The Triumphal Entry: Praise as Protest

Why Jerusalem? Why does Jesus “set his face” on Jerusalem and insist that this is the destination where his earthly ministry must travel and culminate? Scholars note that the city of Jerusalem carries so much significance that it operates like a character in the Gospel of Luke. There’s loads of meaning in this location, and the people who dwell there. So, why Jerusalem?

First, let me digress for just a moment and share my brain’s first association with “Jerusalem,” because it offers an interesting tie-in to this Palm Sunday narrative. 

From 1997-2001, I was an undergraduate student at the University of Denver, and right on the edge of campus was one of the most infamous restaurants beloved by the college community – Jerusalem Restaurant. For 47 years now, this restaurant, opened by Said and Urayb Wahdan, immigrants from the Holy City of Jerusalem, has been serving up some of the best Middle Eastern cuisine in the city of Denver. “Jeru’s,” as the students often called it, was popular not only for it’s great food and great atmosphere, but because of their hours. Back then, and still today, Jerusalem’s is open from 8 AM until 3 AM, which was particularly alluring for college students, artists, musicians and others who are known to keep odd hours. At 1:30 in the morning, Jeru’s was a vibrant and diverse scene, filled with students pulling all-nighters cramming for a test, musicians needing a bite after their gigs, night shift workers on a meal break, and college students who were extra loud because of whatever substances they may have imbibed earlier in the night.  

Jeru’s in the early morning hours felt like a cross-section of the city, with every race, religion, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class enjoying great food together while the rest of the city was fast asleep. As you can imagine, I hear and read the name “Jerusalem” fairly often in my line of work as a pastor, and I confess that at least 50% of the time, my brain still darts to this association – the late night/early morning scenes at a Middle Eastern Restaurant on Evans Avenue in Denver, Colorado.

My associations with Jerusalem’s the restaurant do have something in common with Jerusalem the city we revisit on Palm Sunday. Jerusalem was a hub of activity, and a place with intersections of race, religion and class. Jerusalem was a hub of power, both for the Jewish people and for the Roman Empire. As his ministry progressed and moved closer to its culmination, Jesus moved closer to this hub of power. Many of the people that Jesus has been correcting and speaking out against through his teachings were in that city. So although we remember the shouts of joy and laying down of cloaks that accompany the Triumphal Entry, there is a background hum of nervous energy in what is happening as Jesus moves into this hub of power that he has been speaking out against.

Even the Pharisees, the religious leaders who weren’t always the biggest fans of Jesus, warn him not to go into Jerusalem. In chapter 13 of Luke, they told him, “Leave this place because Herod wants to kill you!” And yet, Jesus presses onward. The crowd grows larger and the people begin to chant, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to the highest heaven.” The cheering crowd has morphed into something that would typically only happen when Roman rulers and warriors are being lauded for their prowess and victory in battle. The Pharisees are getting more nervous and they tell Jesus, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop!” By now they have surely drawn the eye of those in power. But Jesus says, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would cry out!” Jesus is letting them know, you can’t stop this! This is where I am going – to the place of power and money and all kinds of people and there is no stopping what is already happening!

What would this look like today? Entering the city? A place of power? Where would Jesus set his face and choose to enter today to bring the message of God’s rule and Law to the ones in power? In the United States, maybe Jesus marches into Washington DC? In Tennessee, perhaps he enters into Nashville? In Memphis, perhaps Jesus rides his donkey right down Poplar toward the oldest churches in the city, the criminal justice center and city hall? Where do you see the nexus of religion and political power?  

If Jesus marched into the heart of power in the city, after preaching and teaching all across the land in opposition to the powers and principalities that oppress and misappropriate the Law of God, and people gather along the sides of the road to cheer, what would that look like today? Well, one way to think about it would be a protest. Picture it, people who have heard of this man Jesus, preaching about a different way of relating to one another, offering a different vision for leadership than what the people have experienced, and they line the roads and chant and cheer. That’s a protest. In cheering for Jesus, they are cheering for something different in the city of Jerusalem. They are cheering for this man who has talked about lifting up the marginalized. They are cheering for this man who has healed the sick at no charge, touching the untouchable. They are cheering for this man who has fed crowds of hungry people for free. They are cheering for this man who leads not by sitting high, but by looking low and walking with those who others prefer not to see at all.

I realize that the word protest has been made to be a dog whistle term in recent years. Picturing the Triumphal Entry as a protest may send shivers down the spine of those who have come to equate protests with radicalism, on either side of the political spectrum. I confess, I’ve been to a few protests in my day. Protests for a variety of issues related to justice, fairness and compassion toward others. Based on my attendance record, my current State Senator describes me as a “radical, leftist terrorist,” a title which I think goes great with my sundress and minivan with the carpool tags on the dashboard!

What all of these protest gatherings that I attended over the years had in common is that they were always a collective of people hoping for something different from society. They were voices joining together and chanting their hopes, and their belief that our society can be more fair, kind and just. I don’t really see how that experience is so different from the folks lining the street in Jerusalem those many years ago and chanting to welcome Jesus to the city – a man who represented a challenge and a change from the political and religious powers that loomed large in that city. Why else would they cheer? The arrival of “he who comes in the name of the Lord” brought the promise of something new.

The Pharisees knew that arriving with this scene would be dangerous. Jesus knew it would be dangerous. The Triumphal Entry would draw the “eye of Sauron” (as they say in Lord of the Rings-speak). It would draw the gaze of those in control and in positions of power, who would no doubt feel threatened at the people cheering this outsider with his subversive teachings about uplifting the poor and marginalized. This cheering was a symbol of hope in this community – hope for change expressed by a sizable number of people. Protest cheers represent dangerous hope to those who sit in positions of power.

As protests have become a politically divisive concept one of the things we have seen from those in positions of power in recent years is an effort clamp down on the very existence of crowds cheering for change. Forty-one new anti-protest bills across 22 states have been introduced since the start of the year – compared with a full-year total of 52 in 2024 and 26 in 2023, according to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) tracker. In addition to these bills at the state level, we’ve seen the introduction of five federal bills targeting college students, anti-war protesters and climate activists with harsh prison sentences and hefty fines. Experts warn these bills threaten to erode first amendment rights for freedom of speech, assembly and petition. 

Now, I want to be clear, having regulations and protections for and from protesters that may become violent or destructive is important. But the attempt to shut down public displays of dissent against power and displays of hope for something different is an acknowledgement that there is power in the crowd that gathers to voice protest and a vision for a better tomorrow. Jesus and the Pharisees understood that the cheering crowds would draw the wrath of those in power – Herod, Pilot, and the Sanhedrin (the Jewish authority). And they were right – in the coming days, Jesus would receive the judgment and condemnation of all three of these powers.

So why Jerusalem? Why is Jerusalem the place where Jesus turns his face and enters to complete his earthly ministry? Because just like that restaurant by my college campus at 1:30 AM, it’s where ALL the different kinds of people were: Jews gathered in large numbers for the Passover celebration, the Roman powers in the region and the gentile citizens. Jerusalem sat at the intersections of power and disenfranchisement, and the city laid bare all of the disparities and political and religious shortfalls of the day.

So my charge to you, dear friends, as we enter Holy Week 2025, is to think about where the intersections of power and disenfranchisement are on full display today. Where are the places where we see the political and religious shortfalls on display? Where are the places with all different kinds of people? Where is our nearest Jerusalem? Once you have this place in your mind, ask yourself, are you willing to cheer and chant for the entrance of God into that place? Are you willing to stand along the street and cheer for the hope of something new, different, and more reflective of the Kingdom of God than what you currently see? Some may call you names or want to impose harsh rules against you for the bold act of cheering for the Way of God over the status quo. Are you willing to cheer and chant anyway? 

Let’s hear you…

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”