Sermon slides for Palm Sunday, April 13: Shouting & Silence

Whenever I offer slides to (hopefully) enhance the sermon experience, I also try to post them here so our online audience has access to them. All Lent we have been following Jesus’ journey from Galilee to Jerusalem as told in the gospel according to Luke. In today’s reading, Jesus finally arrives in Jerusalem. Traditionally, we call today Palm Sunday–though careful readers of Luke’s account will notice palms are conspicuously absent! But Palm-less Sunday doesn’t have much of a ring to it, so we won’t change the name 😉 We will, however, talk about the contrast between how Jesus enters the city and how Pilate enters the city. (Though the latter happens, er, off-screen, as it were.) To talk about the differences between the processionals requires talking about geography. And talking about geography requires maps. We start wide and then zoom in.

First, an overview of Israel in the first century CE. Luke says Jesus traveled through Jerico–seen here to the northeast of Jerusalem. Pilate, on the other hand, most likely came to Jerusalem from his headquarters at coastal Caesarea–seen here to the northwest of Jerusalem.

Luke’s gospel says Jesus stops at the Mount of Olives, near Bethphage and Bethany; then he rides a colt into Jerusalem. Clearly coming into the city from the east.

Finally, we zoom all the way in on Jerusalem. Pilate likely entered a gate on the west side and stayed at the Palace of Herod the Great. Jesus, coming from the east, likely entered a gate right near the Temple.

Bonus slide for our online friends!
The situation with the Pharisees in this gosepl text reminds me of the transitive property from math class: if a=b and b=c, then a=c.
Luke writes that the crowd shouting for Jesus are is followers and that the Pharisees are part of that crowd, so are these Pharisees actually followers of Jesus? An intriguing idea, is it not?