A Fresh Perspective

Our Gospel text today is Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem. Mark’s telling of the story implicitly alludes to Zechariah 9:9 (which Matthew makes explicit in his version). The passage in Zechariah reads: “Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The text doesn’t make any sense really. No king comes riding on a donkey. A king rides on a white stallion or in a chariot high above the crowd. The next verse from Zechariah clarifies the kind of king this is: “He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations.” Zechariah’s un-king is going to abolish all weapons of war. No more war, no more cruelty, no more violence. This no-king is humble and peace-seeking. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” said Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, “for they shall be called the children of God.” The reason they are called the...

It is vital to our spiritual health to understand the difference between dominant power and spiritual power . Dominant power is the power to externally influence behavior by the use of force, coercion, threat or promise, reward or punishment. Spiritual power, on the other hand, is the capacity to influence and persuade based on the quality, integrity, authenticity, and authority of one’s own being, apart from any position or any external authority. Dominant power is often bad, but not always. It is sometimes necessary. I think most of us would agree that some form of dominant power is necessary to stop a terrorist group like ISIS, with whom peaceful negotiations are impossible. Dominant power can force a child to comply, which is sometimes necessary, but dominant power cannot make that child love you. Love cannot be controlled or coerced or demanded. Holy week begins with Jesus’ nonviolent, peaceful procession into Jerusalem on a donkey (Mark 11:1-10; par. Matt. 21:1-9; Luke 1...