Matthew 21:1-11

This Sunday, as our Lenten journey reaches its culmination, we switch to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Matthew 21:1-11, and the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

As you read this familiar story, reflect on your own hopes in trying times, for one or another version of a Marvel superhero to fix everything. Is this, perhaps, how the people felt about Jesus when they cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”?

Now reflect on what Jesus must have looked like, sitting on a donkey with its foal trailing along, as his followers — among them the poor, people who had lived for years with various diseases and disabilities, former prostitutes, murderers, and criminals, and the children — cheered him on.

How do we reconcile our fantasies of super-heroes with the “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3) who has become our Savior?