The Journey from Palm Sunday to Good Friday
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Beth Henricks
March 29, 2026
Scripture – John 2:23-25 “When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.”
Luke 19:35-40 “Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
Palm Sunday, in the church calendar is a day of celebration, praise, thanksgiving, and hosannas as we always read about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (his first time into this important city during his ministry). He rides into the city on a donkey, and the people are rejoicing and recognizing Jesus as a man from God who has performed many miracles including recently raising Lazarus from the dead.
3 of the 4 gospels report that Jesus told the disciples to go ahead and bring him a donkey as his means of transportation as he enters the city. Much has been written about the symbolism of this ride on a donkey and this symbolism would be familiar to many of the Jewish people in the crowd as Zechariah wrote in the Old Testament chapter 9 verses 9-10 “ Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud , O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
We get a sense from the crowd that they are beginning to recognize that this might be the promised Messiah from God. They remember when Solomon became their King and he was presented to them on the donkey of his father, David. They are shouting hosanna (often translated as please save us), blessed be the king who comes in the Lord’s name, peace, and glory in the highest heaven. This seems like the proper welcome and ceremony for a man such as Jesus. Maybe this is Israel’s king that will save them from their oppressors, and they are filled with hope and promise.
In the Gospel of John, we read that, Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. He looked up to God saying “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here so that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:41-43). I am sure this helped to build the crowd that gathered outside Jerusalem. The people came to see Jesus and Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead.
With Jesus joyful entrance into Jerusalem, we must ask the question of why the crowd would turn against him in the near future. Were they just worshipping this man who performed miracles and were whipped into an idolatrous frenzy to see Jesus and Lazarus? Were they really embracing the messages of Jesus that requires sacrifice and rejection of power or were they just taken with his star quality and wanted to see him in the flesh? Jesus knew how weak we can be and how easily manipulated a crowd can become for both good and bad. We have seen many examples of this in our history where people might not consider doing something on their own but will take part in unthinkable acts when brought together like a mob.
The Pharisees had been concerned about Jesus for some time and seeing this crowd had to raise their desire to do something about him. John 12:19 reports the Pharisees said to each other, “You see, you can do nothing. Look; the world has gone after him.” The temperature is rising, and more Pharisees are saying that they must do something about this situation. They see that they must turn this crowd around.
While there were Pharisees out to eliminate the threat of Jesus, the Gospel of John tells us many religious authorities did believe in him but these Pharisees did not confess it for fear they would be put out of the synagogue. They valued their power and status among this religious ruling class more than the glory that comes from God. That is also part of the mob mentality. We are too afraid to stand up against the majority, the folks in charge, the ones that tell us what to do because we don’t want to be set apart from our tribe.
Oh goodness, is this not our human tendency. It’s a difficult path to follow the path of Jesus. And that is why I had us read John 2:23-25. Jesus would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people, he knew what was in everyone. Jesus knows us and while he may have appreciated the praise and honor showered upon him on Palm Sunday, Jesus knows our hearts, he wasn’t going to believe in the adulation being given him on his ride into Jerusalem because he knows how difficult it will be for us to take up a cross and sacrifice ourselves. We love the highs of miracles and the celebrity status of a charismatic leader but are we ready to sacrifice and take up our cross like Jesus will be doing?
Who is this Jesus? Is he going to be the King of the Jewish state and break the bonds of the Roman Empire? Or is Jesus showing a different way of sacrifice, love and acceptance of all versus power and violence? Jesus denounces the Scribes and Pharisees and he laments over what Jerusalem has become and foretells about the destruction of the Temple. This potential Messiah is talking about the destruction of the Temple? The Messiah is supposed to be the one to uphold the Temple and to be Israel’s leader.
So what is the crowd to do about this Jesus? Walter Wangerin Jr states in his book about Jesus Reliving the Passion, “Always the threat of this man is manifested in those whom his presence excites. Look how volatile the people are now! Worse than that, he is questioning religious laws developed over the centuries, the very forms by which we order ourselves and know ourselves and name ourselves. If order is lost, so am I….What then? Why, then I must destroy before I am destroyed. Self-preservation is a law of nature. I will arrest this Jesus by stealth and kill him. Because if I do nothing, I will be nothing.”
It is clear that the crowd started having second thoughts about this commitment to Jesus’s way.
The crowd heard Jesus say “Now is the judgement of this world, now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” The crowd said “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?
The group thinking of the mob is changing. They want a Messiah that would become their King and bring justice and defeat to the Romans. They wanted judgement now and want their rulers (the Romans) to be driven out. But Jesus is talking about a later time when he would be lifted from the earth – how does that fit into their desire for a King in the here and now?
Jesus was talking about a power that is not what the world idolizes as power. As John Caputo, theologian and philosopher writes in his book Cross and Cosmos, “Theology must get over its love of power in favor of the powerless power of love, weakening the strong metaphysics of omnipotence into the soft power of the coming Kingdom’s call.” “God’s power is constituted by powerlessness and nonsovereignty, God’s eminence by being what is least and lowest among us.” God is revealed in the defeat. God chose the weak to shame the strong, the foolish to shame the wise, the nothings and nobodies to confound the powers that be”.
Wow, if I am part of the crowd, the mob, this is not the vision I have of a Messiah. I want a real leader that will change my life now, will deliver on promises made, will be strong, decisive and take action on my enemies. How do I support someone that suggests that the way of God is to abandon the desire for power and to choose the weak, the nothings and nobodies and pursue a way that tells me to love my neighbors, my enemies, that values justice over my self interest and understands power in a very different way. This is the hard way, the road less traveled, the way of the cross where we are willing to give up much for others.
Jesus knows us and understands our nature of light and shadow. Jesus has never been about the short term but always has the long term in mind. He knew what was coming even during the adulation he was receiving on Palm Sunday. And he was in for the long term.
My prayer for us today is that we not become completely discouraged by the short term all around us but continue to listen to God’s voice and God’s call for each of us for the long term. The way of Jesus is hard but it leads to a life of meaning and fulfillment.
As we enter our time of waiting worship, which is our communion, I encourage you to quiet your heart and mind and listen to God’s voice. I am not sharing any queries today as you quietly enter this time of waiting worship and ask you to reflect on the still small voice within you.