Jesus and Nationalism

Photo by Tim Mossholder (Unsplash)

We are coming up on Holy Week, which traditionally begins with Palm Sunday, marking the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It’s a seemingly tame, innocuous day filled with symbolism but little significance. It would be easy to think of it as an event distant from the day’s headlines and debates.

Think again.

It was already a day destined to be filled with explosive potential. One reason is because it was the first time that Jesus had visited Jerusalem since He began His public ministry. Even those who weren’t sure about who Jesus was knew that this would be something of significance. Here was a man who was working miracles, raising the dead, giving radical teachings causing thousands to follow. People were hoping, calling, for Him to lead the entire nation, to declare independence from Rome, and to set up a new dynasty. And now He was coming to the most holy of cities, the place of the great Temple and the heart of the Jewish faith, as well as the heart of the Jewish people. If He was going to do anything, lead anything, declare Himself to be anything, be crowned anything,

... it would be here.

Those closest to Jesus shared the expectation. He had been telling them all along that everything He was doing, everything He was teaching, everything He was about, was moving toward Jerusalem. Even entering on a colt, in fulfillment of the prophet Zechariah’s declaration surrounding the coming Messiah, made the import of the day clear.

But about that colt....

The donkey was a lowly animal, an animal of peace. Not of conquest. If Jesus had wanted to be a king of conquest, of war, of establishing a kingdom on earth, He would have never entered Jerusalem on a donkey. He would have ridden in on a war-horse. But He very purposefully did not. 

It all seemed orchestrated to be in direct opposition to the desires of the people. We are told they laid down blankets and branches in front of Him, which is why the day He entered Jerusalem is often called Palm Sunday. It was meant as more than mere honor. Palm branches represented Jewish nationalism, Jewish pride, Jewish victory. Coins that were minted during that time would have pictures of palms on them because they were understood to represent nationalism in general. So a palm on a Jewish coin signified Jewish nationalism; a palm on a Roman coin signified Roman nationalism. By spreading out palms in front of Jesus, they were welcoming Him, inviting Him, wanting Him, to become their political and military liberator. The one who would restore Jerusalem to her greatness.

They didn’t convey that hope simply through palm branches. They famously met His arrival with “Hosanna!”—a Hebrew expression that meant “Save us!” or “Save now!” This was followed by shouts about the restoration of the kingdom of David. 

It made sense. Jesus had healed people, fed people, even raised people from the dead. That was power!  And power was what they wanted. Power to defeat the Romans and make Jerusalem great again.

But they didn’t pay attention to what He was riding. The triumphal entry they gave Him wasn’t the one He was making. He wasn’t there for Jerusalem or any other nation. He was there to triumph over sin. He was there to bring salvation. He was there to sacrifice Himself on a cross. 

There were two kingdoms in play that day. There was the kingdom of men – of nations and power and politics and economies – and the Kingdom of God – which was about souls and spirits, sin and forgiveness, peace and justice.

They should have known.

In the Old Testament, Joshua, the great leader of the people of Israel and successor to Moses, was leading the people into the Promised Land. After crossing the Jordan river, the very first city they encountered was the city of Jericho, a city hostile to the coming of the Israelites. It soon became clear this was going to be an armed conflict.

God had something else in mind.

To demonstrate that the Promised Land was going to be His gift and His doing, He told Joshua through an angel to march around it seven times, blow his horns and then the fortified walls of the city would miraculously fall down. But something happened just before the angel delivered that message. When Joshua first engaged the angel, before being told of the marching plan, they had an interesting discourse.

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” (Joshua 5:13-14, NIV)

The angel put Joshua and the people of Israel in their place. The Kingdom of God was larger than any one people, or nation, or the petty affairs of human conflict. God’s work on this planet, His redemptive plan, His movement throughout all of history to call human beings into relationship with Himself – ultimately through the cross-work of Christ – that is His side.

Jesus understood this better than anyone.

One of the more well-known miracles that Jesus performed was what has been called the feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two small fish. Less discussed is what happened afterward:

When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself. (John 6:14-15, NLT)

The people of Jesus’ day knew to hope, pray for and expect a coming Messiah. But in many of their minds, he would be an earthly king. A national leader. A political force who would sweep Rome off the map and establish Israel as the preeminent nation and force in the world.

Jesus was not that kind of Messiah. 

His was not an earthly agenda, but rather a heavenly one. 

His was not political in nature, but rather spiritual.

Fast forward to the end of His life as He stood before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate:

“Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him.

Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?”

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?”

Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:33-36, NLT)

Jesus makes it clear He is a King and He does have a Kingdom—but not one with soldiers or maintained by military might. It is not a national or political kingdom at all. It is a Kingdom that is not even of this world. 

In fact, making His mission about the kingdoms of this world – about ruling and nations and politics – was one of the temptations Satan put before Jesus at the start of His ministry.

Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” (Matthew 4:8-10, NLT)

But Jesus knew that the Kingdom of God was so much more than the kingdoms of men.

And so should we.

James Emery White