HONOR!

Palm Sunday. That’s a frieze from Nikolaikirche in Leipzig—where Bach served as organist and Kapellmeister for 27 fruituful years.

Palm Sunday. The day Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the King into His capital city. One would expect the elite of the city to receive this honored One. Nope! Just the hoi polloi waving palm branches as He rides in on a donkey.

And many spread their coats in the road,
and others spread leafy branches
which they had cut from the fields.
Those who went in front and
those who followed were shouting:
“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Blessed is the coming kingdom
of our father David.
Hosanna in the highest!”
Mark 11:8–10

And then that curious anticlimax in Mark’s account.

Jesus entered Jerusalem
and came into the temple;
and after looking around at everything,
He left ….
Mark 11:11

He enters the city, comes to its focal point, the Temple, and … nothing. Nothing happens. This was nothing short of an insult. An “a-triumph,” as some have called it, an antithesis of a triumphal entry. The King dishonored; the regent “dissed.”

The next thing you spy in Mark is a sequence of events, in this order: a fig tree is cursed by Jesus, He cleanses the Temple of its disreputable activities, and then Peter and the rest note that the fig tree withered from the root up. A fig tree sandwiching the Temple incident. (Sandwiches, BTW, were among Mark’s favorite “foods”—there are several such textual culinary delights in that Gospel.)

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness;
I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit
on the fig tree in its first season.
But they came to Baal-peor
and devoted themselves to shame,
and they became as detestable
as that which they loved.
Hosea 9:10

Rejected God and served their own ends and even demonic elements.

The King Himself was unnoticed. In obscurity He came. Neglected He left.

He came to His own,
and those who were His own
did not receive Him.
John 1:11

They did not believe.

But as many as received Him …
John 1:12

Some did. They recognized His status as He entered the city ceremonially. They acclaimed His presence with invocations to God. They believed!

Once again …

And many spread their coats in the road,
and others spread leafy branches
which they had cut from the fields.
Those who went in front and
those who followed were shouting:
“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Blessed is the coming kingdom
of our father David.
Hosanna in the highest!”
Mark 11:8–10

They believed, indeed!

But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right
to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name.
John 1:12

God deserves honor. God alone deserves honor.

Worthy are You, our Lord and our God,
to receive glory and honor and power;
for You created all things,
and because of Your will they existed,
and were created.
Revelation 4:11

All glory, laud and honor,
To Thee, Redeemer, King,
To Whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

To Thee, before Thy passion,
They sang their hymns of praise;
To Thee, now high exalted,
Our melody we raise.

Theodulph of Orleans, ca. 820 AD
(trans. John M. Neale, 1851)

May God be honored in our lives and in the church forever!

Now to the King eternal,
immortal, invisible,
the only God, be honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:17

And “Amen!”