Come Hear the Story

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.  
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim  
and the war horse from Jerusalem;  
and the battle bow shall be cut off,  
and He shall speak peace to the nations;  
His rule shall be from sea to sea,  
and from the River to the ends of the earth.  
As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you,  
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.  
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;  
today I declare that I will restore to you double.  
For I have bent Judah as My bow;  
I have made Ephraim its arrow.  
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,  
against your sons, O Greece,  
and wield you like a warrior’s sword.  

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front 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, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

“Say to the daughter of Zion,  
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,  
humble, and mounted on a donkey,  
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”  

Zechariah 9:9-13; Matthew 21:1-5

During Holy Week, the Church steps into Jesus’ story. We follow Him step-by-step. We follow Him as He leads His disciples into Jerusalem. We follow Him to His death, and we follow Him to His resurrection. We hold the story close because the story holds us together. The story reveals God’s orchestrated plan to bring us back to Him. Dorothy Sayers reminds us that:

It is the dogma that is the drama—not beautiful phrases, nor comforting sentiments, nor vague aspirations to loving-kindness and uplift, nor the promise of something nice after death—but the terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world lived in the world and passed through the grave and gate of death (Sayers, Creed or Chaos?).

Our faith, our dogma, is in the drama, the story, that we walk through during Holy Week. We have faith in the historic, narrative story. The story contains the good news of God’s plan. As I reflect on Holy Week, I try to draw in closer to the story. In the verses above, I hear the reverence of the crowd and sense the chaos. This part of the story reminds me of this essential question: Who is Jesus? The story answers this question. I want to draw closer to moments in the story that respond to this question. In the spirit of the Church's slow walk through Holy Week, I want to practice living in this story. I want to look at moments of reverence in the story—moments that reveal Jesus’ identity. Let’s enter the drama together.

Peter’s Moment of Reverence  

Being asked your opinion on something can feel gratifying or even exciting. As they travel from one town to another, Jesus and His disciples talk about what people say about Jesus. And Jesus interjects by asking, “But what about you? Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). I imagine the disciples lean in closer as they walk the dusty path. It might excite them to hear such a direct question from Jesus, who loves parables and riddles so much. And He, their beloved Master, wants to know what they think about these things? They look forward to what this conversation will teach them. And Peter jumps in, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Did Peter surprise himself with this? Did he wonder at what he said and recall a feeling of compulsion from something beyond himself to say it? Jesus blesses Peter and says that his words come from God. Jesus tells the group not to share this truth with others yet. With more questions and signs ahead of them, the disciples follow Jesus to the next town…

The Sinful Woman’s Reverence

Jesus sits at the table with a religious leader, and they receive an unexpected visitor. A sinful woman cries at Jesus’ feet, washes His feet with her hair and her tears, and anoints Him with perfume. I try to imagine the smell. Did the perfume smell like wildflowers? Or maybe like the ocean? Jesus’ dinner companion feels offended by this woman. But Jesus commends her for understanding who He is. He recognizes her acts as an outpouring of love. To the shock of His dinner companion, Jesus forgives the woman's sins...

The Reverence of Jerusalem  

The disciples bring Jesus a donkey. They will only understand this later, but they obey. The donkey signifies the King coming in peace. The crowds meet Him with shouts of reverence and pleading. They want Him to save them. Jesus and His disciples walk through the chaos. The crowd misunderstands Jesus' purpose in coming to them. They expect and hope for political and military action. But they meet Him with genuine cries of praise, devotion, and submission. The religious leaders fail to see the signs of a Savior. They see a threat. Jesus stirs up the city…

The Mocking Reverence of the Roman Soldiers  

The Roman soldiers lead Jesus to His death, but before they arrive at the cross, they mock Him. “Hail! King of the Jews!” (Matthew 27:29). They spit, hit, and laugh at Jesus. Who is He? No one special, it seems to them. Jesus takes their abuse, submits to their mocking, and stays silent. He prepares to take on sin and death, and walks His cross up the hill...

Who is Jesus?  

Is there a leader worthy of complete loyalty? Who can forgive me when I do something awful? Who can bring peace out of our chaotic world? And who can confront and defeat evil once-and-for-all? The story we hold dear responds—Jesus. It's hard to leave my contemplations with the Savior heading to the cross. But I know I might miss something if I look too far ahead. How can this story turn out all right? Who is Jesus? Easter is on the way. The dogma is in the drama.