:

Liturgy of the Palms:

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 Luke 19:28-40

Liturgy of the Passion:

Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14- 23:56

Again, my reflection comes from Ched Myers' Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark's Story of Jesus (20th Anniversary Edition) Orbis Books, 1988, 2008.

Again, I know that we are in the midst of Year B (which has Luke as the dominate Gospel text, with some readings from John), but I think that Myers' reading of Mark's Gospel might shed some light on - or at least conversation with - Luke's account (in the case of today's gospel reading).

This Sunday's readings gives us a choice to either reflect upon the "Triumphal" entry into Jerusalem, or reflect upon the Passion and Paschal mystery. I'm choosing to focus upon the Palm Liturgy/ "Triumphal" entry readings. Later in Holy Week, I will reflect (with Myers' help) on the Passion.

Blessed Be as we prepare to enter Holy Week.

Joel

Mark 11:1-10 or 11 gives Mark's account of the procession into Jerusalem (which is rather anti-climatic in a way, when Jesus finally gets there in v. 11, he just looks around ("scopes the place out" might be a better description for what happens the next day) and leaves.) All the events in Mark's account point to a carefully choreographed street theater designed to give intentionally conflicting messianic signals (p. 294).

To start the conflict, Mark places Jesus near the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is "a place associated in early apocalyptic tradition with the final battle against the enemies of Israel in defense of Jerusalem" (as in Zec 14:2-4) [p. 294). Mark's readers would have also had in mind the image of a messianic hero riding his charger to national acclaim into the heart of the nation, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. In fact, Simon Maccabaeus, military leader and hero of the inter-testamental period, triumphantly came into Jerusalem in such a manner "with praise and palm branches ... and hymns and songs" (1 Mc 13:51). And Josephus recounts how during the Jewish War Sicarius leader Menaham processed into Jerusalem (something fresh in the minds of Mark's readers).
Myers asks: "Is Mark, then, implying that Jesus "is going forth to battle"?

In any case, Mark's narrative of Jesus' march on Jerusalem, composed only a few years after Menahem's procession, is all the more politically "loaded" for the striking parallel.

Yet for all these militant, indeed military, symbolics, other aspects of the narrative point in the opposite direction. Well over half of the episode concerns the instructions given by Jesus to "two disciples" in preparation for the procession (11:1-7). This gives the distinct impression that all is being deliberately planned and choreographed - hence the suspicion of "street theater." On the one hand, Jesus procures what he needs for his campaign (see "the need,"chreian echein, of David on a military campaign referred to in 2:25). On the other hand, what he procures is a lowly ass. Obviously, Mark is making a big production out of the fact that this procession will meet the requirements of another, quite contrary part of the Zechariah tradition: the Messiah who comes to Zion "meek, riding upon an ass" (Zec 9:9f.).

Although this text also belongs to the liberation-of-Jerusalem tradition, it is expressly antimilitary in its tone. Jesus does not intend to fight for the temple state, and the Mount of Olives will in fact be used for the purpose of judgement (13:3). This parade, then, is filled with conflicting signals, as if it intends to be a satire on military liberators. ... the theatrics of the procession may have been meant by Mark as a kind of parody, contrasting Jesus' destiny of the cross with the popular messianic expectations of the disciples/crowds/readers. [BtSM:294-6]

 But what of the garments, cut and strewing straw from the fields? Myers points out that this is rarely mentioned from the commentators, but with Mark's pro-rural / anti-urban bias, could this be used to draw contrast between the rural crowds/followers and the urban Jerusalemites? Quite Possibly.

It is the peasants, brandishing the only gifts (weapons?) they have, who usher Jesus into Jerusalem; it will be another peasant who will accompany Jesus out of the city at the end of the story (15:30). The crowd's rapturous chanting of anticipation stands in contrast on the one hand to the cold reception Jesus will shortly receive from the city fathers (11:27f.), and the disciple's fearful following of Jesus on the other. Mark uses the exact same stage directions ("those before him and following him") as in 11:9a as he did to describe the community's approach to Jerusalem (10:32)" [BtSM:296].

Myers also quotes Taylor: "Hosanna" comes from Psalm 118:25 - "where the cry to God means "Save now." In II Samuel 14:4 and II Kings 6:26 the word is used in addressing kings.... The psalm was used liturgically at the Feast of Tabernacles and the Passover. "Hosanna" could therefore be used in addressing pilgrims or a famous Rabbi, but as a greeting or acclamation rather than a cry for help. At Tabernacles branches were waved and in popular speech were known as "hosannahs" " [{Taylor, }1963:456].

Myers also invites us to look at the ironies of the various "cries":

• The crowd cries out that Jesus might be "preserved" when he is set on going the way of the cross.

• Bartimaeus has just cried out (twice) addressing Jesus as "Son of David" (10:47,49).

• This procession's crying out "escalates into anticipation of 'the coming kingdom of our Father David.' In fact, Jesus will repudiate this ideology of restorationism" [BtSM:296].

• After Jesus is arrested, and appears before the crowd with Pilate, the crowd calls out another tune: Release a violent "revolutionary" and "Crucify!" Jesus.

Myers notes:

This procession is the opening round of the struggle over the character of messianic politics. The cries articulate the prevailing orthodoxy, which presumes the rehabilitation of the temple state in the "kingdom of our Father David." At this stage Mark does not directly repudiate this enthusiasm, but does so indirectly, as in the Prologue, through the vehicle of narrative anticlimax. Jesus does not actually enter the city until after the procession, and moreover his "epiphany" in the temple is not the dramatic intervention envisioned by popular messianic expectation. Jesus merely enters the temple, looks around, and withdraws back to Bethany (11:11). Many have puzzled over this verse, complaining that it adds nothing to the narrative; but this is precisely its power - nothing happens. Mark has drawn the reader into traditional messianic symbolics, only to suddenly abort them. This prepares us for the shock when Jesus does "intervene" in the temple - not to restore, but to disrupt, its operations [BtSM:296-7].