Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!

 

 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

"Hosanna!

'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'

The King of Israel!"

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

"Fear not, daughter of Zion;

Behold, your King is coming,

Sitting on a donkey's colt."

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"

 

- John 12:9–19 

 

On Saturday we read that when Martha had finished speaking with Jesus, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you."  As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.  Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.  Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."   Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  And He said, "Where have you laid him?"  They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."  Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"  And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"   Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, "Take away the stone."  Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there has been a stench, for he has been dead four days."  Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.  And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."  Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"  And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.  Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."

 

Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.  The lectionary has skipped over John 11:45-57, in which the plot to put Jesus to death unfolded as a result of the raising of Lazarus, and also John 12:1-8, which gave us the story of Mary's anointing of Christ's feet, and the objections of Lazarus, plus the rebuke by Jesus to those who criticized Mary.  The latter took place at the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus in Bethany, thus is the setting for the beginning of today's reading, which notes that a great many of the Jews knew that He was there.  In John's Gospel, we remember that the term "the Jews" is used as a political term, to denote the members of the ruling Council of the religious leadership in the temple.  Bethany is close to Jerusalem, and there had been those also from Jerusalem who had come to mourn Lazarus' death with Martha and Mary, so the story of the resurrection of Lazarus was very well-known.  In these verses, Lazarus sums up the effect of that seventh and final sign in this Gospel:  that the chief priests now plot to kill both Jesus and Lazarus because of the profound effect of this miracle  and the faith in Jesus it engendered.

 

 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"  Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."   Today's reading describes Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, celebrated as Palm Sunday, which most Churches of the West (and the Armenian Apostolic Church. a branch of the Oriental Orthodox) celebrated yesterday.  My study bible comments that by Christ's time, Jewish nationalism had led to the expectation of a political Messiah, who would delivers the Jews from Roman control, and reestablish David's kingdom.  By riding on a young donkey, Jesus expresses that He has not come to establish an earthly kingdom.  A donkey's colt is a sign of humility and peace (see Zechariah 9:9, from John quotes here).  This entrance into the Holy City is a declaration of the establishment of the Kingdom of God, my study bible adds.  It's also a promise of the final entrance by Christ into the heavenly Jerusalem, with all believers and His acceptance of the New Jerusalem as His pure Bride (Revelation 21:2).   The people's cry, "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!" was associated with messianic expectation.  It was recited daily for six days during the Feast of Tabernacles (also known as the Feast of the Coming Kingdom), and seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved.  Hosanna means, "Save, we pray!"   See Psalm 118:25-26.

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"   John links the final sign given in the Gospel, the raising of Lazarus, directly to this event of Palm Sunday (Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, and the people's reception of Him as Messiah).   Note that the people from Jerusalem who had come to mourn with Mary and Martha are mentioned here by John as those who bore witness, and therefore the people also met Him.  But the Pharisees respond with their own concern:  "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!" 

John's Gospel has expressed to us the growing separation within the Jewish population regarding Jesus and people's opinions about Jesus.  This hasn't simply been an easy "black-and-white" division between those who think Jesus is Messiah and those who don't.  There have been a variety of opinions shown to be held among the people regarding Jesus, which developed as His ministry expanded, and as the people become also gradually more aware of the growing hostility of the religious leaders to Christ.  We can see this expressed through the events of the various religious festivals in Jerusalem attended by Jesus, and the controversies that surround His teaching and the miracles such as healings that He performs, the objections of the religious leaders, and the opinions of the people.  But all of these events, these divisions, and the growing hostility of the religious leaders coupled with the responses of both the people and the leaders to Jesus' signs or miracles culminates here, at the beginning of what we call Holy Week.  After having seen the stupendous sign of raising Lazarus from the dead -- and of Lazarus' death, which came four days before this event, there was no doubt possible -- clear divisions are drawn.  The people welcome Jesus to Jerusalem as those who were with Mary and Martha who came from Jerusalem witnessed the raising of Lazarus, and in turn they witnessed to the people in Jerusalem.  As at the Feast of Tabernacles, the people wave palm branches to welcome the Messiah, and what they no doubt expect will be a revival of the kingdom of David and the good fortunes of Israel.  But the contradictory opinion of the religious leaders is now set in stone, so to speak.  That is, of those who oppose Jesus, which we're told includes the most influential among the Pharisees, although there are those Pharisees who follow Christ, such as Nicodemus (see John 3:1-21, 7:45-52).  This powerful single unifying event, the raising of Lazarus, marks the final separation of the people who believe Jesus is the Christ from those who implacably oppose Him, and His threat to their places of power and authority.  What that does for those of us who read or hear the Gospel is to give us an important picture of reality that is not sugar-coated or sanitized.  It allows us to observe human nature in response to the unexpected, even to the things of God, and in continuation of the Old Testament Scriptures that came before.  As with the people of the Old Testament, the people demand kings of a certain kind, they want a life of a certain kind, they reject the word of God, they reject those who bear that word into the world.  Elsewhere we read Jesus' lament over Jerusalem:   "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Matthew 23:37), and the parables we're given that speak of the repeated rejection of those who were sent by God, especially the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, given in Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19.  But in John's Gospel, we're given the more complete sense of the unfolding of the responses to Jesus, including the many misunderstandings, the confusion at the use of the language with which Jesus illustrates the concepts He gives, drawn from every day experience, but meant to illumine the mysteries He brings into the world to give to human beings.  All through these many conflicts, confusions, and misunderstandings, the Pharisees have stuck steadfastly with accusations of violating the Sabbath rule, with various other ways by which they've rejected Jesus (such as mistakenly claiming that no prophet ever came from Galilee in John 7:52), through vilifying His signs as being performed through the power of demons, and condemning and casting out the man blind from birth who received his sight (see this reading), and now, in today's reading, seeking also to put Lazarus to death as witness to Jesus' final sign.  Through all of these parts of the stories given in the text, we have also the responses of Christ's disciples, who most often really do not fully understand what is happening, and yet they continue in faith.  After many of Jesus' disciples deserted Him over His teaching on eating His body and drinking His blood, Jesus asked the Twelve whether they would leave also.  Peter responded, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  In today's reading, we're told of these events of this day that His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.   So the Gospel gives us the full panoply of responses to Christ.  They're not at all uniform; some understand better than others.  Often people begin in some faith but must continue in order to grow in that faith and come to fuller understanding.  The religious leadership among the Pharisees become more and more implacably bound against Christ to the point of deciding to destroy Him and plotting crucifixion.  The people are baffled, wearied, afraid to talk in front of the leaders, and they dispute among themselves.  There is nowhere we can find an absolute clear and pure response, except through faith, and that remains a faith that wavers, builds, shares doubts, even denials.  Nevertheless, the Gospel affirms Christ's identity for us right from the beginning, that He is the Logos, the Son.  Let us take into account the wisdom that can put on display for us all of the responses and opinions, and all of the confusion -- even the confusion and paradox of this day when the people are certain that Jesus is the Messiah who will reestablish David's kingdom and restore the worldly fortunes of the kingdom of Israel.  Let us remember that the Gospel gives us the fullness of the responses of the people, the fullness of the response of the religious leaders, the fullness of the truth of Christ.  Nothing is left out or merely alluded.  Nothing is made merely easy or simple.   There is no "clean up" of unfortunate facts and misunderstandings.  We are invited into this story for all that it is worth, and more -- for what we ourselves will find in it for ourselves.   And with all of that, we will say as well, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!"

Look, the world has gone after Him!

 

 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

"Hosanna!

'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'

The King of Israel!"

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

"Fear not, daughter of Zion;

Behold, your King is coming,

Sitting on a donkey's colt."

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"

 

- John 12:9–19 

 

Yesterday we read that the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to  purify themselves.  Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, "What do you think -- that He will not come to the feast?"  Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.  Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.  There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.  Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.  But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"  This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.  For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."

 

 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.  Not only Jesus, but also Lazarus is plotted against.  The chief priests seek to put Lazarus to death also because by the fact of his being raised by Christ, he is a sign of the power of God in Christ, and so many believe simply because of his life.  Also let us note that many also seek to see Lazarus because of the miracle (the seventh sign in John's Gospel) concerning him.

 

 

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"  The people cry out from Psalm 118:25-26, which was associated with messianic expectation.  During the Feast of Tabernacles, this was recited daily for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved.  Hosanna means, "Save, we pray!"  It is associated with a deliverer.  The Feast of Tabernacles commemorated the time when Israel followed Moses toward the promised land, dwelling in tents (or tabernacles); this is also understood to be the feast of the coming Kingdom.  

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; / Behold, your King is coming, / Sitting on a donkey's colt."  This is a quote from the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9.  Christ deliberately rides a young donkey, rather than riding in a warrior's chariot as symbolic of a king's victory.  This young donkey is a humble domestic animal used commonly for transportation.  This King is One who has chosen to be one of us, whose weapon is the compassion of God and the truth of the Gospel.

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"  The people bore witness, the text tells us, emphasizing the significance of the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead.  We hear also the exasperated response of the Pharisees, who clearly see Jesus as a rival for their positions of leadership.  For them, there is no compromise, only competition.  St. John Chrysostom comments that wealth is just as liable as power to destroy those who are not careful. The first leads into covetousness; the second, into pride.  The example, he says, is here, in how the multitude understands, while their rulers are corrupt.

It's quite interesting that the Gospel tells us that Christ's disciples did not understand these things at first.  They only understood after Jesus was glorified; that is, we can understand this as telling us that the disciples only understood after the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost.  The Gospels are clear where the disciples fail, where they do not understand, and that faith is a journey.  Some, like Judas, fail entirely.  That would include so many of the religious leadership, and especially those at the top.  But John also tells us about Pharisees who were faithful, and certainly it is presented that this crowd believed.  How many retained their faith we do not know.  But all of Jesus' earliest followers were Jews:  His disciples, the multitudes that followed, His friends such as Lazarus and his sisters, the women who supported His ministry, and these crowds who welcome Him to Jerusalem as Savior.   Tomorrow the Gospel will give us a reading that involves Greek-speaking proselytes who come to Jerusalem for the Passover, and their own desire to see Jesus.  So, once again, as we have observed throughout the past several readings, our Gospel does not give us a clean easy picture of what was what.  This picture is as messy as the real world always is, and we don't flinch from it, like the Gospels teach us not to flinch from it.  Life is complicated; there are always degrees of faith, just as there are those who believe and those who do not.  Quite clearly, when it comes to faith, we are to understand that we are on a journey somewhere.  No one comes to faith as a one-time, one-shot experience.  Instead, we are to grow in our faith.  Either that, or we come to some point where we need to make new choices and face hurdles that make our faith difficult, and we struggle.  This is all a part of the road of faith, and it is all a part of our world.  Repentance is the process of turning around, or making the choice to return on the path toward Christ.  When we struggle with dilemmas and difficult decisions, we can be said to be at a crisis point.  The Crucifixion of Jesus is one such crisis point.  All may look at the Cross, and Christ crucified upon that Cross, and make a strong and tough decision.  What will we go through in our own lives, and yet still come more deeply to faith, and to understand our faith in greater depth?  What are the hurdles we have to pass?  Are there difficult experiences on this road?  Do we have to sacrifice for our faith?  Will we lose friends, or income, or status of some sort?  Certainly for the people in this crowd, as for Jesus' direct disciples and followers, all of these decisions will come to the fore, and be crucial in their lives following this week Jesus begins here, which we now call Holy Week.  Let us remember that for the faithful, the Cross will always be central to everything, and it will be hidden "in plain sight" sometimes right in the middle of our dilemmas.  When we're caught between two places, sometimes in the middle there is Christ, teaching us to follow His way, and not to pay attention to what the world would offer us.  Just like these people who welcome Christ, who may feel at one point that it is clear their Messiah has arrived, but will soon hear from the leaders that He is, instead, a deceiver, we might have to make choices in difficult circumstances.  These crowds will neither be able to boldly proclaim Christ openly if they retain faith, but then if they have faith they also will not in good conscience be able to follow their leaders who have failed.  Instead, the early Church will find its own way through difficult circumstances and struggles, both within the context of the Jewish community and the wider Greco-Roman world of the Gentiles.   In short, the Gospels do not present us with a fantasy world or a fairy tale.  They teach us about what the real world is all about, and they teach us about the faith we have to find in a rather messy world, where things are not always completely clear.  Even the disciples, we're told, do not understand the things that are happening on this day, until after the Holy Spirit has come.  We are to make our way through the world doing the best we can, and clinging firmly to our faith.  Maybe most importantly, we are to do the things that shore up that faith and engage in participation of our faith, especially through prayer, so that we are ready to hear and learn how to more deeply participate in Christ's truth and what it is God wants us to see and to bear into the world.  The fruit of the Spirit, St. Paul says, is "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).  These things are the prescription for what faith looks like in a struggling, complicated world where things aren't always clear.  It is these fruit that we fall back on, and that we seek to cultivate and to know.  These are the ways in which we may endure as Christ has taught us, even when things are unclear.  Let us remember who we are through it all.  Our Lord shows us His humility as Leader and Deliverer, Messiah and Savior, as He sits on a donkey's colt in this Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  By contrast, the religious leaders are furious in their helpless inability to stop Jesus -- and they will stop at nothing short of murder.  In these two contrasting parties is the only clear choice we're given in the Gospel reading for whose example we are to follow.  For it's not the struggles of the world in which we must engage, but the struggle for our faith.  For the struggle for our faith really is the struggle for our world.

Tell the daughter of Zion, "Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey"

 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

"Tell the daughter of Zion,
'Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.'"

So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

"Hosanna to the Son of David!
'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'
Hosanna in the highest!"

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"  So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

- Matthew 21:1-11

Yesterday, we read that as Jesus and the disciples went out of Jericho, on their way to Jerusalem, a great multitude followed Him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"  Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"  So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"   They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."  So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes.  And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.

 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples . . .   My study bible has several notes I will refer to in today's passage.  It notes of the entirety of today's reading that "Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem is celebrated by the Church on Palm Sunday.  By Christ's time, Jewish nationalism had led to the expectation of a political Messiah to deliver them from Roman control and to reestablish David's kingdom.  In humility, Jesus shows that He has not come to establish an earthly kingdom.  He does not ride on a horse or in a chariot, but on a donkey -- a sign of humility and peace (Zechariah 9:9).  This entrance into the Holy City declares the establishment of the Kingdom of God.  It is also a promise of Christ's final entrance into the heavenly Jerusalem with all believers and of His accepting the New Jerusalem as His pure Bride (Revelation 21:2)."

. . . saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"  So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  My study bible notes that Matthew here reports a colt as well as a donkey.  It says that Church Fathers see the two animals as representing the faithful Jews and the Gentiles who are brought together into this Kingdom.  At the Vespers of Palm Sunday, the Eastern Church sings, "Your riding on a foal prefigured how the untamed and uninstructed Gentiles would pass from belief to faith."  Indeed, Matthew's gospel is noted for its "two's" -- e.g. two demoniacs, two blind men.

 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  My study bible says of the people who spread their clothes before Jesus that they did so as paying reverence to a King.  "It is spiritually interpreted as our need to lay down our flesh, and indeed our very lives, for Christ."

Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Hosanna in the highest!"  And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"  So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."    The cry of the people is from Psalm 118:25-26.  My study bible points out that it was associated with messianic expectation.  During the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot, feast of the coming Kingdom), it was recited daily for six days -- and seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved.  Hosanna means, "Save, we pray!"  Let us note also that the crowds call Him the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.

Let us take on the idea of expectations here.  What do the people expect of this "prophet from Nazareth" coming into Jerusalem?  What do those expect who are singing this hymn from the feast of the coming Kingdom? All along in Matthew's gospel, Jesus has been careful not to openly state His identity as Christ.  He is not "just" a prophet.  It is only in chapter 16 of Matthew that Peter first confesses, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Peter is the man whose house in Capernaum had become their makeshift Galilean headquarters; he has lived with Jesus as disciple from the beginning of Jesus' ministry.  He is "first among equals" as apostle.  And yet, it is not until deep into Matthew's gospel, chapter 16, that this revelation is given.  Jesus is careful to note that, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."  It was given to Peter by the Father, and it is on this rock that Jesus builds His Church.  Faith must defy our "worldly" expectations.  Jesus is a type of Messiah that will reach far beyond all and any expectation of what Messiah is.  He will not be a "national liberator" as a kind of material warrior or king (He has already refused the desire of those fed in the wilderness to make Him king).  Faith reveals to us things that are otherwise totally unacceptable, unforeseeable, even unconscionable in some sense (see Matthew 16:20-23).  Jesus does not come into Jerusalem like a king or great ruler, riding on a horse or in a chariot, with an army to follow Him and do His bidding.  His mount is a donkey and her colt!  His army are the people who call Him "the prophet from Nazareth" -- a poor town with a poor reputation in terms of "spiritual" expectations.  They are the ones who lay their clothes down in expectation of what might come of this prophet.  Nobody knows what the coming of the Kingdom means or will mean.  Hardly anyone expects what is coming in the immediate future, even though by now Jesus has warned His closest disciples several times about what is to happen in Jerusalem.  The power of faith in Christ also that which may defy all our own expectations, and we often forget that.  Faith can lead us to places where we are deeply disappointed, and at the same time resurrected to a place that is hardly imaginable before it is revealed to us.  But the key to faith is trust, through all things -- through disappointment of our own expectations, and on toward the Resurrection that awaits, that gives us new life and a new way to see things, as well as a new concept of who we are as people of faith.  Can we go with Him on this journey?  Can we await the fulfillment of Who He is?  Who He will be for us?  Where He calls us to follow?  It isn't always a simple or easy or comfortable journey; and yet it is one that will surpass every expectation we have.