Sermon for March 29, 2026: Who is This?

Matthew 21:1-11 Jesus’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
(New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
 
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.  If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 

This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd[b] spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 

The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

---

​     “Hosanna” means “save us!” While that word has come to be celebratory in the context of worship, it can be a cry for help. In his notes on Matthew, J. Andrew Overman says that this word “Hosanna” has likely come from Psalm 118:25, “Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!” It is interesting to me that the “save us” part is the only part of the line that stayed in the original language. Hosanna is a Hebrew word that carried over into Greek and Aramaic. It was carried into Latin translations of the Bible, and into modern languages like English, too. While the original language was translated for the whole rest of the line, hosanna stayed in Hebrew through the shift from a cry for help from God to an exclamation of celebration.

     A colleague of mine recently shared that a favorite question he has for people who claim to be biblical literalists is to ask them how many donkeys there are in the Palm Sunday story. You’ve probably heard me point this out before if you’ve been worshiping here for a while. Jesus’ processes into Jerusalem in every Gospel. He does not have the same number of donkeys in each story. Matthew has two donkeys. The other Gospels only have one. Matthew 21:7 says that Jesus “sat on them,” which seems... challenging. It’s not always easy to sit on one donkey, much less two.

     I am usually persuaded by one interpretation of this difference. In a commentary on this text, Dr. Wil Gafney argues that the difference in numbers of donkeys likely comes from a mistake that the author of Matthew made in reading the text that inspired this story, Zachariah 9:9: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

     Zachariah is being poetic when describing the donkey in two ways. The author of Matthew missed the poetry, reading it as literally two separate donkeys that then Jesus would have to ride at the same time. I saw another pastor I know post a funny illustration of Jesus with a foot on each donkey, as you might see in a circus act or Wild West show. The image is both majestic and deeply silly at the same time. If we can learn only one thing from the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, “if you want to understand the Bible, it’s often best not to read it literally” and “even the authors of the Bible make mistakes in interpretation... you will, too” are two pretty good ones.

     Catherine Sider Hamilton offers up an additional explanation for the second donkey that I think is interesting. She isn’t as compelled by the explanation that the author of Matthew made a mistake. She argues that that because of the particular Greek words for donkey Matthew is using, one that means specifically “donkey” and the other which is more like “beast of burden,” that the author is actually referencing an additional scripture other than Zechariah. Jacob gives a blessing to Judah in Genesis 49:10–11, “The scepter [Septuagint: ruler] shall not depart from Judah,” Jacob says (49:10). Tying his foal (pōlos) to the vine and the colt (pōlos) of his donkey (onos) to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine …” (49:11). Because this scripture would eventually become an important scripture to describe the coming Messiah, and it has two donkeys, Hamilton argues that the author of Matthew having Jesus enter into the city in way that evokes both the Zachariah story and the Genesis story. By evoking both stories, the author is saying even more clearly that Jesus is the Messiah the people have been waiting for.

     Each of the Gospels has the people making a path for Jesus. John is the only one that specifically mentions Palms. Matthew and Luke follow Mark, saying that the people celebrating the entry used cloaks and branches to make a path forward. Regardless of what they used, the people, recognizing Jesus’ power and wanting to make a clear path for him, offered up what they had at hand, even if it was only the clothes on their backs. I appreciated the part of today’s liturgy where Sharon Fennema compared the laying down of cloaks and branches to make a path into the city to laying down the burdens we carry in hearts in order to make a path for the Spirit. “Lay it down,” she said, “here, now, whatever covers your vulnerability, cloaks your openness.” Lay it down, and make a way for the Spirit to enter in. Lay in down, and help make a way forward, so we can go with Christ towards love and justice.

     It has long been said in some Christian circles, “No King but Jesus.” Today’s reading would be an interesting text to support that. Because, he’s clearly being compared to a king. The Zachariah text is about the “king who is coming to Jerusalem.” And, so is the Genesis story if Hamilton is correct that it is also being referenced here. Even the “Hosanna” that three of the four Gospels (not Luke) have the people shouting to Jesus might also be shouted to a Roman politician by desperate people who needed help. Dr. Gafney, in her commentary, invites us to remember that the desire for a monarch reflect more about the people with that desire than it describes God’s preferences for styles of governance. Gafney argues that in a world where monarchs had power, the words that describe that power might be used in other context to try to explain something about God.

     In choosing to enter into Jerusalem in this way, Jesus intentionally connects his ministry to that of biblical images of kingly power, while at the same time, showing that he would wield that power in ways that they do not expect. Dr. Gafney points out that even the people who knew Jesus best would be challenged to fully understand how he would wield the power grant to him. To understand that better, we might have to return to the donkey.

     As I’ve shared before, Roman officials came into the city on powerful war horses, accompanied by phalanxes of soldiers. That is a far cry from the “beast of burden” that carried Jesus.  According to Teresa Stricklen, there is utility and humility in showing up with a donkey rather than a fine horse. Jesus, who spent his ministry among the sick, the poor, and the outcast, would not adorn his power in the trappings of Rome. Instead, he would reach back into his own tradition, to a story of a king who will arrive with humility. Sharon Fennema also points out that he didn’t own the donkey or buy it. He borrowed it. She argues that this action is Jesus alluding to the reign of God being a place where people hold goods in common and give them to those that “have need of them” not only those rich enough to purchase them. Fennema invites us to consider the question: “What resources might Jesus be asking you to share in common today?” And, I would add to this question: who is this king who teaches sharing and humility? How can we follow him?

Recently retired UCC pastor Maren Tirabassi offered up this poem for Palm Sunday.

A detail of the story
First, untie the donkey- the one that’s standing at the gate waiting to be untied-
from some sorrow or some guilt, from somebody else’s judgment -
too young for the ride, or too old, too much tattoo ink on the skin,
parkinsons in the hands, pregnant in the belly.
First, untie the donkey, the one that’s standing at the gate waiting to be untied –
from some abusive relationship or some really intricate
self-made knots, because what binds always pretends to be a blessing.
This is just the donkey God wants for the ride -
this burro with no documents, or others not-yet-ridden
because they are - gender-queer, recovery-thin, on-the-spectrum.
So, first untie the donkey - this one- the one who needs a parade,
the one willing to carry both joy and the premonition of cross,
the one embracing a day of song and danger,
fetlock deep in palms, and a life that will echo … Hosanna.

     “Who is this” asked the crowds. “Who is this,” we ask in this moment. Let us untie the donkey and maybe we’ll find out.
​
Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Sharon Fennema: https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/palm-sunday-march-29/
J. Andrew Overman's notes on Matthew in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Will Gafney's A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church Year A (New York: Church Publishing, 2021)
Catherine Sider Hamilton: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/sunday-of-the-passion-palm-sunday/commentary-on-matthew-2711-54-7
Teresa Lockhart Stricklen, "Sixth Sunday in Lent (Liturgy of the Palms), Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year A featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013)
Maren Tirabassi: https://giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com/2026/03/28/a-detail-of-the-story/