The symbols of this Week that is Unlike All Other Weeks are never-to-be-forgotten things we can hold and contemplate. Memorabilia that leave no doubt as to the meaning of the most dramatic 7 days ever lived. They are the icons of victory; the emblems of the conquest achieved by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
A King on A DonkeyThe paradox of this image is only understood against the tradition it parodied.
Triumphant Roman Generals were granted a “Triumph” by the Rulers of their Imperial City. The entire Nation joined the celebration. As the Conqueror entered the City its Rulers lead the procession. Trumpeters followed announcing the Victors entrance with the music of gallantry. Carts overflowing with the “spoils of war,” and often vast fortunes, rumbled through the gates of the City. There were more musicians. White bulls and oxen for sacrifice were lead through the streets. Exotic animals and flora from the conquered countries paraded alongside the arms and insignia, the leaders and their relatives, and citizens bound and destined for slavery. The triumphant General would then enter the City surrounded by an entourage of servants and standing in a circular chariot drawn by four horses. He would be dressed in a robe embroidered in gold, with a flowered tunic; a laurel bough in one hand; a scepter in the other; and a laurel wreath on his head. His adult Sons and Officers came next. And finally the entire body of his infantry laurel adorned spears held high and frequently thrust into the air triumphantly.
Our King does not come in that tradition. He comes humbly; a Servant King demonstrating by His actions what He repeatedly taught. “The Great in my Kingdom, are Servants.” And so He was.
A Damned Fig TreeThis fruitless tree is a symbol of two important aspects of life in Christ’s Kingdom. The long established Mission first described to Abraham, “in you shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed,” is the fruit of the Kingdom. It had not come to pass by the time Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of His life. The fruitless tree, like these fruitless Children of Abraham, was a damnable thing to Jesus. His authority and power to condemn it to death is a God-given, Spirit empowerment available to all who will follow Him and learn to implement the Faith by which He exercises His authority.
Designer TombsWhite washed sepulchers, Jesus called them, religious pretenders piously made over play actors for whom image was everything but inconsequential in the eyes of the ultimate Judge. Their hearts, what matter most to Him, were as well as dead – “full of dead man’s bones.”
A Basin and a Towel
The tools of a First Century Slave … the tools of our Servant King. The tools, He said, of all His Followers. For as His love was expressed in intimate personal attention to the most mundane of their needs so we, His Followers attend to the simplest of our Fellows’ needs. “Love one another,” He commanded, “as I have loved you.”
Bread and WineThe hidden bread and the Cup of Redemption from the Seder became, on that Passover, the symbols of Christ’s body and blood. “Eat it … drink it,” He says, “in remembrance of me.” And so we do and so we will until we “drink it with Him in the Kingdom.”
Triumphant SufferingEvil is overcome by Good. Death’s “sting” the grave’s “victory” have been vanquished forever. Love prevails.
A Defeated CrossThe dread cross is now a symbol of hope.
An Empty TombThe grave is, now, nothing more than a temporary stop on the way to life “forever.”
