Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday, the day in the Christian calendar when we mark Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday also marks the beginning of Holy Week. Last month at Dr. Benefiel's Social Holiness Bible Study we had been reading Luke 19 where the triumphal entry is located (Luke 19:29-44). The triumphal entry comes in the middle of a long section of passages about money. The rich young ruler, Zacchaeus the tax collector, the parable of ten minas, the triumphal entry and the moneychangers in the temple. The first two parables turn our conventional approach to money upside-down. Freedom (and indeed salvation) comes from giving away money, not through the accumulation of it.

And then we come across the parable of the ten minas which is slightly different than the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:14-30. In this version the master goes away to be crowned king and then returns, then the parables continue on very similarly (except that Minas are a smaller specific amount of money, whereas talents are very general and probably refer to much more than just money), until the end. At the end of the Matthean passage those who do well with their talents are given more responsibility and celebrate with the master. In the Lukan passage those that do well investing the money are given political power, those who fail to succeed in producing wealth are killed.

This passage has troubled me for a long time, not the least of which is because a "capitalism-or-die" parable doesn't fit anywhere in the gospels and Luke the very least! Kara suggested that this version of the parable actually refers to Herod Antipas and continues with the continuity of the texts surrounding it by showing that the Kingdom Christ is inaugurating is an upside-down kingdom. The reading of the parable as referring to the Jewish king Herod Antipas makes sense because Herod's authority came from Caesar, in fact he was educated in Rome. He was despised by his people for his complicity with Rome. Those who are faithful to the master are given authority over cities, and those who opposed his rule are brought before him to die. Herod Antipas had the authority to do such things and was responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist. This reading of the Lukan passage seems to fit so much better with the flow of Luke's upside-down kingdom message and serves to illustrate the kind of kingdom that Christ is not coming to inaugurate. In Luke 19:11 the reason given for Christ's telling of the parable is that the people thought the Kingdom of God was going to appear at once. Perhaps this parable shows the ruthlessness of those kinds of kingdoms. The Matthean passage however comes in the midst of a section on judgment and the celebration for those who are responsible and the casting out for those who were not fits very well in a section of judgment. It's fascinating how this parable is used to serve two very different (if not outright opposite) purposes by bookending them with different passages and by tweaking the language used in each.

In another note, I went to Jacob's Well this evening with Kara for their Palm Sunday service and Stations of the Cross... great message, great art.

Labels: Christian Time