The Book of Luke tells us that some leading priests and teachers of religious law were planning to get rid of Jesus, but didn’t have a good excuse. Jesus argued religious law and theology with them, but that in itself wasn’t enough.. If we take today’s story at face value, it looks as if Jesus predicts everything which will come. More likely, Luke leaves out the obvious; Jerusalem was always crowded at Passover, so no one left anything to chance. They made arrangements well in advance, especially if they wanted a room big enough to hold a lot of people and serve a meal.
I think in order to grasp Jesus’ death, we have to look at him as both a religious and a political figure. His actions and statements got him killed; he criticised Herod, he criticised the entire political structure, he criticised the collusion between the religious leaders and the Romans. I don’t think it was something he knew in advance, but there was a point in ministry when he did know what would happen if he continued doing what he was doing. He saw what had happened to John and his followers.
Jesus was born in the time of Herod the Great, who lived from 73/74 BC – 4 BC in Jericho, and was considered a madman who murdered anyone he considered a threat. He is known for building projects including expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and construction of the port at Caesarea Maritima. When he died, a very young Jesus and his parents returned to Nazareth, only to find violent insurrections brewing in Galilee. Jesus’ whole political world was in turmoil because of the insurrectionists and the Roman oppression.
Herod's son, Archelaus was made the ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea from 4 BC to 6 AD, referred to as the tetrarchy of Judea. Archelaus was judged incompetent by the Roman Emperor Augustus, who then combined Samaria, Judea proper and Idumea into Iudaea province under the rule of a prefect - Pontius Pilate. Herod Antipas the other son, was petrarch of tiny Galilee from 4 BC–39 AD. - petrarch being about a fourth of a Monarch - not a huge honour.
Antipas wanting to ingratiate himself with the new emperor, decides to build a new city on the Sea of Galilee, call it Tiberias, and make it the capital instead of Sepphoris - and he was going to commercialise the whole fishing industry to fund the building of the city. For the Jews around the shores, it became a clear moral, ethical and religious issue..
The city of Magdala, located on the western shore, was a huge fishing port and a key piece of the local economy. Herod was taking livelihood away from his own people in order to have the Tiberias consider him good enough to be - if not a Monarch, at least a Tetrarch.
John and Jesus both came from a very small corner of Galilee, along the coast. The basis for their dissatisfaction is Herod Antipas, a Jew, selling out the livelihood of a whole people to further a personal agenda. Jewish theology was based in one thing - that the earth belonged to God, and everything in it “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” So if the earth belonged to God, did not also the water and everything in it belong to God. It wasn’t a commodity to be bought and sold, but a trust given by God. So the people around the Sea of Galilee found themselves not only oppressed and taxed by the Romans, but also oppressed and taxed by their own religious leaders, and their livelihoods threatened.
John preached an end-time of apocalyptic proportions - and by apocalyptic I don’t mean the end of the whole world in earthquakes and fire, but rather God coming to clean up the whole mess - sending a Messiah who would take control and use the power of God to eliminate the Romans and bring the world back to its right state. John’s plan was to march to the Jordan, in a sacramental re-enactment of the Exodus from Egypt, and he preached retributive justice, the retribution of God for the sins of the people. John’s God was one of violence.
The Jesus movement, on the other hand, was a non-violent peaceful resistance to oppression. Jesus learned a lot from watching John about how and when to say things. Where John preached an end-time of retribution, Jesus preached an end-time of collaboration in the creation of something new. The God of Jesus was a God of distributive justice, the people collaborating with God, to return the world to its right state.
In order to make this point of dsitributive justice, Jesus rubbed elbows with untouchables, healed on the Sabbath, freed people from the spiritual oppression of the leaders, and helped them to see injustices even at the hands of their own leaders. We have Jesus demonstrating how to throw the Roman oppressors of balance, by presenting the cheek of an equal to be slapped, or offering to carry the packs two miles instead of the legal one. He told them not to pay Roman taxes, but to give to God what belonged to God. Everything Jesus did had a reason, carefully thought out to bring into stark relief the actions of those who oppressed, to confront them with the injustice of their own actions..
Jerusalem was a huge city with several entrance gates. Passover was coming, the highest of the high Holy Days, the streets full of Jews from all over the known world. Passover was the celebration of their liberation from slavery in Egypt, and the rebuilding of the temple. Yet they celebrate that liberation under the rule of the Roman occupation. Hardly freedom.
On the west side of the city, Pontius Pilate would ride in with an entire Roman legion, blaring trumpets, powerful horses and armour, a massive display of Rome’s power, to intimidate any Jews who might try to stir up rebellion. It would be a display intended to “keep the peace.”.
Up from the Jordan Valley, in through the east gate, kind of the servants’ entrance, following the route the ancient Hebrews had taken from Egypt to the promised land, comes Jesus, just a country rabbi riding a donkey, and accompanied by group of followers who wave branches and spread rough cloaks along the path.
What a contrast to the Roman display of authority! And yet, as the shouts of Hosanna grow, more and more people come to see, and get caught up in the moment - perhaps a hope of freedom from the oppressive authorities. They cry out “Hosanna”, which in Hebrew means “Save us!!!” Think about it for a moment - if Jesus were able to overthrow the Romans, even the temple authorities would not have any power any longer, for he would be king, judge, ruler even over them....
As Jesus rides along, rumour spreads and people ask, “Who is this? ...he rides a donkey”. Jesus’ action is highly symbolic, reminding the people of Judah Maccabeus, the first martyr and king of the Jewish people. So they cut branches and spread them on the ground. Double confirmation of the identity of Jesus - a new king has arrived, a saviour who will liberate them.
The Jesus movement was one of non-violent resistance, and nothing frightens oppressors more than those who resist, but refuse to use their methods. The religious leaders had to get rid of Jesus, because he showed them the worst side of themselves. Pilate used the best way he could think of to prevent further unrest. Pilate recognises that Jesus is a non-violent revolutionary, not a real threat, so he falls into the trap of thinking that with Jesus gone the movement will end. Instead, he creates a martyr and a whole new movement - and the story goes on.
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