Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. This morning I was teaching at church and I told the following story. I thought I would post it here so that we can try and climb into the mind of a 1st Century person who was there at the time.

“Niko was born into a devout Jewish family and grew up in and around Jerusalem in Israel. He had been taught and had practised Judaism his whole life by his family and community. One of the things he had been taught from a young age was the history of his nation and his city. He grew up hearing about Abraham and how Israel was chosen to be God’s people. He heard about Moses and how God used him to rescue the Israelites from the oppression of the Egyptians. He heard about King David and King Solomon, the high point of the Kingdom of Israel. He heard about the fall of the Kingdom and how the people were once again thrown into exile in Babylon and how they returned from exile. Growing up in Jerusalem he had heard the stories of its past, the victories, the defeats, he got it, he understood how important the city was to the Jews. He also had heard about the old prophets who talked about the fact that one day someone would come, a saviour, a Messiah and He would make everything right again. He shared his families excitement about the possibility of that. 

He imagined what that might look like often when he was younger. He had a bit of a picture of what it might look like, partly formed through some of the stories of the past.

One of his favourite stories from the past, a story we don’t read about in Scripture, but a story which happened between the time of the book of Malachi and Matthew, was the story of a man called Judah Maccabaeus or to use his nickname “Judah the Hammer’ –  as a kid the nickname was really why Niko liked him. This guy, Judah, lived about 200 years before Niko in a time when Jerusalem had fallen again – this time it had been overtaken by Syria. The king of Syria was evil and even dedicated God’s temple to his god Zeus, he even tried to stop the Jews worshipping by forcing them to eat pork and sacrificed pigs in the temple. Judah the Hammer decided that enough was enough and he formed an army around him and descended on Jerusalem to defeat this evil King – they wanted to reclaim the temple and the city for the Kingdom of God. The war took them 3 years but finally they won and cleansed the temple. Niko loved hearing the accounts of the celebrations that happened after that victory. It was said that on that day Judah and his family partied and sang hymns in the streets waving palm branches going crazy. 

Sometimes Niko and his sister would wave palm trees as they played outside; him pretending to be Judah the Hammer defeating the evil king.

It’s worth mentioning that Palm trees were pretty common in Israel, Niko walked past many of them most days, but they were symbolic for him and the Jewish people. Palm trees were a symbol of victory for the Jewish people. When God had delivered them from Egypt He told them to celebrate Him with branches from luxuriant trees like palm trees – the trees gave them shade and rest after a time of boiling hot slavery in Egypt – they even had a festival that celebrated this. King Solomon carved palm trees into the temple he had built in Jerusalem as well. When Judah the Hammer won the war and ruled in Jerusalem, one of the coins they had made had a palm tree on it. Palms were important to them. Palms represented victory and celebration.

The time Niko was living in wasn’t a time of celebration though – it was better than in the days of Judah the Hammerbut it wasn’t freedom. Whilst Judah the Hammer won that fight years and years ago, his family who began to reign in Jerusalem weren’t good people, in fact the Kingdom fell into disarray, pressure groups had formed in Judaism calling people to turn to God. In the backdrop of all of this the Roman Empire was growing. In fact not too long before Niko was born a guy called ‘Herod the Great’ (we know him from the Nativity story) recaptured Jerusalem for the Romans and started to build a new temple there. By the time Niko was born Herod had been crowned King, not a real King like the stories of old, but a fake King. Niko grew up in the shadow of Roman occupation. As we said, it wasn’t all bad but it wasn’t what it should be. Niko longed to see a time when they were free and were able to worship God with no one else ruling over them, like the freedom he had learned about from years before. 

Living in Jerusalem was a cool place to live. Some of Niko’s favourite times of the year were during the festivals in Jerusalem. Three times a year the population of the city would swell as people came into the city from all over to remember God. Of course, these were the days before internet, email and even text message so those were also the times when you would hear all the news that was happening all over the country. Niko loved to listen to the stories, hoping to pick up on some news of another deliverer, maybe even the Messiah who would come and return them to the way it should be. At times there were rumours but in truth they were pretty rare. 

As the years rolled on through Niko sort of forgot about some of those prophecies and his hope of something ever changing in his life time started to fade. He was still devoted to God but because he’d not experienced it, he had lost any expectation that God would act. 

As Niko was entering his late 20’s, early 30’s, he started to hear rumours of a guy called Jesus who lived way up north in a back water place called Galilee. He was ministering there and some of the stories coming out of there were pretty crazy; amazing teaching, healings, deliverances etc. Niko wondered if he was just another cool rabbi or maybe more and as the months rolled on the stories seemed to gather more validity. There were even reports that Jesus had been in Jerusalem and had healed a man who had been lame near the sheep gate. Niko knew that place well and wished he had seen it. It wasn’t all good though as people also said that Jesus did the miracle on the Sabbath – that sounded like a big no no for Niko. 

Niko kept listening out for news of Jesus though. He imagined this Jesus to be a bit like Judah the Hammer from the old stories. 

Then one year the rumours really started to grow. People were saying that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem again, but it wasn’t for a normal visit, it seemed to be for something big. Was this going to be the moment? Was their going to be a Judah the Hammer moment? Was it the old prophecies coming true? The excitement was growing becausethere was a story coming out of a town called Bethany, only 2 miles outside Jerusalem that Jesus had raised a man from the dead there – the man had been dead for a few days so it would have been a hard one to fake. Even the religious leaders in Jerusalem were talking about it. A large crowd had been forming around Jesus since this miracle – Niko wondered if this was the army that Jesus was forming. 

Then the day came. 

Niko had wondered if Jesus would come but the noise on the street, the crowds of people that were running out of the city, moving towards this Jesus seemed to confirm it. People were grabbing palm branches and moving towards the noise – there were proclaiming victory. As Niko was running towards the noise he remembered the prophecy from Zechariah; 

9 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. Zechariah 9:9 (NIV)

Niko laughed at the thought of a great deliverer or Messiah coming in on a donkey, but as he came upon the crowd, he caught a glimpse of this man coming in on a donkey – Zechariah was right. People were waving branches and laying them down as well as their coats – this was a royal welcome. Niko waved his branch and did the same. The bible talks about it like this.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 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 heaven!”10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”Matthew 21:6-11 (NIV) 

HOSANNA, HOSANNA Niko shouted along with the crowd- translated into English it means “SAVE US NOW” or “SAVE US PLEASE!” 

Niko was convinced this was the Messiah, the deliverer, Judah the Hammer 2.0 – this passover celebration was going to be one for the record books. HOPE WAS RISING

That week Niko tried to get to wherever Jesus was going to be. He had dreamt about this for so long, he didn’t want to miss a thing. That day Jesus went to the temple which made sense but when He got there He started throwing out the money lenders there. This wasn’t what Niko expected but he’d never liked how that happened anyway – the messiah was cleansing the temple! 

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”Matthew 21:12-13 (NIV)

Niko wasn’t able to follow Jesus into all the places He was over the next few days, but he was blown away by the teaching he did hear. Jesus spoke in parables, ways that were new to Niko, but the insight and authority He taught with was remarkable. Some of the parables didn’t end the way he would have expecting them to, which confused him a little. As the week went on Niko got more and more confused. Some of the teaching Jesus gave was pretty accusatory towards the Jewish people and Niko hadn’t seen many signs of the army readying themselves for war against the Romans. To make it even more confusing, Jesus had refused to have a go at the Romans when he’d been given the opportunity to comment on paying tax to Caesar.  Not long after that Jesus said this – we’ll read it from Matthew

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. Matthew 23:1-3 (NIV)

Niko had spent most of his life trying to follow the religious teachers – was Jesus saying that they’d got it wrong? Surely this was weird? Would a Messiah say that? 

As the week went on Jesus said more and more things that Niko couldn’t understand. Yes, He did some amazing things but there were other things that just seemed……..well unholy. He spent time with people who were unclean, he even heard a story about a lady who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair – that was just scandalous.

The Pharisees and religious teachers  were growing restless, there was talk around Jerusalem of people actually killing Jesus. Apparently there was a plot to trap him and have him tried. Niko wasn’t sure where he stood. He had hoped so much that Jesus was the Messiah but was he just another skilled Rabbi or Prophet that had grown drunk on his own power and was now missing the mark and speaking falsely? More and more people seemed to think that was the case. 

Whilst hope was rising amongst some, hope was dying in Niko.

He talked with others, He watched Jesus when He could. He tried to weigh it all up. It was becoming clearer and clearer to Niko. 

This was no Messiah. 

And if He wasn’t a Messiah then He was a fraud

This Jesus was a fraud. 

The next day when Niko went outside, there was a lot of noise in Jerusalem again, similar to what he’d experienced on the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Except this time the noise was different than earlier in the week. 
This day people weren’t carrying palm branches or singing Hosanna. There was no dancing or worship or joy.

Instead they’d swapped their palm branches for stones and fist waving. 

Jesus had been arrested. 

Their cries of Hosanna had turned into cries of CRUCIFY HIM.

and Niko joined with them – he held his stone and shouted the same.”

This Palm Sunday how do we ensure that we worship Jesus for how He says He is, not what we think He should be doing. Let’s not let our expectation mean we miss out on experiencing Him.