The churchy view of this event often does not quite get there. There are palm crosses mixing messages, because the palms were adulation and the cross was suffering, and there is the King but not a King sermon. But let us insist, because Jesus did, on the King, the real ruler king who is President, Prime Minister, who runs the show like Herod the Great or Caesar, because at that time there were no ceremonial monarchs. Jesus was doing politics, deliberately and fully. No-one could doubt the choreography, deliberately chosen. From Matthew, Mark and Luke we know the exact process. The donkey and colt would be unseen to Jesus and the crowd as they walked towards the village. But Jesus knew they were there and the two disciples were to go on ahead, untie the animals from a doorway and claim them. As Mark explains, Jesus had pre-planned the response. “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back shortly.’” (Mk. 11:2-3) Jesus rode on the colt, on whom no-one had sat, after cloaks had been spread on it, with the mother donkey travelling behind making sure the colt was not scared. The whole process was imperious, though slightly strange.

The crowd already gathered from Jericho and growing as the famous Rabbi came to the City were thronging round Jesus. It was added to by those who had heard of the raising of Lazarus not long before. This was a big public spectacle, and Jesus made it into the entry event, practised by Roman victors in every city they conquered. The great Victory Arch, the Arch of Titus, built in Rome to celebrate the sacking of Jerusalem in AD70 was not yet. The victory march was just people and adulation. Here it was cloaks, carrying the idea that this Man and his animal should not walk on the ground like ordinary people, and palm fronds, the great sweeping, beautiful confetti of the day. Matthew describes it as “a very large crowd”; let’s guess it was somewhere between 200-1,000; some went ahead of him and some followed in the normal processional style. (Matt: 21:8-9). They were shouting and praising the Man on the ass as their political leader. Jesus did the victory parade, no ifs and buts, this was a victory march. ”Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” suggested he was King, he was God’s King, and he would deliver the people from the Romans. We know the exact tenor of the situation from Luke. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples/ followers.” They did not like the obvious Messianic entry into Jerusalem, the take-over of the City run by them and the Temple Party. The Sanhedrin had already met, and the Chief Priest was saying that this man needed to die. They did not like the confrontation challenging their position. Jesus response to them completely countered what they were saying. “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19: 39-40) In other words, “This is the way it is and should be.” He is the King coming into Jerusalem, there is no other possibility.

This seems arrogant, but it is not, because of what follows as the crowd comes to the Mount of Olives with its view across to the Temple and the City of Jerusalem.. No self-glorifying King in the middle of a seeming triumph with the crowds cheering starts crying and identifying the defeat and suffering of his capital city. It is just the case that Jesus is light years ahead of us. Yes, King, Tsar, President, Prime Minister, undeniably political. Yes, this is unquestionably true. But, it takes on the whole of politics. In this case it is the sacking of Jerusalem in AD70 when perhaps a million were killed and the blood ran so thick in the streets it put fires out. This is realism, not some nice metaphorical statement of humility. Indeed, the way this story will be located in churches this Easter distracts from what the event actually said. The Government is on his shoulders.

What kind of Government? Zechariah 9 is brought into the frame by the donkey. Jesus deliberately cloaks himself in Zechariah 9 as he rides into Zion. It describes the King coming into Jerusalem in the following words: “Rejoice, rejoice, people of Zion! Shout for joy, you people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you! He comes triumphant and victorious, but humble and riding on a donkey – on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The Lord says, ‘I will remove the war chariots from Israel and take the horses from Jerusalem; the bows used in battle will be destroyed. Your king will make peace among the nations; he will rule from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.’” All commentators agree this is the case. The contrast is between the conquering imperial invader coming in on a warhorse, and Jesus coming in on a young donkey with his feet scarcely off the ground. It is a parody of conventional kingship which changes the conception completely, though the crowds cannot understand this, hope he is their deliverer and go ballistic with joy. Jesus insists they should not be silenced; it is a valid act of worship and praise.

Their political ruler has come to them, but the nature of rule is changed in the greatest ideological revolution in politics. Make weapons or destroy weapons? Make war or make peace? Self-glorifying leaders or humble leaders? National conflict or international peace? Political service or political control? Ruling by fear or ruling by assent. Ruling humbly or self-glorifying rule. Ruling by truth or ruling by power? As this political confrontation emerges in the journey to the cross, the danger is that it will be made apolitical, put in churches, seen as “an ideal”, seen as “religion”, sentimentalised, surrounded by imagery, reduced to a personal, spiritual, distant thing, rather than the truth which will take out military dictators, fake news, empires, the suppression of the people and the rule of the rich. We might not see immediately our ability, if we have it, to vote meaningfully, and Jesus’ insistence on people choosing or not choosing to follow him, but it is there. As he goes into Jerusalem on a foal, he is making an inescapable political statement about the nature of rule. Of course, Easter is not all political or mainly political, but it is strongly and unavoidably political, and this truth cannot be hidden in our age.