Palm Sunday

This Sunday just gone was Palm Sunday, the Sunday beginning the most important week in the church calendar: Holy Week. Easter has certainly come around fast this year (in part because it is still early in the year), with daylight savings here in New Zealand only just coming to an end of Easter Sunday. The Palm Sunday sermon at my church drew on Luke 19:28-40, when Jesus rides on a donkey into Jerusalem on a road covered in the cloaks of the people, to the joyful praise of his disciples. In short Jesus enters in as the Messiah of Israel. (This story is also found in Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11 and John 12:12-19).

There are several Old Testament allusions in the Luke passage and it is these that I want to begin by focusing on. The most obvious is the quotation of the first part of Psalm 118:26; “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh,” in Luke 19:38 as “Blessed is the one who comes, the king in the name of the Lord.” Here the text of Luke adds in “the king” in order to make it clear that Jesus is pictured as the Messiah here.

The second allusion is in the way Jesus enters Jerusalem; on a donkey. This allusion is less direct. There is no quotation of any Old Testament text, but the mere mention of him riding a donkey, along with the quotation of Psalm 118:26, would have been enough for first century Jews and God-fearing Greeks to pick up the allusion to Zechariah 9:9. “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem. Look your king comes to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey and on male donkey.” In Luke, Jesus rides a young donkey, using the same Greek word, pōlon, as was used in the Greek translation of Zechariah 9:9. Not only that but Jesus also rides into Jerusalem, the city addressed in Zechariah 9:9 and the people rejoice and praise God. 

Zechariah 9 is an important passage for Luke, especially in these last chapters. When we turn in Luke to the Last Supper account (Luke 22:14-23), Jesus takes the cup and gives it to his disciples and then does the same with the bread (Luke 22:17-19). This is also the case in Matthew and Mark’s accounts of the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-25). However, in Luke, Jesus then takes a second cup after supper and says “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you” (Luke 22:19). It is with this idea of covenantal blood that Zechariah appears again. In Zechariah 9, after verse 9 where the king comes on a donkey, the prophet declares in verse 10 that this king shall have dominion over the earth. In verses 11-13 it is because of the blood of the covenant between God and his people that God will release the Jews who are prisoners and restore to them double what they had, so they will be strong against their enemies. 

This is where things get a little messy. There are many connections to Luke here, not only to the blood of the covenant at the Last Supper in Luke, but also the Luke 4:16-21, when Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah at a synagogue in Nazareth, declaring the good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed and the year of the Lord’s favour (Isa 61:1-2) as being fulfilled in him. This quotation becomes foundational for his ministry throughout Luke where he is constantly healing and preaching the gospel.

Not only that but the mention of blood of the covenant is found in only one other place in the Old Testament; Exodus 24:8 when Moses inaugurates the covenant between God and his people through the blood of sacrificed animals. It is this blood called upon by Zechariah to declare that God will save his people from their enemies through a mighty king, riding on a donkey. It is this blood that Jesus refers to at the Last Supper, when he declares that he is going to renew the covenant between God and his people in his blood, the blood he will shed on the cross at Easter. It is through this blood that his ministry will continue through his followers, as it is through his blood and the covenant it renews that they are made righteous before God and given the Holy Spirit. 

So what does the tangled mess of Old and New Testament texts show us? To start with, it shows the intricate weaving of the Old Testament into the gospel story in the New Testament. Most of these allusions would not have been picked up by most people today as our knowledge of much of the Old Testament is limited. However, it also demonstrates the level of meaning present in these stories in Luke which sits just below the surface of the text. Looking at such allusions can help us understand the New Testament better. For example, looking at the two Old Testament mentions of the blood of the covenant can help us understand what Jesus is doing in the Lukan Last Supper. While the text in Luke says “new covenant,” by looking at Exodus and Zechariah, is appears more likely that he is not beginning something completely new and foreign to the covenant that went before. Instead he is renewing the covenant between God and his people but not simply renewing it. Through the sacrifice of Jesus the covenant does change. For example, it is now by his blood that people are saved and not the blood of sacrificed animals and the Holy Spirit is given to all. However, it is still built on the foundation of the original covenant between God and his people. This is an important part of the Easter story which is often overlooked. While it was a new event that changed the course of history, it is firmly grounded in its own history, told in the Old Testament, without which Easter would make no sense at all.

As we work our way through Holy Week this year, towards the commemoration of Good Friday and the celebration of Easter Sunday, let us try to see these events as the climax of the story of God working with and through his people. As began in the Old Testament, continued through the New and now continues in the church through the ages right down to today.

Christos Anesti