Which Procession Are We In?

“A very large crowd 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!” (Matthew 21:8-9)

Two Saturdays ago, I drove into Sydney city to join the protest against the war on Iran at the town hall. I parked on the far side of the city, which meant I had to walk through Hyde Park to reach the rally, and as I crossed it I saw Iranian flags waving!

I thought, “Perhaps the protest has moved here?” Great! I don’t have to walk so far,” but at the same time I was thinking, “Damn, look how small the turnout is!” Then I noticed that a lot of the banners bore the unmistakable image of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah! This wasn’t the anti‑war rally at all. This was a pro‑war rally!

I put my head down and kept walking until I reached the gathering I was looking for a few blocks away, and, thankfully, it was much better attended.

That moment of confusion, though — two groups, two messages, two visions of the future — stayed with me, and it came back to me as I prepared for Palm Sunday because this year I learnt something I had never known before – that Palm Sunday may well have involved not one but two triumphal entries!

According to scholars like Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, every Passover the Roman governor – in Jesus’ time, Pontius Pilate – would ride into Jerusalem from the west with a display of overwhelming military force. Jesus, approaching from the Mount of Olives, entered from the east. Seen this way, Palm Sunday becomes the moment when two great processions — two armies — converge on the holy city.

Pilate’s procession would have been unmistakable: war horses, cavalry, infantry, banners, golden eagles, drums and trumpets, armour glittering in the sun. Such processions were rituals of occupation – sermons in steel – and the message was clear: “Caesar is lord. Rome is your saviour. Rome brings peace (on Rome’s terms).” This was the ‘Pax Romana’ – peace through domination.

Meanwhile, entering from the east, Jesus rides a donkey rather than a war horse. His followers wave palm branches rather than swords. Children and peasants surround him. It looks peaceful — almost quaint — but we need to be careful here. Jesus’ procession may not have been as peaceful as it looked. After all, he was deliberately choreographing his entry to align with the prophecy of Zechariah:

“Behold, thy King cometh unto thee:
He is just and having salvation.
lowly, and riding upon an ass,
and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.” (Zechariah 9:9)

This is the arrival of a humble king, but still a king, and in Zechariah’s vision, still a warrior. If you read the rest of Zechariah 9, you’ll find a king who makes war on the enemies of God’s people — including (chillingly) the peoples of Damascus and Gaza — and establishes peace on the far side of victory. It is peace, yes, but peace formed through violence. In that sense, it is not so different from the Pax Romana.

And the crowds knew exactly what they were invoking when they cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:9). They were proclaiming Jesus as the heir to their great warrior‑king. So, if Jesus was presenting himself as Zechariah’s conquering Messiah, was He trying to start an uprising?

If we didn’t know the story, we might expect Jesus to march on to Pilate’s palace, rallying every able-bodied man in Jerusalem as He went, so as to drive out the occupier. But that is not what happened. Jesus went to the Temple, and what happened there could be described as a “violent takeover”, but after that, there was no march on the palace, no call to arms and no battle. Instead, there was prayer, teaching, and intimacy with His disciples, and then betrayal, arrest, torture, and death. The two armies did meet, but only one of them fought.

Two armies: one is polished, disciplined, and capable of extreme violence. The other made up of peasants and children — people who barely understood what they were a part of, yet recognised in Jesus someone whom God had sent. When the clash came, Jesus’ followers scattered, and Jesus stood alone. Instead of striking back with divine force, He submitted, suffered, and died, and then — impossibly — won!

Palm Sunday is the collision of two different visions of peace:

The first is the Pax Romana, which looks for a peace that comes on the far side of war – a peace through domination and the subjugation of your enemies. In contrast, we have the Pax Christi (the peace of Christ), which is peace through suffering love.

Jesus takes Zechariah’s script and rewrites it. He rides the donkey and claims the kingship, but He refuses the war. He does not impose peace as He doesn’t conquer His enemies in any obvious way but instead allows Himself to be destroyed by them!

Two armies enter Jerusalem, but only one survives the week. Rome’s army remains intact — but its peace is temporary. Jesus’ army scatters – but His peace is something we still live with!

It’s all very mysterious, but this is because the real battle being played out in the New Testament is not ultimately between Israel and Rome, nor between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, but between Jesus and the powers behind the empire – between humanity and the forces of darkness – and on the cross, Jesus wins a cosmic victory against the principalities and powers that no legion can ever achieve!

So Palm Sunday asks us a question — not just an ancient question, but a painfully contemporary one:

Whose peace do we trust?
Which king will we follow?
Which procession are we in?

For these armies are still marching, their banners still waving, and our world still believes in peace through domination. But our King is still on His donkey, and His way — the way of suffering love — is still the only way that truly leads to life.

Our Sunday Eucharist

We had a unique Sunday Eucharist last weekend. Having filmmaker Topher Field with us on the panel certainly added spark to our conversation, and it also meant we went a bit longer than usual. Topher was not short of wisdom to impart on the passages we studied, as is reflected in our Bible banter on Romans 8 that you’ll find at the end. It goes for nearly half an hour! Even so, I think you’ll enjoy it. 😊

As per usual, our two most popular shorts of the week are published below. Not surprisingly, Topher’s story about his meeting with Donald Trump did get quite a few hits. See all our shorts on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page and all our content—long and short—on YouTube.

This coming Sunday Joy and I are at Binacrombi, and there’s been a bit of a shake-up with the original lineup for the panel. The graphic below shows Dirane and Brynn, but Brynn is now unavailable, so we’re looking at Diane, Joy and myself.

With your help we will make it work. Join us at noon on Sunday and bring a friend. You’ll find us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia, Streamyard and TheSundayEucharist.com. Invite your friends by directing them to the Facebook event, the YouTube link, or the Streamyard registration page.

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What’s On?

Sunday, March 29th – Our Eucharist from noon @thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard.
Monday, March 30th – Boxing at Mundine’s with the SBS file crew from 7pm
Tuesday, March 31st – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Thursday, April 2nd – Online Bible study group meeting from noon @ www.thesundayeucharist.com/bible
Thursday, April 2nd – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Saturday, April 4th – Boxing at the Legends Gym in Kensington from 3 pm

You’ll notice above that the SBS film crew, doing a documentary on bare-knuckle boxing, are now scheduled to join us at the Mundine Gym on Monday, March 30th.

No, we won’t be doing any bare-knuckle boxing, but we will be talking to them about the benefits of gloved boxing, and we’ll put on a bit of a show. Join us if you can.

As to the global fight, I’m pasting below an interview I did with a group called “Connecting the Dots“. I’d forgotten I did this interview at the anti-war rally until someone graciously forwarded me the link.

There aren’t a lot of media groups in this country offering alternative perspectivese on the current global situation, so it might be worth signing up to their Substack.

I hope you benefit from the interview I’ve posted above. I’m not suggesting that you should agree with everything I’ve said, but I think it’s essential that the Christian community talks about what is happening and that our spiritual leaders, most especially, make an effort to influence the decisions being made.

Jesus spoke repeatedly about reading ‘the signs of the times’ (eg. Matthew 16:1-3) and I think the signs are clear. The US and Israel have been lying continuously (eg. doing military strikes in the middle of negotiations), murdering children and targeting civilian infrastructure. At the same time, the US Minister of War, Peter Hegseth, asks Pentagon officials to pray for “overwhelming violence” against enemies in the “name of Jesus Christ”! (see here)

I’m not telling you that God is on the side of Iran, but it should be obvious to all of us that God is not on the side of those committing these attrocities, regardless of how many times they invoke the name of our Lord, Jesus!

It occurs to me that the Pope could stop this war in its tracks if he decided to. He’d only have to issue a papal decree, telling all Catholics in the US Army to refuse to fight against Iran. Yes, Catholic soldiers would get arrested, and the pope himself might be targeted for assassination, but isn’t that exactly what Jesus would do?

Perhaps someone can explain to me why the Pope isn’t doing that, or why the Archbishop of Canterbury hasn’t done it, or why (so far as I can see) not a single Christian leader in the world has stood up and done that!

It seems that the higher up the ecclesiastical power structure people go, the more constrained they become. That makes sense at one level, but if there’s one thing that Donald Trump has taught us, it’s that people with extreme executive power can get away with saying anything they like!

I fear our leaders lack courage. It may be that simple. Yes, there may be a million good reasons for our leaders to be careful about what they say, but at a time like this we need those who claim to speak for Christ to speak loudly and clearly.

Am I missing something? Let me know. Hit me back with comments. Pen your own thoughts on the new member site. Let your voice be heard!

Your brother in the Good Fight,