Entrance into Jerusalem

(Palm Sunday)

“Although Mark does not allude to the text, the entrance into Jerusalem (11:1-11) is such a clear echo of Zechariah 9:9 that hardly any interpreter doubts that a reenactment was deliberately intended. The Messiah king appears as meek and lowly, riding upon an ass, without the trappings of royalty and the panoply of war; he is the very antithesis of the conquering political and military hero.”

Light on the Gospels: A Reader’s Guide, Fr. John L. McKenzie p. 95

So, why are His self-proclaimed followers, i.e. Christians, so enamored of the ways and means and people whose lives are given over to the power of violence that is universally the sine qua non of governmental politics and the military? Because they believe in Jesus as their Lord, God and Savior, but they don’t believe Him? Or, maybe they don’t believe in Jesus at all, at least not the Jesus of the Gospels?

-Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy