Palm Sunday – Luke 19:28-40′
Sermon Preached by Reverend Tracey Gracey on Sunday, 13 April, 2025.
Imagine the city of Jerusalem in the days before the Passover.
Travellers and worshippers flooding in.
The streets are crowded, bustling with noise, expectation and anxiety.
The Jewish community is gathering for their Passover festival – it is a time to remember freedom—how God once delivered their ancestors from slavery in Egypt.
But now, those same people are oppressed by Roman authority.
The promise of freedom is overshadowed by a sense of fear and sorrow.
Roman banners snap in the wind, soldiers line the streets, and the presence of power is felt in every corner.
And into this moment, Jesus comes.
But not just Jesus—for there were two parades that entered the city on Palm Sunday.
On one side, from the west, Pontius Pilate rides into town from Caesarea, seated high on a war horse. Roman soldiers march in with shining armour, swords at their sides, hooves clattering on the stone.
This is not a celebration; it is a message.
The Roman empire is on full display and alert.
It is a reminder to the people of who’s in charge.
And from the east, another procession winds its way down the Mount of Olives.
No banners. No soldiers. No war horse.
Just a man on a borrowed colt, surrounded by followers who spread their cloaks on the road and cry out with praise.
No weapons – only voices lifted in joy.
No threat – only the quiet power of peace.
This is Jesus’ parade. And it is no accident.
As theologians Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan remind us, this is a deliberate counter-procession.
A peaceful protest in the shape of a king.
Jesus is making a statement—not just about who he is, but about the kind of kingdom he brings.
Not one of domination, but of justice and humility.
Not one enforced by violence, but one that moves through compassion and truth.
Luke tells the story of Palm Sunday very differently to Matthew, Mark, and John.
I wonder if you noticed in Luke’s account of Palm Sunday that there was no mention of the waving palms.
Instead, the focus is on people laying their cloaks on the road and on the colt.
It may seem like a small detail, but it is quite significant.
For a cloak in the ancient world was valuable—used for warmth, for sleeping, for protection.
To place it on the ground for a donkey to walk on was an act of deep personal sacrifice.
Laying down your cloak was like laying down your identity, your comfort, your status.
For Luke this parade is not about spectators waving palms from the sidelines.
It’s a moment of surrender when the disciples and the crowd—offer something of themselves.
Jesus is not calling for fanfare. He’s calling for followers.
He doesn’t need palm branches; he is inviting people to lay down their lives and follow him.
Another difference [which I wonder if you noticed] in Luke’s telling of Palm Sunday is there is no mention of the people crying out ‘Hosanna’ which was a cry for help as Hosanna means ‘Save Us.’
In Luke’s version we only hear the people shout “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Once again this may seem minor, but it is significant.
Luke’s crowd isn’t pleading. They are proclaiming. They’re not asking for rescue.
They’re recognising kingship.
This is a declaration, a recognition that Jesus is the one who has come with God’s authority, not just to save but to reign.
Luke also portrays Jesus in a different light. As Ian Gray our resident organist [not resident theologian!] pointed out at our Bible study last Tuesday. Jesus seems to be in control, he knows what he wants, and he directs others to do it.
This isn’t a spontaneous scene. It’s deliberate. Jesus rides in not just as a prophet or a teacher, but as a king—and not a king of power, but of peace.
A king who chooses humility over spectacle.
So here we are. Two processions. Two very different kingdoms.
One wrapped in spectacle and control.
The other cloaked in humility and courage.
One led by fear. The other by faith.
One kingdom that thrives on domination.
The other that grows through service, compassion, and love.
Palm Sunday invites us to look honestly at which kingdom we are walking in. Which parade we’re part of.
And more than that—it asks what we’re willing to lay down, not just the palm branches of celebration, but the cloaks of our own lives.
Jesus laid down his life.
The people laid down their cloaks.
This Holy Week as we journey with Jesus to the cross
What might we lay down?
- Pride, anger, regret, fear, anxiety
- The need to always be right.
- An unhealthy image of ourselves we’ve been clinging to.
- Guilt about not truly following Jesus.
Discipleship isn’t always waving palms—it’s walking behind a King who rides a colt.
It’s choosing the parade of peace over power.
Love over fear. Surrender over spectacle.
And as we walk this Holy Week, we do so not just to remember what Jesus did, but to let it shape who we are and who we want to become.
We do not walk alone.
We walk behind the One who knows where the road leads— and still chooses to ride in, cloaked in courage, surrounded by praise, with nothing but peace in his hands.
So come.
Lay down your cloak.
Take up your cross.
And walk the way of our King.
Amen.